Can Someone Bring Me My Bible? - Day 283 Month 10-9 Week 39-3
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
1 Chronicles 21:1-22:5, Job 2, Hosea 6, 1 Timothy 3
Can Someone Bring Me My Bible?
“ Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:9,10 NASB1995).
Since God is Love (1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16), how do we relate love to a God that would allow good and adversity?
My mother was the most godly person I knew. Mom suffered for much of her life. One night, Mom was in excruciating pain. I don’t remember all of the circumstances but Sylvia and I stood at her bedside in the hospital emergency room one night as the pain she was suffering was causing her legs and knees to convulse upward to her chest every 30 seconds or so when she felt the pain. Her agony was overwhelming her and several times while she lay there she yelled for God to take her home and out of the pain. Sylvia and I had nothing to say but things like “we love you mom,” and “God knows what you are feeling,” and “help is coming soon.” In all honesty, we were helpless to help her and we probably would have been smart to just be silent and just hold her.
I’m sure Job’s wife was speaking through the grief of losing her children and seeing her husband in pain. I can imagine some pretty harsh thoughts in her circumstances. Mom knew that God is Love, and in the pain of it all, she wanted release and to be with God, whom she loved and who loved her. Never once did she curse God, and I don’t think she ever lost her integrity.
Mom got through that night. A bone fragment from her back had broken off and was pressing directly on her spinal cord. You see mom suffered from osteoporosis and most of her back had been reconstructed with the use of surgical cement. Emergency surgery was performed on mom that night. My brother and I sat close by waiting to see how mom had done in surgery and finally about 5AM, the surgeons came out to us and told us that surgery was successful and the bone fragment had been removed. The first thing mom said when we saw her the next day was, “Can someone bring me my Bible?”
We will read on in Job and probably the smartest things Job’s friends did was to stay silent for the first seven days.
I won’t talk about what the end result was for Job but I will say, mom lived another 15 or so years after the bone fragment was removed. Mom is now with Jesus, experiencing the fullness of the love she trusted in throughout her life.
I guess my point today is that good and adversity are both part of life. If God is love, how do we understand the suffering He allows? Honestly, I don't know. I do know that being a Jesus follower doesn't mean we will be spared suffering, or that we will always understand why it happens. Mom believed God loved her, even through years of pain. She never lost her integrity or her faith in Him. I believe she is now with Jesus, experiencing the love she trusted in throughout her life. I may not understand why God allows adversity, but I still believe He is love.
Have a great day!
Steve
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