Know God Even When the Odds Are Against You
Our relationship with God must be personal – relationship with God must be built on a personal encounter with Him. We must know where we stand with God, even when those closest to us do not raise the accolades of our persistence that we sometimes look for.
In reading about Job, we see that he was confronted with a very difficult situation. Job knew that he was blameless and that he had walked righteously before His God. He knew that he had done nothing to make God angry. But he also knew that the pain which he was experiencing was not inflicted on him apart from the permission of his God.
When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar came to him, they had every intention of comforting him (Job 2:11). However, they failed to grasp the reality of the matter. They reasoned, from the outside, that there was no way that a righteous and blameless man would be allowed to go through the testing that Job was experiencing.
But Job had a personal relationship with God. This relationship enabled him to stand firm in the fact that he had done nothing to displease his God. Yet he trusted God enough to speak truthfully and honestly before Him and still, he knew that God would be God and bring His will to pass.
We must never allow ourselves to doubt God. We must always be in a tune with God and we must trust that He would let us know when we are out of step with Him. People cannot direct us in the paths of God. God can use people to speak to us, but it is God who gives the direction where His purpose and plan are concerned.
Job’s friends were sure that they knew what they were talking about. They were convinced that Job had gone wrong somewhere, somehow. He reprimanded his friends for trying to win favour with God. They were saying the things that they were expected to say; they were guessing (Job 13: 7 – 10). We must learn of Job’s friends:
- We must never judge people’s situations based on the difficulties that they experience. God is the only righteous judge. We must let Him be God.
- We must never seek to speak without first understanding from God’s perspective. Job’s friends failed to see the situation from God’s point of view, and as such, they posited invalid hypotheses.
- We should never seek to give people “spiritual answers” for their problems, unless those answers are directed by God himself. We may only cause their pain to increase. It is God who determines what truth is, not man, regardless of how pious the man may be. God is the Mighty Counselor. We must always seek His advice before we speak on His behalf.
Job knew where he stood with God, and although his situation pressed him, he held on to the truths that God had taught him in times before. Even when the vote was four to one, when his friends and wife were against him, he held fast to the belief that he was in right standing with God and God delivered him in the end.
Sometimes, Christians struggle and the church puts them through unnecessary fatigue because they simply do not understand the struggle. We must never poke our noses in other people’s struggles; we must not comment, unless the Lord gives utterance.
My relationship with God must be just that – between God and I. I do not need to consult with others to find out whether God is leading us or speaking to me. It cannot be denied, that seeking the counsel of Godly men and women is crucial when making decisions and it is certainly a Biblical principle that has been applied throughout Scripture. However, one must always remember, that when the day is done, one does not need a “majority vote”. I just need God’s assurance. How ever and if ever He chooses to bring confirmation, then Amen!
If He chooses to bring that confirmation through a human source, then praise God still. God never needed man’s concurrence with His opinion to make it right.
With or without us, God’s plan is the right plan and God’s way is the right way!
Kerese Harrinandan!
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