Job CCV

 Looking at the entirety of the book of Job in the aggregate, one can’t help but notice that though he started out as a man of faith, a man who was blameless and upright before God, by the end of his trial, the strength and magnitude of Job’s faith in God had increased exponentially. There is always room for growth when it comes to faith. We build upon it daily, and there’s never a cap or a limit wherein we can conclude that our faith is complete.

Faith is less like a house, with four walls and a roof, and more like a tower, ever ascending toward the heavens, and the more we build upon it, the closer we are to God. The higher the tower of our faith, the clearer we are able to see Him, know Him, feel His presence, and trust in His plan.

Today, you may have barely enough faith to trust God in the small things. Tomorrow, the things you trust Him for will be greater than today, and next month greater than tomorrow, because faith is ever-expanding, stretching, ascending, as with each brick we lay, we come to understand that it’s neither futile nor misplaced.

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

The more we grow in faith, the clearer His thoughts and plans for us become. The more we grow in faith, the more certain we are that His plans and thoughts for us are of peace and not of evil, intended to give us a future and a hope. The more we grow in faith, the less likely we are to wonder if God truly loves us, because we see His love shine through with every breath we take, and every obstacle we overcome by His strength rather than our own.

Even so, oftentimes we see in a mirror, dimly, and don’t fully grasp the magnitude and intricacy of His plan. That’s when the trust equity that has been built up over time comes into play. If God never failed me, left me, nor forsook me thus far, if He always answered when I cried out to Him in my grief or desperation, if His presence has been consistent and uninterrupted, I trust that He will remain faithful even if the current trials of life seem greater than the previous ones.

Trust is the antidote to doubt. It is the antidote to timidity. It is the cure for hesitation when we are called to press in, press on, endure, and overcome. I trust God. I know He is not leading me down the wrong path; I know the trials He allows are not purposeless; I know that He will make a way even when there seems to be no way, because He is unchanging, and if He did these things before, He will do them again.

God doesn’t have a credibility problem. Men have a faith problem. Since the dawn of creation, God has never promised something He has not delivered. He never bragged about being able to do something, only to fall short of the mark. Even when it came to something as impossible to human reason and man’s intellect as a child being born of a virgin, because He spoke it, it came to pass. I know my God can do all things because He’s proven He can do all things.

Luke 1:37, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

This is a straightforward enough declarative. Nothing means nothing, and the angel that came to Mary did not elaborate any further. He didn’t say, except for this one thing, whatever that might be, but declared simply that nothing is impossible with God.

God is not limited to man’s understanding of Him, nor is He constrained by what men think He can do. He is God! Sovereign, supreme over all of creation, with full authority to do as He wills as the Creator of all that is. He does not need man’s permission nor man’s consent to fulfill His purpose over His creation.

Why were the three young men resolute as they refused to bow? Because they knew nothing was impossible with God. Why did Daniel stand fearless amidst the lions? Because he knew nothing was impossible with God. Every example in God’s word of men who exceeded their limitations, who went beyond themselves, and who stood unperturbed in the midst of the tempest, was due to their unflinching conviction that nothing is impossible with the God they served.  

There is a confidence that makes itself manifest when we walk by faith and not by sight. It is a confidence that is evident in our actions, decisions, and overall outlook. Even at his lowest, Job exhibited this confidence I speak of, wherein he declared without equivocation that he knew his Redeemer lived.

He had cried out, and God had remained silent. He had lost his wealth, his children, his health, and felt the grave calling to him, yet retained the presence of mind and faith to declare, I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth.

Do you know or do you hope? Do you know or do you presume? Every morning, I get ready to go to work, and I hope my car will start, but I don’t know that it will. Whenever it gets cold, I hope my heater can keep up, but I don’t know with certainty if it won’t finally decide to give up the ghost. It’s not a distinction without a difference; it’s the difference between being able to endure the trials of life while looking onward toward the prize and giving up the race and never receiving your crown. The race must be completed for you to receive the prize. There are no participation trophies mentioned in the Word.

Job knew. He knew that after all the pain, all the travail, all the heartache and despair, he would see God for Himself, and his eyes would behold Him and not another.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.