By
Daniel. A. Collins
I have found that sometimes the Holy Spirit will use a seemingly ordinary occurrence or circumstance, and speak something so profound into it. If we are not persistent in staying connected with the Spirit of God daily, hourly, and minute by minute we are more likely to miss out on wisdom, truth, and revelation in the ordinary all around us.
The other day I ran my knee into a door frame in my house and the pain gripped me. I had to lay down on the couch while the pain subsided. It got me thinking about pain, specifically the persecution that Jesus endured, and his relentlessness to obey His Father and carry out the will of God despite it all. I had a moment where I asked myself, “Could I endure persecution, heartbreak, and loss”?
God brought me to the story of Job. Those familiar with Job’s story know that he experienced tremendous heartbreak and loss. God allowed Satan to wreak havoc in his life and that he did. It got so bad that his wife told him to curse God and die, and his closest friends accused him of concealing sin.
As I was reading chapter 1, something stood out to me in verse 12 that never grabbed my attention before:
“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him” (emphasis added)
Those familiar with Job know that God eventually allows Satan to attack his health a chapter later.
Let’s talk about the trustworthiness of God’s Sovereignty. God is omniscient; He knows everything. He knows every deed and every thought that we have done and had in infinity past, and He knows the same into infinity future. What does this mean as it relates to Job? God describes Job as blameless and upright, fearing the Lord and turning away from evil. God knew that Job would trust Him, despite everything he was experiencing. That is amazing. God allowed Job to endure all that loss and all that pain, knowing that he would be able to overcome it through his trust in the Lord.
Now here is the piece that grabbed my attention. Why did God limit the power He gave Satan initially (remember he could not touch his body), but then later gave Satan power over his health? As I was praying about this, the Holy Spirit brought me back to earlier in the day when I was laying on my couch in pain, and He simply said to me “I did not give Job more than he could endure.” Wow.
We serve a God that is all knowing and who loves us dearly. When we surrender our lives and walk in obedience to Him, we can have confidence that God will not allow us to be burdened with more heartbreak, loss, (or anything else) than we can bear. Like Job, we may not know why we experience everything we do in this life, but remember that God blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. So be encouraged and know that our Heavenly Father is sovereign and that we can fully trust His sovereignty.
