Week Thirteen - A Tale that is Told

This past weekend, I had the blessed privilege of attending the Celebration of Life for my brother-in-law, John Gritts. John passed in October 2026. He had lived a full life that included being a precious and respected part of our family, a personal life-mission to help others, raising funds for American Indian education, and being a well-noted artist in his world. 

When you met him, his demeanour struck you immediately. You knew you were standing in the presence of someone of stature, not only because he was tall, but because his gentleness and wisdom poured through his words and actions. To me, he was the statesman of the family, someone you paid attention to, someone you knew had a special calling.

The Denver Art Museum was made available for the event, and as we sat listening to speakers who knew John across the various elements of his life and watched short videos, it was even more apparent how his life had been used to influence and bless others. As a family, we were privileged.

It reminded me that we are all influencing others. What difference are we making? Are we challenging others to growth and faith? Are we being a living example of kindness and care? Does gentleness and wisdom pour through our lives? Are we statesmen? Are we using our gifts and calling for the purpose of benefiting others?  

Someday, it will be our turn to lie silently while others talk about our lives. What will they say? How will they say it? The Bible says we spend our days as a tale that is told; let's make sure our celebration of life includes a good testimony. Let's leave behind a story of faith.

Week Twelve - Shall, shall, shall

I love it when God's Word jumps off the page and meets the concerns of my heart. The other day, I woke fearful about war. I hate conflict of any kind because, as I wrote in my journal, "It unnerves me and causes my whole body to react."

I finished my journal entry by writing, "So I am speaking to myself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, trying to focus on God, who is with me wherever I go and has already overcome. Jesus says, 'Be of good cheer.' I must choose to obey and leave Him with the rest. This old world is coming to an end, and it will go out in war, not peace. I need not fear God's plan but rest in His promises and the purpose of His will. Eternity awaits where there is no conflict."

I prayed a bit and laid aside my journal to do my chapter-a-day Bible reading. Today was Job 26, fourteen little verses. Job is answering Bildad, who had, in the previous little chapter of only six verses, painted a picture of man's hopelessness.

Job's answer comes back to two thoughts. First, he questions his friends - "How are you helping me?"  They haven't.

And then, he turns his words toward God's might. God hangs the earth on nothing, filling the clouds with water, controls the tide, and divides the sea, he says, and these are only a part of His ways.

And that's when God's Word grabbed me."These are parts of his ways." I only see a little part of His ways. If He can do all these things, what in this world limits Him? Nothing.

Nothing is too hard for Him. Nothing is outside His power or wisdom. No man's pride can overcome God. No weapon fashioned against Him will stand. And when we try to comprehend His greatness and all-encompassing wisdom and control, we fail miserably. For truly, what little we are capable of understanding is, as Job says, only part of His ways.

Isaiah 55:8-9 came to my mind. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts!"

My fear faded into faith, and then it turned to hope as I read on in Isaiah 55 to verse 11. "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."

God's purpose will be fulfilled, and even there, we only know a part of it.

But the promise of verse twelve set me up for a much better day. "For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you in singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

Shall, shall, shall. That is a word of promise. Do you see it sprinkled through all the verses the Lord sent me? And even with these promises, this is only a part of His ways. He knows how to bless and comfort, for He is the Comforter. I'm so thankful I know that part.

So today, if you are feeling fearful or worried, take time to consider how little you know compared to how much He does. We only know a part of His plan, and we only understand a part of how things will work out. But we need to fear, for He knows it all exactly. He isn't afraid of conflict. These are only a part of His ways.

Let's follow Jesus' instruction in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  

Week Eleven - Unashamed

Job has been judged, badgered, and ridiculed by his so-called friends. Though they came to give comfort and support him during his grief, no words of comfort were spoken. Their continual accusations wore Job down. Looking around, he notices that everyone has abandoned him. The community whispers behind his back, and even his servant ignores his pleas. His summation is that even God has overthrown him (19:6), and he is counted as an enemy of God (19:11). No amount of talk or reasoning can alter his circumstance. He is a broken man sitting in the dust, enduring harsh words and ridicule.

Amazingly, he summons up a prayer. "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! (19:23-24). You read Job's words today because God answered that prayer. For literally generations, Christians have drawn hope and learning from Job's grueling experience.

But after his prayer, Job brightens, again expressing his integrity and faith. "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God (19:25-26).

In the midst of great trial, misunderstanding, abandonment, and heartache, Job's words refresh our souls. There is hope beyond grief. There is something to look forward to. Oh, that our words were resplendent with Job's same hope. Our Redeemer lives, and one day, we will stand before him.

The trial of our faith is temporary. The heartaches of this life do not last for eternity. They are but tools used by God to create for us a "more eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Like Job, we must look beyond today to our Saviour and the promise of eternal life full of peace and joy. John's prayer in 1 John 2:28 is that "we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming."  This needs to be the focus of our prayer; that we may stand unashamed and ready to meet our Lord.

I'm sure Job stood unashamed before God. Will we?

Week Ten - The Day of Weakness

The continual conversation between Job and his friends is challenging me to think about how I speak to people in the middle of trials and what it looks like to endure a deep trial. 

Today, I read chapter 16, where Job replies to Eliphaz. In the last chapter, Eliphaz put out a scathing and curt accusation - surely Job has sinned, and he is trying to cover it up, he says.

Job's reply to Eliphaz's harshness is a reprimand, saying he would never speak to his friends the way they have spoken to him if the roles were reversed. 

Job 16:4-5, "I also could speak as ye do; if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you, but I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief."

Do our words strengthen our friends during trials? Or do we shake our heads at them and cast questions as to why they are in such a trial? To shake the head signifies scorn, mockery, or disgust at someone suffering in misery or weakness.  In Matthew 27:39, we read, "And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads." This is the reaction of those around the cross toward our Lord. I don't want to be numbered in that crowd. Do you? So it calls me to mercy and appropriate language when I am speaking to someone enduring a trial.

Job goes on to say how his friends' words make him feel. They made him feel weary and alone. Then, in verse eight, he says, "thou hast filled me with wrinkles." That is such an apt description of how harsh and unmerciful words affect the soul. They shrivel. They cut into the skin. They cause wrinkles.

But Job turns away from his friends and casts himself upon the Lord because he believes this trial is the hand of God at work, and that he is innocent of sin. His soul does not condemn him. Verse 17, "not for any injustice in mine hands; also my prayer is pure."

When we come to trials, one of the first things we should do is judge whether it has come as a result of our sin. Is our Father chastising us? Is He trying to correct us or redirect our path? Are we reaping what we have sown? Being honest with God and repenting of our sins is first.

Then, if our hearts do not condemn us, if we know of no known sin, we can sit with Job in full faith.

Casting ourselves upon God, praying through tears, and waiting upon the Lord to answer are acts of faith. It is not a weakness to yield all to the Lord. If we believe our times are in His hands, which they truly are, and that He is sovereign, which He truly is, faith is our wisest stance and action.

Faith doesn't always look powerful. It doesn't always come donned in armor. Sometimes it looks like tears and weakness. Sometimes it is quiet and broken. Sometimes it's a matter of waiting.

Psalm 27:13-14, "I had fainted (I would have given up in grief), unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord."

So, if you are in a day of weakness, if you are in the grief of a heavy trial, cast yourself upon Him. Pray, even through your tears, and wait on the Lord. He will keep His promise to bring strength to your trusting soul. Maintain your faith during the day of weakness.