Job XV

 We submit to God even when it tramples our own desires. We submit to His authority and sovereignty in the storm just as readily as during calm seas. Consistency matters, and it’s in those days of testing that our commitment to the will and ways of God are put to the test, tried, and proven. It’s not about me, or my comfort, or what I think I deserve; it’s about His glory and His will, and once we come to terms with that singular reality, our perspective shifts, and we begin to understand the deeper truths necessary for us to have a vibrant, well rounded, and well-grounded relationship with Him.

It’s often in the storm that you see the value of obedience. When God told Noah to build an ark and do so to His specifications, Noah could have taken it upon himself to cut corners, change the layout, or not follow through to the minutest of details. He could have shaved years off the project, and no one would have been the wiser. Had he done so, he would have seen the ark start to take on water and not be a sail-worthy vessel too late to do anything about it. The Word tells us what a proper relationship with God is. It tells us that being in His will and walking in His way is the only means by which we attain a true and lasting foundation of faith, a foundation that is unshakeable and timeless, and that sustains us through life’s storms.

It is essential to lay the foundation of Job’s faithfulness and stress the continual relationship he had with God lest anyone think there are any shortcuts, special prayers, incantations, mantras, or courses they can avail themselves of to bypass growing their faith and being blameless and upright in the sight of God. Some things just take time. There’s no way around it, and no matter how many might want to fast pass their spiritual maturity, there’s only one way, one queue, one formula, and one recipe. You build up your most holy faith brick by spiritual brick. You start with the foundation, which is Christ, and every day, your goal is to be stronger than the previous one.

That’s not to say there aren’t a seemingly limitless number of people offering just such shortcuts, ceremonies, and rituals; it’s that they don’t work, and that’s the crux of the problem. There’s a reason people clarify the difference between a true friend, a Facebook friend, and a true friend with which they are also friends on Facebook. They may be acquaintances, even people you’re friendly with, but if they’ve never been over for dinner, or you don’t know them well enough to trust them to babysit your kids, they’re not friends in the truest sense of the word. Overuse of certain words water down and dilute their meaning. If you don’t believe this to be the case, just take inventory of how many people are calling themselves apostles and prophets today.

The same goes for people who have a superficial relationship with God, know of God, and know God and have a relationship with Him. The three are not the same or interchangeable. Knowing of God is acknowledging His existence, while having a relationship with Him is actively seeking His presence, understanding His character, and aligning your life with His will. We aim to both know God and have a deep and abiding relationship with Him. Only in knowing Him, His goodness, His love, and His desire to bring us into a more perfect union with Him will we have the faith and trust necessary to walk through the fire knowing He is there.

The more of Him you know, the deeper your love and obedience. The deeper your love and obedience, the stronger your spiritual man becomes. It doesn’t happen overnight, nor is it something we can expect to be fully formed at the snap of a finger, but something that matures over time as His presence and faithfulness are continually made known in our lives.

Psalm 116:1-7, “I love the Lord, because He has heard My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord Preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”

David understood the value of establishing a relationship with God. He understood that for God to hear his voice, God must first know him as His. It’s difficult to reconcile the notion that some people have a hard time spending twenty minutes in God’s presence, whether praying, reading the Word, or meditating upon it, yet want to spend eternity in His presence.

I get that you want to go to heaven, but you do understand that God will be there, too. If spending time with Him seems a chore to you, and if you avoid it at every turn for the most trivial of reasons, why do you want to go to heaven so badly? Your obedience to God cannot be independent of love for God. Why would anyone want to spend eternity with someone they don’t love? Well, to escape the alternative, brother. But don’t you see that God knows whether men want a relationship in order to escape some future event or because they genuinely love Him?

Would God not test and vet those who claim to love Him to ensure that they not only have Him on their lips when all is problem-free but that they retain Him in their hearts when their world crumbles around them?

Are you beginning to understand how hideously malformed what currently passes as the gospel is when compared to the true Gospel?

Not one man worth his salt has ever claimed that God did not hear them, fail them, or fall short of their expectations because their expectations were His presence, His comfort, and His strength in the midst of their trials and tribulations. Their expectation wasn’t that they’d never have to go through anything uncomfortable, painful, or even catastrophic in this present life but that whatever trial or hardship they had to go through, God would be with them every step of the way, providing comfort and strength. There is sufficiency in His presence no matter the struggle or hardship, but that sufficiency is reserved for those who are truly His.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.