Souffrances - petites ou grandes

Thanks to the job-searching - which involves some hand-writing and mountains of typing, my right arm and elbow are in significant PAIN. Small suffering, compared to that of the people around me - or even those outside of my country.

Speaking of suffering, in this post I'd like you to meet my friend Job.
Can't say I know him as well as my prophet buddies Isaiah (son of Amoz), whom I just love, or Daniel (called Belteshazzar by people from ancient Babylon), whom I've only gotten to know better recently, but Job is the kind of friend I really should spend more time with!

Leçons du livre de Job
Job was human, just like us. A rich, respected and well-loved rural gar. In fact, in his day "this man was the greatest of all the people of the east" (JOB 1:3).

Until he lost virtually everything:
~ livestock (camels, donkeys, oxen, sheep);
~ most of his servants;
~ all but 1 member of his family
(a wife who felt he should "curse God and die", cf. JOB 2:9);
~ support and understanding of friends
(based on what 3 of them are recorded as saying to him!).

Yet in the midst of his suffering, he understood life was not just about being happy; he understood God was still good & worthy of praise in spite of all he had lost:
"The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."
(JOB 1:21)

Des autres conforts: Job
Here are other things Job said - as he was grieving his losses - sayings which have also been a comfort to me in the past.
"I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!"
(19:25-27)

"If I go to the east, He is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find Him.
When He is at work in the north, I do not see Him;
when He turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of Him.
But He knows the way that I take;
when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold."
(23:8-10)

It's easy to be friends with Job when you feel you've suffered like him.
I know I have. Before going to France & other places in June this year (where I got a bit of sanity back), I had been hurting, quite a lot, for quite a while - April 2008 to June 2009 (14 months). Thank you to anyone who prayed for me & fussed over me in that period!!

My friend Job had it worse than me, I have to say. That's why in the past I've found retracing his steps so helpful. I hope, if you're hurting right now, that you find it helps too.

Thing is, the greatest Friend we have went through even worse suffering than Job did. And this Friend suffered for us - not while we were His friends, but in fact while we were His enemies (ROMAINS 5:10).

"And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out his love into our hearts
by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
You see, at just the right time,
when we were still powerless,
Christ died for the ungodly.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,
though for a good man
someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood,
how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath
through him!
For if, when we were God's enemies,
we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son,
how much more, having been reconciled,
shall we be saved through his life!
Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation."
{ROMAINS 5:2(b)-11}

What a Friend I have in JESUS,
All my sins and griefs to bear,
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.
{Quoted from hymn - text by Joseph M. Scriven, 1820-1886; music by Charles C. Converse, 1832-1918.}

L/T.