Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
Why is that when you decide to follow Christ, it seems you have so many heartaches and disappointments? Often everything goes wrong. If God is with you, why all this?
Job wondered that also. He did what was right, but suffered terribly. He was also "disfellowshipped" by his "church" of his day--his three "wise" friends who made his pain worse. He was sorely tempted to give up as his wife urged him to do, to "curse God and die" (2:9). But someday you will thank Job for writing his book--it's a blessing to us all.
David believed that "the Lord is my Shepherd," yet look at the sufferings he had to endure. His "church" also virtually disfellowshipped him; "the anointed of the Lord," Saul, tried to kill him. Again, David wrote psalms that have been a blessing to us all. Thank you, David!
The Lord called Jeremiah to be His special messenger even before he was born (1:5). Endless pain and sorrow were his lot, it seems right to the day of his death. But again, thank you, Jeremiah, for that book you wrote.
And so it has been all through history, right down to the present year. Meanwhile God is in His heaven, omnipotent, and infinitely wealthy. In Isaiah 66 He tells us that the wide universe is His "house." We can't add a feather's weight to His wealth. But--He doesn't have all He wants. He is looking for something special to satisfy His heart-yearning: a man (or woman) "who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles [thrills] at My word" (vss. 1, 2).
What's behind the scenes is this great cosmic controversy between Christ and Satan. It's a grueling struggle; and unless God can "find" that man or woman, He could lose the contest. We are the gladiators down in the arena fighting for His victory. "Fight the good fight [not of works! but] of faith" (1 Tim. 6:12). Hang on to faith--that is, believing that He is holding on to your hand (Isa. 41:10; the other way around doesn't work!). "Believe also in Me," says Jesus (John 14:1-3). He loves you, but not like you love your dog and pity it; the Father honors you, respects you, yes, I will say it: He is proud of you as you hang on to your faith like Job, David, Jeremiah, and countless others have done. You honor and glorify Him! (Rev. 14:6, 7).
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 25, 2003.
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