As I was finishing the book of Job last night, one thing really stuck out to me.
๐๐ฐ๐ฃ 23:2 ๐๐๐๐
2 ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ; ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
This morning, I was reminded of three additional passages to go along with this one.
1 ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ 23:15 ๐๐๐๐ 23 ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
1 ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ 4:12-13 ๐๐๐๐
12 ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ; 13 ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด 1:2-4 ๐๐๐๐
2 ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ท๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ด, 3 ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. 4 ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
Paul spoke of glorying in tribulations in Romans 5:3-5, and in Romans 8:17 Paul also wrote that if we suffer with Christ, we are heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ, so that we may be glorified with Him.
Job was definitely tested, and he was denied the desire to die. At the end of it, God restored to him all that had been lost and more, and he had a very long life.
So, don't complain when you're in the refiner's fire. And don't wish for it to be over quickly. Allow the process and lean on God. Lean into the trial and the pain as Jesus did with His scourging and crucifixion, and tell God with a sincere heart, "Your will be done." Thank Him for the trials, and ask Him to reveal what He wants you to see and learn from the ordeal. Praise Him through it! He will sustain you, He will strengthen you, He will protect you, He will help you, He will provide for you, He will comfort you, He will lift you up, He will refine you, He will help you grow, He will teach you patience, He will delivery you, He will reward you, and He will give you peace.
Sometimes we have to lose in order to gain and receive greater things. And as my pastor's wife said not too long ago, "if you're not suffering, you're not really living your faith."
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