One of the great lessons that the Lord has taught me over the years is not to confuse life with God. Over the years my belief in the absolute fairness and goodness of God has grown to the point that even when suffering and pain hit me my faith in God no longer takes a hit. For you see I have learned the great lesson to never confuse life with God. My friends to put it bluntly God is always fair while life is not.
If you have been reading my blog for some time now you are probably aware that I am quite open about the time 20 years ago when I came down with a severe case of clinical depression. It lasted 18 months and through it I learned not to confuse life with God. While life often isn’t fair God always is. I felt free to curse the inequities of life, like my depression, but not God, because I knew that He felt my emotional pain right alongside of me because His very Holy Spirit lives inside of me. So, when I was grieving I knew that Christ was grieving with me. So, where is God in our emotional pain – He is right there with me. Over the years since I received my healing through the right medications, I have been able to counsel many people with depression. Once again God taught me valuable lessons through this very dark time in my life.
And as one reads the book of Job, we see the classic case of Job cursing life, but not God, despite the tremendous sufferings he had to endure. In (Job 1) we see how Satan was given permission by God to inflict tremendous disaster upon Job’s possessions and family, yet Job held forth his integrity and didn’t curse God for we read: “At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.’ In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” (Job 1:20-22).
But by the time we come to (Job 3), after Satan afflicted Job with painful sores all over his body, we read in this entire chapter how Job cursed the day of his birth and wished he had never been born. And while Mrs. Job said: “…Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9), Job’s understanding of God’s sovereignty and goodness helped him not to make the fatal mistake of confusing life with God. For when we do this we set ourselves up for crashing disappointments in life since suffering and tragedies afflict all of us.
Instead, I believe, that through all the trials and sufferings Job experienced, he somehow knew that God allowed them to happen because He has a master plan in which He wants to use our tragedy for His glory. And because Job held on to his integrity and never cursed God, in the end, despite never finding out why he had to endure so much suffering, God reveals Himself to Job and that was enough. And like Job, many times in our Christian walk, we will never know why God allows suffering, yet just knowing that our God is always good and has our back is enough to pull us through.
So, what is our role in this cosmic battle of good and evil? I believe it is to trust God that He will use our trials and tragedies in unique ways if we just turn them over to Him. So, rather than question God in these difficult circumstances of life with the refrain: “why me,” I much prefer to ask God how can you use these negatives to bless others and make me a God glorifying vessel. When we do this not only is God pleased but we will be accruing great blessings that will stay with us for all of eternity!