In yesterday’s devotion I shared the following quote on life by John Piper: “Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.”1
As I was reading this quote, I was struck by the phrase, “Life is a winding and troubled road.” Clearly there is no question that each of us go through many ups and downs, and trials and suffering in life, but praise God, Jesus is with us as Christians every step of the way. And as we trust Christ we can relax knowing that He works all things for our good and for His glory!
When Pastor Piper mentions the story of Joseph, in his above quote, I can’t think of any story that has more twists and turns than the life of this dear man of God. As Joseph went from slave to prime minister, and all of the events in between, his steady trust in God allowed him to never grow bitter at God but more dependent on His sovereignty.
And look at the account of Job. While Job basically lost everything, including his wealth, health, and the lives of his ten children, he never cursed God. He felt free to curse the inequities of life, but he never confused the “winding road of life,” with God’s divine goodness. You see Job learned the great lesson to never confuse life with God. While life can be brutally unfair, God is never unfair. God wanted to show Satan that Job served God no matter what trials came his way. And as a result Job, while never knowing why he had to suffer so much, has helped countless Christians, down through the centuries, learn rich lessons in the school of suffering.
So Christian, what about you? Are you suffering from an illness? Have you recently lost your job? Or has your wife just had a miscarriage? In all of these situations God has allowed them to happen because He has a master plan in which He wants to use your tragedy for His glory. Our role is to trust God that He will use our sufferings in unique ways if we just turn them over to Him. So, rather than question God in these above cases 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.
Life will always be full of winding roads but the final destination – eternal life with Jesus – will bring us so much joy that we will never sorrow again. And in place of the winding road, there will be streets of gold! So Christian get excited – eternity is nearer than you think.
1 Quote by John Piper: “Life is not a straight line leading from one bl…”