Job 6:13 “Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me?

Sometimes the kindest thing God can do for us is help us understand how utterly helpless we are without Him. Job’s redeeming characteristic was that he never let go of God in all his suffering. When things are going well it is all too easy to think we can go it alone, when that is a literal impossibility. Job, on the other hand, refuses to deny God, as he states in verse 10, but he is pretty disappointed in his friends, as he states right after this. I think God deprived Job of genuinely commiserating friends precisely to teach him to cling to God alone. There is a beautiful song that states, “In Christ alone I place my trust.” That’s not hard to say, but it can be hard to live by. We like to depend on things we can see and feel physically, when Paul reminds us, “We live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) Job was stripped of everything he could see, so that he could indeed cling to his unseen Lord.

I too am thoroughly tempted to rely on the physical world, and I hope I don’t succumb to that to the point of needing Job’s treatment! I am regularly distracted by things that are entirely temporary, and that’s not good. I’m not to ignore the world I live in but rather be a good steward of it, but at the same time I’ve got to remember that everything physical, whether good or bad, is no more than momentary. I tell this to others, but I’ve got to remember that on my own I don’t have the power even to draw a single breath. I’m not confined to a machine to do that for me, as some are for medical reasons, but every bit of strength I have is a gift of God’s grace. I’m not to discount the various things that God has placed at my disposal, but rather remember that I am accountable for them to God who gave them to me. My body, my mind, my faculties, my senses, my possessions, are all on loan to me, rather than ultimately mine. If the actual Owner chooses to withdraw any or all of them, I have no legitimate reason to complain. God has been incredibly gracious to me, and the better I remember that, the more peace and joy I will have as I live in obedience to Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for yesterday and all it held. There were blessings and there were frustrations. Thank You for all You have planned for today, though I certainly don’t know the details yet. May I indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, just as You have told me to do, so that resentment will have no room at all, and I will flow with Your Spirit on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!