But he had an enemy. He knew this enemy but did not realize how deep the enemy's hatred ran. One day, after years of strategically planning, this enemy pulled off a coup. All Mr Strange's farms were destroyed and all in a rather precise and chronological order and by the end of that day he had not only lost all his years of investment but also his 10 children.
All dead in 1 day and he got the news about all these disasters in quick succession.
What he did when he heard the final disaster of his children's death, what he did was what earned him his tag "strange man" with me- first it looked to me he will rave and scream, cry blame God or say none of it happened like I would have but he shocked me when he worshiped God instead.
To quote his exact words he said "naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord"
Blessed be the name of the Lord? In this situation, I don't think that's the first thing that would come to my mind. Maybe after hours of denying the truth of the news and maybe crying like my life is over, one of the many church teachings will kick in so I would say- God knows why, then I would start asking him to help me understand.
If you've not already guessed, then let me tell you who this strange man is. He is Job (see the account in Job 1)
You may say he is from centuries ago that's why he can still praise God. Well I beg to disagree, I heard the report of another man's life.
He lived in our time, married his high school sweetheart. A few years later, she had cancer and suffered greatly for 14 years and then died. He was devastated, some years later he married again, only unfortunately some years later, she had leukemia suffered for 13 years and died. This man still faithfully served God.
One day on his way home from church, he got lost.
That was when it was discovered that he had had a brain aneurysm so he was forgetting things. Even in this situation, He still praised God, worship music was His comfort, even at that he would forget the words of the song as he sang along, yet he loved. God. Till he died, he worshiped.
Will you still worship when things are not anything you hoped for? When you are dying and the healing power of God you can't find will He still be the God of your life? How much trouble would come your way for you to say. "Ok Lord that's it I'm outta here, you do your own thing but count me out"?
Have a great weekend!
HisDarLyn 2011
His DARLYN.....ahhhhhh....this is tres deep.
ReplyDeleteMay God cause the passion in us to rise in hardest times. Yet, my prayer is that God shield us from such tragedies. No one wants to go through them. However, the ultimate prayer is the one Jesus said in the garden of Gethsemane, when they were about to lead him to the prison cells as an inmate for sentencing to death..."Father, let this cup pass away from me, but let Your will be done."
Mr Strange in the bible was very strange indeed but his life revealed a some truths. God is not the origin of evil. Therefore, even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I ought to still worship the God who is with me. He is not the one who is against me. He is for me. He is not my enemy, He is my very present help in trouble and so, He deserves worship even when the going gets bad. He did not bring the calamity, He wants to get me out of the calamity.
ReplyDeletePraise and worship in trouble, moves God. Check Paul and Silas. Check Jehosaphat's army. Job's life also shows God's desire for His people - to bless them beyond their dreams. God blessed Job with twice as much as he had when
he was already greatest man in the east (the civilized world at the time). He had children again including the most beautiful daughters, an extra 140 years added to his life. He was blessed with 6000 camels among others written and unwritten, which itself can be likened to having up to 40 large airplanes in today's world. We would consider that excessive today but it shows how God desires to bless and not to cause calamity.
Thanks for writing this.
Hope you had a great weekend, just wanted to say hi.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a touching post. Made me think deeply.
ReplyDelete