FOR THIS REASON WE DO NOT DESPAIR
Author: Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me telling me that they have been going through a very stressful period for a long time. I share with you my answer to that person:
Very often we wonder what we have done that we need to endure what is happening to us – and naturally this is just human nature to ponder this – but I want to encourage you today, through what I am going to show you (if you have already thought about it in this way), that it is truly not that way.
I am speaking about, that sometimes there are terrible things that happen to us and then we wonder why our Lord allows these things to happen.
It is truly not that way, where it concerns His children.
I want to bring to your attention a couple of things in the life of Job:
I know you know his history very well but sometimes it is necessary for someone to remind us about this and that.
The first things we read about Job are the following:
JOB 1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Just a little further in the chapter our Lord affirms this with His own words, which He allowed to be written.
We read:
JOB 1:8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
Now God’s permissible nature becomes evident, to put it that way, and naturally, I cannot tell you why God allows these things to happen, but then, I am not almighty and all-knowing.
So I cannot precisely say why these terrible things happened to Job, where he lost everything, including his children.
But I can certainly say, through the evidence in Job 1:9-12, that it was not God which made the Sabeans, in JOB 1:15, do what they did.
It was also naturally not God who misused nature in JOB 1:16.
It was also not God which, as an example, allowed the Chaldeans to do what they did according to JOB 1:17.
It was also not God which used wind to kill Job’s children according to JOB 1:19.
It was satan.
Look at Job’s reaction to the terrible things that happened to him:
JOB 1:21 “… The LORD gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
JOB 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing
You see –
You and I are children of our Lord and this is already terrible enough for satan to know – and he is a god, the god of evil – the closer you and I move towards our Lord, the fiercer his attacks on us become.
But look, just to mention one more example, at my great hero Paul, while at the same time remembering Job –
After all his hardships he endured through proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, where he was stoned and left for dead and where he, a scarred old man, waiting in jail, that they came to take him to be sentenced – because he was a child of our Lord – Paul writes:
2TIM 4:6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.
2TIM 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2TIM 4:8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing
I mentioned to you that there is, to put it that way, God’s permissible will, but – and how absolutely wonderful to know – also there is God’s sovereign will, which no-one can get passed and in Job’s case we see an example thereof in JOB 1:12 and also in JOB 2:6:
JOB 1:12 The Lord said to satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then satan went out from the presence of the Lord
Because our Lord is almighty, all-knowing and omnipresent (see note A) and has a sovereign will which cannot be trumped by anyone.
That is why Jesus walked to Golgotha for you and I and no power on earth could prevent HIM from doing so.
That is how God was able to look at HIS son on Golgotha and for you and me, to put it that way, turned His back on His son.
That is why you and I can today receive our Lord’s permissible will, and remember what He allowed to be written:
JAMES 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
JAMES 1:3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
JAMES 1:4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Because, praise the Name of our Lord! Our Lord has His sovereign will which is assured to us as He had written in His Word.
Even if I, like Job who lost, literally lost, everything –
Yes, even if I like my great hero Paul whose body was damaged, waited for them to judge/sentence him.
I know, that my life here on earth is a journey towards Eternal Life and because I am His child, everything that He allows to happen to me, because He has His sovereign will, eventually will be the best that could have ever happened to me.
ROM 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose
I know with everything that happens to me, that our Lord also has a sovereign will and because we know what is written in His Word through the guidance of His Holy Spirit, we look at how we live our lives on our road to eternity and we realise that in comparison with Eternal Life, which awaits us, we can look at our life, like my great hero Paul and be jubilant:
2COR 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2COR 4:17 For our light and momentary (if you compare it to the eternal life which awaits us) troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
2COR 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Greetings,
Sakkie