*Scripture: Job 30:16-31 (NKJV)* 16 "And now my soul is poured out because of my plight; The days of affliction take hold of me. 17 My bones are pierced in me at night, and my gnawing pains take no rest. 18 By great force my garment is disfigured; It binds me about as the collar of my coat. 19 He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 "I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me. 21 But You have become cruel to me; With the strength of Your hand You oppose me. 22 You lift me up to the wind and cause me to ride on it; You spoil my success. 23 For I know that You will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. 24 "Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins, if they cry out when He destroys it. 25 Have I not wept for him who was in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? 26 But when I looked for good, evil came to me; And when I waited for light, then came darkness. 27 My heart is in turmoil and cannot rest; Days of affliction confront me. 28 I go about mourning, but not in the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help. 29 I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches. 30 My skin grows black and falls from me; My bones burn with fever. 31 My harp is turned to mourning, and my flute to the voice of those who weep. * Devotion* In the steely grip of affliction, cast down in the mire, Job grew desperate as his pleas for mercy seemed to be unanswered. Job was convinced God was being wrathful. Luther wrote that if we believe God to be wrathful, "this is to imagine another god and not to remain in the simplicity of faith that there is one God. Nor is God cruel, but He is 'the Father of comfort.' Because He delays His help, our hearts make a wrathful idol of God, who is always like Himself and constant." (AE 12:374) Far from being cruel, God is molding us for His loving service. "The fiercer our sufferings are, the greater and more wonderful are the things that are worked in the saints. It is a proof of grace and God's goodwill when they are disciplined by the cross and afflictions." (AE 6:355) When we find ourselves in distress, we do well to remember that God may have "enrolled" us for lessons in compassion. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer." (2 Cor. 1:3-6) Call Send SMS Add to Skype You'll need Skype CreditFree via Skype
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