Escalation

 The biggest lie currently circulating and making its way through the general consciousness like some malignant poison is that a man who shakes hands with ghosts wanders off into the woods and is only concerned about his next diaper change and the flavor of ice cream he will enjoy once the afternoon rolls around is somehow in charge, or making decisions that could potentially lead to the escalation of an already volatile and drawn out conflict, and the very real probability of a full scale, all-out world war.

It’s like having an aging grandparent who’s been missing a step or five and putting them in charge of retrofitting the gas line coming into the house while the rest of the family is in the basement planning their retirement party. He was never good at such things, even on his best day, but now, in his twilight, when more often than not he forgets his own name and has extended bouts of senility, is when we put him in charge of something that could turn the entire home into ash and rubble in five seconds flat.

It’s not so much that it beggars belief. It’s more akin to shattering it all together, asking the world to believe something demonstrably fallacious with a straight face. We’re expected to suspend reality and believe that he is the decider when it’s likely the only thing he’s decided over the last few years is the flavor of ice cream he’d get in his waffle cone.

Apparently, it’s only when the cameras are on that the man seems lost in space and time. Turn them off, and you’ve got one sharp cookie who understands the inner workings and dynamics of global politics to the point that he concluded the only way to peace is through war and escalation of a conflict that was weeks away from being resolved diplomatically.

Ever since the day after the elections when we got the results faster than anyone would dare hope, and the most hated man in Washington got a mandate to try and dismantle the machine, I’ve stated, and repeatedly so that it’s too quiet. Something was off, felt strange, and barring the handful of women who’ve taken to shaving their heads on Tic Toc and swearing off the intimacy they were never likely to be the recipients of in the first place and the talking heads who accused half the country of deep seeded misogyny, racism, ageism, sexism, and every other ism you could think of, everything seemed relatively peaceful.

I got that same sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when my kids have been upstairs for half an hour, with nary a peep to be heard. Sure, the quiet is a nice respite, but it’s also foreboding, and even though every ounce of me wants to enjoy it for a few more minutes, I know I have to go and check on them.

With less than two months to go before he has to vacate the office and enjoy his ice cream in Delaware rather than DC, the man who never saw a shadow he didn’t threaten has decided to give Ukraine the green light to use American-made long-range missiles to attack Russia. This is a departure from this administration’s previous position, but elections have consequences, and if the consequence of having chosen not to descend into full-blown Communism and rejecting globalism is full-scale war, none of the octogenarians on the Hill seem to be overly bothered by it.

The instant Ukraine got the green light to escalate, they did so, and reports are coming in that an American missile was used against a military depot in Russia. What the world is currently banking on and hoping for is Russian restraint, wherein they don’t reciprocate in kind and drag the rest of Europe into this conflict, a conflict that all parties acknowledged was likely to end with some sort of peace deal within days of the man who took on Corn Pop was to vacate the oval office.

Feral animals are at their most dangerous when they are cornered. Even with the uptick in business by the paper shredding trucks, there’s still a lot of dirt that those who’ve been in power for decades, pulling strings, and doing things that would turn the stomach of the most hardened of criminals, don’t ever want to see the light of day.

We are in uncharted territory, and the next few weeks will be very telling indeed. The worst thing you can do to the powerful is threaten their power. Because the narcissism of power is such that the only thing the individual in question is concerned with is himself and his influence, he will readily barter the lives of others and his own nation’s safety and security if he believes there is a chance to retain it.

This mindset is not exclusive to one side of the political aisle or the other. There is bipartisanship when it comes to protecting one’s self-interests, even if it comes at the cost of the lives and safety of those they are supposed to represent. If you thought we were out of the woods, one objective look will tell you we’re still deep in the forest. This is not the time to rest on our laurels or take a victory lap. It is a time to be watchful and sober, trusting God in all things and knowing where our help comes from. Spoiler alert: it’s not government!

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.” If only.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XLVIII

 Job 2:11, “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place – Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him.”

Bad news travels fast. It’s one of those truisms that has been around for ages, and it will continue to make the rounds because it’s so relatable. If one person shares good news with another, it’s likely to stay between them. I’ve rarely, if ever, heard someone say, “Did you hear the good thing that happened to so and so? I’m so happy for him!” If it’s ever said, it’s usually with a tinge of envy or a rolling of the eyes, as though the person was unworthy or undeserving of that good thing because unregenerate human nature is biased, vindictive, jealous, envious, and rarely do you find someone who is genuinely happy about another’s success.

If, perchance, success finds someone, and another happens to be in their inner circle, the first thought crossing their mind isn’t that they deserve it because they’ve worked hard for it, but how they could profit from it themselves, whether to ride their coattails or siphon off as much as they can in as short a time as they can.

We’ve all heard the stories of musicians who found success and suddenly had an entourage of fifty people following them everywhere until they fell on hard times, couldn’t afford the entourage anymore, and discovered who their true friends were in real-time. If anyone calling themselves your friend is only there for the feasting, but come the hard days they disappear into the ether, they were never your friend to begin with. It’s one of those painful but necessary lessons we learn as we grow older.

Job had been a fortunate man, not only in that God blessed the work of his hands but that by all available evidence, he had true friends. As the saying goes, if you have one true friend in life, you’re fortunate; if you have two, you’re blessed; and if you have three, you’re highly favored. Anything beyond that, and you’re just fooling yourself.

News didn’t travel so fast back in the day, yet somehow, Job’s friends had heard of his adversity. Nowadays, we have Facebook, so everyone’s business, whether good or bad, is out there, like so much laundry hanging on the line, for people to peruse and either shrug their shoulders, shake their heads, or roll their eyes. It’s okay to keep some things to yourself. It really is. Whether it’s because some people have become addicted to attention, sympathy, or the praying hands emoji, most today tend to overshare, especially when it comes to situations that need to be dealt with personally and not in the public eye.

Does the entire world really need to know that your wife made you scrambled eggs when you asked for an omelet this morning? I didn’t think so. Eat the eggs, be grateful, thank her for doing it, and get on with your day.

It seems as though Social Media allows us to revert back to our childhoods when we whined and complained about everything, whether valid or imagined. I get that it’s a release or a way to vent, but you’re not doing yourself any favors by crying wolf about every little thing to the point that people just ignore you altogether.

But if they were real friends, they wouldn’t ignore me! Honestly, how many times can someone read that you were disappointed by the quality of the avocados you purchased at the local grocery store, even though they were discounted and looked like their best days were behind them? You live in North Dakota. To the best of my knowledge, it doesn’t even crack the top ten of the best places to grow or find fresh avocados. Granted, it’s been a minute since I’ve seen an updated list, but unless something has changed dramatically, I still think I’m right about this.

Job was well known enough throughout the land, and his situation was so cataclysmic that without the aid of telephones, telegraphs, interwebs, e-mail, snail mail, or CB Radio, news of his demise traveled far and wide, so much so that his three friends heard of it and decided to come to mourn with him. That’s how we know they were true friends and not just friends in name only.

It’s likely they weren’t neighbors or even lived close by because they actually had to make plans to come visit Job, making an effort and going out of their way hoping they could be a comfort, or in the least, mourn with their friend.

Their reaction to hearing the news of what Job was going through says a lot about their character, as well as Job’s. If he’d been a fair-weather friend to them, they would have reciprocated in kind. Because he’d been a true friend to them, they went to be by his side and be there for him in his time of need and despondency. Be the kind of friend you’d like to have, and you will have that kind of friend. Reciprocity is demonstrably real, whether in a friendship, a marriage, or our relationship with God. The more we draw close to Him, the more He draws close to us. The more we value and cherish our wives or husbands, the more they will cherish us because most people mirror behavior without even being aware of it.

It’s easier by far to have expectations of everyone else around us than to have the self-awareness to look at ourselves and see if we are living up to our own standards. This goes beyond friendships to every area of our lives, wherein we expect of others what we ourselves fall short of, yet sit in judgment over them because they failed our litmus test. Rather than constantly pointing out how someone could have been a better friend in a given situation, perhaps it's time to ask if we could have been better friends as well—just a thought.      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XLVII

 Sometimes, the best thing we can do in a given situation is to keep silent. I realize this goes against our instincts, perhaps even against our nature because everyone has to have an opinion about everything, and if you don’t have an opinion, they’ll have an opinion as to why you don’t have an opinion.

Unsolicited advice is everywhere, and the more you try to tune it out, the louder it gets because those offering it think they can whittle you down to the point that you go along with whatever they’re saying just to make them stop talking.

We have to make the requisite allowances for the fact that Job’s wife was likewise feeling, heretofore, unfelt depths of pain. She’d just lost all ten of her children as well; the life she’d known up until days ago was smashed to smithereens, and her husband, the father of her children and the protector, provider, and overseer of a vast, well-oiled homestead which spanned hundreds of souls and thousands of livestock lay in ruin, covered in painful boils, scratching at himself while sitting atop an ash heap.

Respect is one of the most important virtues one spouse must possess for the other, and it must be a reciprocal act. I can hear the eyebrows arching, see the wagging fingers, and the need to give in to the desire to write me a quick note, insisting that love is the most important virtue. In my defense, I said respect is one of the most important virtues, but beyond that, if there’s no love in a marriage, then any respect one might emote is feigned and situational and is tethered to a hidden motive of some kind.

Come June of next year, I will have been married for a quarter of a century. Said marriage produced two wonderful daughters, as well as the requisite moments of joy, pain, laughter, tears, jubilation, and anxiety. Through it all, we were there for each other, sharing in the joy and the sorrow, with mutual respect being the cornerstone upon which trust, value, and self-sacrifice were built.

The easiest way to navigate life’s storms and keep from crashing against the rocky outcroppings is to put God first in every area of your life, and that includes marriage. It is something we discussed at length before getting married and something we committed to from the outset. The question was never about what was best for our situation or what could help us get ahead as a new family, but what the will of God was for us and where He needed us to be. It’s something both parties have to agree with and commit to. Otherwise, there will be tension, there will be arguments, and it’s hard to make progress when one individual is pulling to the left and the other is pulling to the right.  

Whether Job’s wife lost respect for him or not, I cannot say with certainty, but her reaction to seeing him in his current condition hints at the probability that she did. She saw a once strong, assertive, decisive man, seemingly in control of everything around him, reduced to little more than a homeless beggar covered in boils. At the time, for fear of contracting whatever the malady was, the individual in question would be removed to the outskirts of the city and left alone to live out the rest of their days in solitude. Whether it was leprosy or boils, the sufferer would be shunned by society and forced into isolation for fear of the disease spreading.

Job’s wife being used by the enemy and her continuing to have love for him in her heart are not mutually exclusive. Two ideas can be true at the same time, so it’s not so much that she stopped loving him or thinking of him as her husband, but in the moment, she allowed herself to be used by Satan for the nefarious purpose of insisting that he curse God and die.

Satan wanted to prove God wrong. He wanted to be able to return anew when the sons of God were gathered together, gloat at having broken Job, and pressured him to the point of sinning against God in some way. We clearly see the lengths to which he was willing to go to accomplish his plan, so the idea that he whispered in Job’s wife’s ear to encourage him to cease holding onto his integrity and to curse God isn’t just a possibility but highly probable.

When you understand the lengths to which the enemy of your soul will go to plant bitterness or rebellion in your heart, it will make you cling to Jesus all the more. All he needs is a moment of weakness, a chink in your armor, something he can leverage and use to get you to take your eyes off Christ and the cross and think you can beat back the enemy all on your own.

Most of us are predisposed to speak first and think later. It’s not a noble virtue, and it’s something I’ve dealt with for the better part of my life, especially since the girls were old enough to walk, climb, and hang onto things they shouldn’t be hanging onto. Even after repeatedly telling them not to climb the tree in the backyard or try to do somersaults off the kitchen counter, they’d still do it and end up with a bruise or a knot on their forehead. I had to fight the urge to say, “I told you so!” because it was neither the time nor the place for it. It’s what I wanted to say; it was on the tip of my tongue, but I could see the tears in their eyes and the pain they were in, and I knew that what they needed at that moment was comfort, a hug, and someone to ask if they were okay.

We can be brutal and coldhearted when it comes to another’s suffering, kicking them while they’re down or making it about ourselves, insisting that we warned them, told them, pleaded with them not to do what they did that got them in the situation they were in, but sometimes it’s best to bite our tongue, say nothing, and weep with those who weep.

Don’t allow yourself to be used of the enemy to shred another’s last ounce of hope by insisting that they abandon it altogether and give in to the despair. Be wise in your counsel, and know when, rather than counsel, the person just needs a shoulder to cry on.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XLVI

Some would readily wither on the vine, merely contemplating Job’s trials, never mind going through them. We all have our version of what tragedy, adversity, hardship, and calamity may look like in our mind’s eye, and the limits of my imagination may be different than yours, and yours may be different than another’s.

Depending on where you grew up, how you grew up, and the type of difficulty you had to overcome, not finding the right brand of cereal at the local grocer can seem like an unbearable and unduly cruel hardship. If you happen to tell someone who had to eat tree bark as a kid just to keep their stomach from growling that the Piggly Wiggly was out of Grape Nuts and it ruined your day, they’re likely to roll their eyes and think some less than kind things about your affirmation.

It’s all a matter of context and previous experience, but wherever you land on the spectrum of what you believe true suffering to be, we can all agree that Job is the gold standard. Whatever trivial thing I may be going through on a given day, from a flat tire or the car not starting to getting stuck in traffic for an hour on an ordinary Tuesday, all I have to do is bring to mind the things Job endured to feel a sense of gratefulness wash over me and repent for considering such things hardships worthy of bemoaning.

For the last three decades and change, I’ve traveled back and forth to Romania consistently. Less so since the girls were born, but my little brother was there to pick up the slack, so I didn’t feel the need to leave my wife and children in order to go and do what someone else could. The ministry began as an outreach to the poor, abandoned, and forgotten of Romania, and although we have broadened our work to include Ukraine of late, the core of our mission statement remains intact. We feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and look after the orphan and the widow to the best of our ability. In so doing, I have come to realize that my definition of poverty is someone else’s definition of wealth and prosperity.

It’s hard to be bitter about having to buy a second-hand car or clothes from a thrift store when you’re daily hearing stories from people not knowing if they’ll survive the coming winter because they have no firewood and no means with which to purchase some. Unless you are made of stone, it changes your perspective about how blessed you are and that countless millions worldwide dream of the life you currently despise and deem cumbersome and needlessly cruel.

I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone; I’m speaking for myself. There are a myriad of daily graces and blessings I take for granted, from decent health to a roof over my head to the ability to work and earn enough, wherein I don’t have to be fearful about my children freezing to death. These are not things I am entitled to or deserve, yet on a certain level, I feel as though will always be there in some form or fashion.

The attitude of gratitude we must possess is not something naturally occurring in the human heart. It is something that must be nurtured and encouraged to grow, and in so doing, it keeps the desire for more or the tendency to compare our lot to those who have more by way of the material at bay.

A couple of years back, shortly after they started attending classes in person again, I noticed my daughters were coming home with stories of what the other kids in their class had been gifted or the new toys their parents had acquired, to the point that every week someone had gotten a new doll house, a pony, a new car, or were planning a vacation somewhere exotic. There was always a tinge of expectation or a questioning look in their eyes as to why we weren’t doing the same, and it was largely the reason my wife and I decided to take a family trip to Romania, so they could see the other side of life, and hopefully learn to appreciate what they had and not envy what others did.

For the two weeks we were there, I took my daughters and my dad, and we went out to numerous villages, passing out food packages, clothing, and finances where needed, and they got to see true poverty in a way very few in our Western culture get to do. Young as they were, they were able to make the connection between the life they lived, with running water, indoor plumbing, electricity, and something to eat always within reach, and the lengths to which others have to go just to survive.

I could see the shift in their mindset and the change in their outlook. It was a transformative experience for them. They went from asking when they could get a new toy some girl at school had just gotten to giving their stuffies to children their age who had no more to play with than a rusty bucket and a stick.

Perspective matters. It allows us to be thankful for the things God has given us rather than be envious of others who have more. Even in our hardship, our suffering, or our testing, though it may seem unbearable to us, we must acknowledge that others have been where we are, and they had to endure far worse, yet they persevered.

Given the examples and testimonies of those who came before us, rather than bemoaning our current lot, our time would be far better spent discovering how men such as Job endured all that came upon him while remaining faithful, retaining his integrity, and not growing disillusioned, bitter, or disheartened.

Once you know how something is done, you can replicate it, using the same means to achieve the same result. First, Job knew the God he served intimately and profoundly. Second, Job trusted the God he served and His sovereignty throughout. Third, Job clung to his faith and hope regardless of the situation he found himself in, knowing the goodness of God, even when his life was reduced to a pile of ash and a potsherd.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.     

Job XLV

 Job’s integrity was an observable virtue. It was not cloaked or hidden, or something you had to search high and low for, but readily seen to the point that his wife pointed out the fact that he still held onto it after his life came crashing down around him. It’s very likely his wife wasn’t the only one to notice. Whether the servants who survived, his neighbors or those who interacted with him regularly, his current steadfastness and preservation of his integrity only confirmed to them what they already knew of the man.  

That said, it wasn’t something he actively sought to exude, something he thought about, or something he focused on. This is an important distinction because far too many try to put on airs, pretending to be spiritual, thinking it’s the image people want them to project. In some instances, they need to project an image rather than who they are authentically because they are presenting themselves as spiritual authorities rather than genuinely desire to serve God and be one of His children both in word and deed.

When you see an individual playing at being spiritual or having integrity instead of genuinely possessing these virtues, there’s always something that seems off, a bit odd, with that not quite authentic feel to it. It’s reminiscent of politicians pretending to be human, smiling awkwardly, pretending to grill burgers on a grill with no flame, or biting babies for whatever reason. Their humanity is not naturally occurring. They are not genuine and take their cues from those around them as to how a real human with real emotions should act.

That which is in the heart of a man will shape his character, his attitude, and the way he interacts with those around him. If God is on the throne of his heart, then his actions will speak for themselves. He won’t need to carry a bullhorn around and insist that he is a prophet, an apostle, or a man of God; his attitude will show it without him having to trumpet it to anyone within earshot.

Whenever someone tries to draw more attention to themselves than to the God they serve, it’s always a warning sign. We are here for the sole purpose of pointing the way to Jesus and telling anyone who would hear that He is the way, the truth, and the life. It’s not about us or our ego, it’s not about us and our pride, it’s not about what we can do but what He’s already done.

When we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, and faithfully pick up our crosses and follow after Him, it is He who will raise us up. It’s not something we need to try and do on our own or by ourselves because that is not the purpose of the exercise; that’s not the reason you were called to serve. We’ve lost sight of the reality that a servant is not greater than his Master, and there’s an ongoing, evermore violent scramble for the spotlight nowadays, wherein men will actively try to tear down another in the hopes of being elevated themselves.

If someone is teaching aberrant doctrine, they must be called out. If, however, you begin to undermine an individual just because you feel as though he’s encroaching on your slice of the pie, your heart is not in the right place, and you’re not doing it for the glory of God.

There is also this tendency among the sheep to pit shepherds against each other and try to get them to start slinging mud. I’ve often been asked what I think of certain individuals within ministry, and every time this happens, my focus is always on whether they are teaching the truth of Scripture. I’m not concerned about their delivery or eccentricities or whether they wear suits or sweaters when they preach. My only concern is whether or not they are teaching the salvific truth of the gospel of Christ, and if they are, God bless them. I hope the Lord gives them strength, endurance, and a bigger platform than what they already have to do the work of the Kingdom.

Trying to protect, defend, or otherwise elevate something that isn’t yours to begin with is wasted energy and a horrible use of one’s time. Although a former president was wrong when he said, “You didn’t build that,” in relation to individuals who started businesses and built them up, if he’d been referencing ministries or the work of God, he would have been spot on. I don’t care how big your ministry is or how many campuses your church has; you didn’t build that! If you insist that it was you, that you built it and made it grow, then God wasn’t in it, and it wasn’t His work. You can’t have it both ways. It’s either God’s work, and He builds it to a size He desires, or it’s your work, and God’s not in it, and you’re off on your own, doing your own thing, using God as a foil for your aspirations and goals.

On the other side of it, Job didn’t pretend as though he wasn’t hurting or that he wasn’t feeling the pain attributed to losing his children and being covered in painful boils. He didn’t put on a brave face and pretend as though what was happening to him wasn’t. When Jesus said we shouldn’t have a sad countenance, it was within the context of fasting, not within the context of feeling sadness, pain, or hardship.

The difference between how those of the world and those of the household of faith process and go through affliction and heartache is that while the world does so alone, we do so anchored in hope, whether the hope that we will one day be reunited with our love ones, or that God has a plan we are currently unable to see. Having gone through my fair share of heartache, I can testify that hope makes the difference, and it is a sure comfort we can cling to even in the worst of times.

Because we know the God we serve, because we know He is with us, because we know that He will make a way and that the valley will soon give way to the mountaintop, we hold fast to our integrity, we cling to faith and hope in the God we serve, we persevere and press ever onward toward the prize.

1 Peter 5:10, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XLIV

 There are moments in life that define us. There are situations and circumstances we go through that compel us to either rise to the challenge, dig deep, and discover new wells of heretofore unexpected strength, or crush us beneath the weight of their bulk, leaving us broken and untethered. These are the make-or-break moments, the ones that shape us and we remember for the rest of our lives. When we find ourselves at the crossroads of such monumental, life-defining choices, the deciding factor will always be whether we trust God beyond what we can see with our eyes of flesh or surrender to the avalanche of despair that the situation produced.

Trust, faith, and hope are all choices we make as individuals, and once the choice is made, we contend with the consequences, whether for good or ill. It takes self-awareness and brutal honesty to look at where we are and admit, if only to ourselves, that it's due to our choices and decisions over the span of months, years, or decades that we find ourselves in certain situations and conclude that had we heeded God at certain bifurcations in the road, we would be in a different place altogether.

You can’t blame God for where you are if every step of the way, you turned left when He told you to turn right, moved forward when He told you to stand still, and pressed on trying to make it work on your own when His instruction was to rest in Him and see what He can do.

Beyond the ripples and waves the fall of prominent men within Christendom has caused of late, what I find equally tragic is that few, if any, have taken accountability for their actions, acknowledged their failures, and sought repentance. I’m not talking about those who, eying a return to ministry, have half-heartedly apologized for their sin, but those who, understanding the gravity of their situation, repented before God in sackcloth and ash.

It’s not my job to gauge true repentance of heart because only God knows the hearts of men, but with true repentance comes a new humility, a change of one’s ways, and a rejection of the sins that beset them, then exposed them, then made them the topic of the news cycle for weeks on end.

How do you know so and so didn’t repent? Because they’re still trying to find someone to blame for their actions, attempting to scapegoat their sin, and laying the blame at the feet of anyone else other than themselves, that’s how.

Recently, a pastor of one of the biggest churches in America tried to blame his twelve-year-old victim for the unspeakable things he did, claiming that she seduced him, having a Jezebel spirit and a spirit of seduction upon her. Yes, you read that right, twelve. This occurred while he was a fully grown adult, married, with a child, but it was the twelve-year-old’s fault for his being creepy and perverted and grooming her to the point of taking her innocence. Sorry, not sorry, but that’s not true repentance of heart. That’s trying to justify your perversion and licentiousness.

This is where we are, and it’s not because God desired the church to be full of hypocrites and perverts doing unspeakable things to those under their spiritual authority but because those men made choices. Conscious, repeated, ongoing choices contrary to the Word and will of God.

Nobody wakes up five hundred pounds overweight, huffing and puffing as they waddle to the door to take delivery of their Dominos order. It happened gradually, over time, one choice leading to another, compounding its effects, until one either acknowledges the state they’re in or continues to blame the dryer for shrinking their clothes and buying a new dryer.

Sin lies at the door of every man’s heart, and its desire is to corrupt and destroy, but it is our duty to resist it and rule over it, knowing that we have the power to do so through the grace of God. It has been this way since the beginning, when God warned Cain of the enemy’s devices, clearly defining the two paths that were before him. He could have chosen to do well, and he would be accepted, or harden his heart, grow bitter, and do the unthinkable, rising up against his brother Abel and killing him.

Man does not disobey, rebel, or sin in a vacuum. There are always consequences to the path they choose to take, whether those consequences are evident instantly or over time. In His love, God warns us to choose what is good, to do well, and to let faith be the anchor that keeps us from being swept away by the roaring sea, but the choice is ultimately ours as individuals as to whether we will heed His counsel, or do as we will.

Not only did Job not find fault with God for his situation, but he also didn’t go looking for someone to blame for it. He didn’t lash out at his wife, trying to blame her for having lost everything, or his servants who came to bring him the devastating news of what had occurred to his children and his possessions; he didn’t inquire if the cook had made some bad lamb and that’s why he was covered in boils, he retained his integrity and his faith in the God he served and humbled himself in worship. All this while God deemed him a blameless and upright man. It’s not as though Job had some secret sin that had been exposed or knew himself to be faithless, pretending to be faithful. He was not suffering the consequences of his actions or the repercussions of his rebellion. His faith was being tested, all the while remaining in the dark as to why and for what purpose.

Job made the choice to remain faithful even though he could not see the whole picture and was operating with incomplete information. All he knew was that he’d just suffered the loss of all his earthly possessions, the loss of his children, and the loss of his health. Even so, he trusted the God he served and had confidence in His sovereignty.

How far are you willing to trust God? If not all the way, then your faith has not been established, and the only question is how hard the enemy has to press to make you waiver.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XLIII

 It’s human nature to accept good things with open arms. Whether it’s a compliment, a promotion, or finding out someone slipped an extra nugget in your six-piece value meal, it tends to make us feel warm and cozy, elevate our spirits, and more often than not, we find ourselves smiling for no other reason than that something good and unexpected just occurred.

Although we are not as jubilant about embracing adversity, it too has a purpose that is well-defined and readily identified, especially in hindsight. Hardship, adversity, trials, and testing mold character, and once we’ve gone through it and come out the other side victorious, we are stronger for it, with a deeper faith in the God we serve.

Even at his low point, Job had the wherewithal to acknowledge that both good things and adversity come from the hand of God and, as such, must be received with equal aplomb. But that just can’t be! We’re told day in and day out that our expectations of God should extend no further than good things, pressed down, shaken together, all the time, without fail, whether we’re awake or sleeping. Otherwise, we’re lacking in faith or failed to make a seed offering to our preferred televangelist.

While the modern-day church needlessly complicates some things, it also oversimplifies others, to the point that the entirety of our spiritual man’s succor is boiled down to a handful of overused clichés or morning affirmations we’ve taken to repeating in the mirror. We wouldn’t want to burden people with deeper discussions about faithfulness, obedience, or perseverance. They’re busy people with busy lives, and if we insist they take an extra second to consider deeper truths, they’re likely to go to the church across the street that has an hour of praise of worship followed by a five-minute sermon about karma.

The shepherds have failed the sheep, the church has failed God, and what was to be an army marching through the land with healing in their hand and everlasting joy and gladness in their hearts has been reduced to a bunch of man-babies who whine and stomp their feet until someone comes along to shove a pacifier in their mouth, and tell them it’s all going to be fine, and their breakthrough is just an offering away.

You get what we have when there is a systemic failure to preach the Gospel in any given generation by those whose sole purpose and duty was to do just that. The whole counsel of God means even those things your flesh is uncomfortable with, even those areas that call for the mortification thereof, and the undeniable reality that the testing of one’s faith, whichever way it may manifest, is not something outside the realm of possibility, or even a probability, but a certainty.

When an entire generation has been conditioned to believe that only good things will abound and overflow in their lives once they’ve made a half-hearted commitment to call themselves spiritual, their immediate reaction to any adversity is to arch their eyebrows and back away slowly because it’s neither what they signed up for, nor what they were promised by the guy in the three-piece suit and the Rolex on his wrist.

Job did not react in the flesh. He did not shake his fists at the heavens or insist he didn’t deserve to go through the adversity he was currently going through; he didn’t get bitter, angry, or vindictive because his focus was exclusively on God, and he trusted in His sovereignty, the way a child trusts their mother or father. He did not doubt God’s goodness and mercy, nor did he charge Him with wrong.

We can dwell on our current situation or circumstance, and the more we do, the bigger the problem seems to get, or we can fix our gaze upon God and worship Him, fully confident that He knows the end from the beginning and has made a way of escape for us.

1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.”

Although when we think of temptation, we tend to associate it with a seduction of some kind, the broader definition of the word is the desire to do something wrong or unwise. Yes, wanting to eat that triple-layer chocolate cake in one sitting is a form of temptation, but so is the desire to question the authority of God. As far as the cake is concerned, it’s an easy fix: walk away. If you can’t walk away, throw it in the garbage. If it’s still tempting you while sitting in the garbage can, toss some wet coffee grounds on it, or if, perchance, you happen to have a child still in diapers, a dirty diaper draped across it should dissuade you from digging it out.

When it comes to resisting the temptation to grow bitter or resentful, it’s a bit more complicated because you can’t walk away from your feelings or what’s burdening your heart. The means of escape from such temptations requires deep, unyielding, and abiding faith in the God you serve because it’s your faith that will be the means of escape from spiraling into despondency and the nagging question of whether He is still with you or not.

Job knew that God was with him still, even as he sat on a heap of ashes, scratching at his boils with a potsherd. He knew the presence of God in the midst of his trial and was unshakeable in his resolve.

Avoiding the storm isn’t proof that God is with you. Knowing His abiding presence in the midst of the storm is. The storms of life are purposeful, whether to teach us dependence and reliance on Him or for the works of God to be revealed in them.

When Jesus noticed a man who had been blind from birth, his disciples wanted to know whether the man or his parents had sinned that he’d been born blind. Jesus answered, saying, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.”

Not as simple as chanting, “Money cometh unto me now,” then again, few things in life are.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.