*Scripture: Job 13:13-28 (NKJV)* 13 "Hold your peace with me, and let me speak, then let come on me what may! 14 Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hands? 15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him. 16 He also shall be my salvation, for a hypocrite could not come before Him. 17 Listen carefully to my speech, and to my declaration with your ears. 18 See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated. 19 Who is he who will contend with me? If now I hold my tongue, I perish.
20 "Only two things do not do to me, then I will not hide myself from You: 21 Withdraw Your hand far from me, and let not the dread of You make me afraid. 22 Then call, and I will answer; Or let me speak, then You respond to me. 23 How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. 24 Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy? 25 Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble? 26 For You write bitter things against me, and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth. 27 You put my feet in the stocks, and watch closely all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet. 28 "Man decays like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten." *Devotion* You do not have to know the reasons why God allows suffering, but that does not mean you cannot seek an answer from God. Job does. He asks, not in unbelief, but in trust. He asks, not in defiance, but in confusion. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." He assumes that God has a reason, so he is bold to pursue the answer, trusting that, even now, God will permit the question. Job is not aware of any specific sin for which he is being punished, but he does not therefore insist that he is innocent. He pleads with God, "Make me know my transgression and my sin." Or maybe he is not suffering for a specific sin. Why, then? He yearns for an explanation, but receives none. So he asks, "Why do You hide Your face, and regard me as Your enemy?" It does not seem right to Job that God is spending so much time on him, making sure he suffers for whatever he is suffering for. Is he really worth so much trouble? These are reasonable questions--questions that the saints often ask in the inspired Psalms. This assures us that God permits such questions from His children. He encourages us to seek answers for the suffering in our life, as long as we seek them from Him and His Word. It is the devil who tempts us to look elsewhere, to produce answers from our own imagination or to stop seeking God altogether, assuming Him to be too cruel to care. But He does care. His Word reveals it. It is okay to ask your loving Father, "Why?"
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