HE DOES ALL THINGS WELL -- Devotional for April 11, from "Good Seeds"

Though He slay me yet will I trust Him. (Job 13:15)

We don’t know how much time passed between the multiple tragedies Job experienced and his eventual healing and vindication, but it was time enough to bring him to the edge of death and the brink of despair. His outward dilemma could well have led to inward disaster, and this would have spelled greater victory for Satan than what killing him would have accomplished. Adam was given Eve for a “helpmeet” – a helper meet (appropriate, fitting) to his needs. A wife is the best teammate a man could ever ask for. No wonder married people call one another “partners!” But when sin enters the relationship, the door is opened wide to Satan – and He can do his most dastardly damage through a man’s most intimate soul-mate. Such was the case with Job’s wife. Seeing his suffering and finding herself unable to be that “fitting helper,” she turned against him and his God. While attempting to be a human helper, a wife must continually call on the Heavenly Helper. Refusing to call on God allowed Job's wife to turn on Him instead. Why can’t people just ignore God when He seems to neglect them? They can’t – they’ve got to curse Him, it seems! Mrs. Job was worse than a doubting Thomas that day: He wallowed alone in his dismal doubts, whereas she seemed bent on spreading the doubt, causing another to stumble. “But in it all Job did not sin” (Job 2:10). Solomon wrote of him in Proverbs 1:10, “When sinners entice thee, consent thou not!” Notice death is the predominate theme in Job’s suffering: “Curse God and die!” mocked his wife, to which Job retorted, “Though He kill me, I will never deny Him.” This was to say, “I will trust His reasoning, and not question His timing, though I’m clueless about His purpose in it all!” We are privileged to see the entire scenario, that God would not allow Satan to kill Job, but this man had no such assurance, and for a very good reason: trusting God in the dark is the crucible of faith. Just look at the three Hebrew children: as they were cast into the fiery furnace they spoke with a holy defiance: “Our God is able to deliver us from the flames, but even if He chooses not to, let it be known to you, O Nebuchadnezzar, that we are NOT going to bow to your golden idol!” At this Easter time we think of Christ on the cross. His words were few, and full of pain. At one point He cried out, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” But in it all He did not sin. Though God would indeed slay Him, Christ submitted to His Father’s greater plan, to “preserve many people alive” (Genesis 50:20). You see God’s working in His Son, in the three young men, and in Job. Now, will you let Him work in your life, too, through your pain – and in it all not to sin, but trust Him to do all things well?