“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you…” (Job 42:2, NLT)
Having recently turned 30, realizing that my 20’s are gone, I find myself being a bit more reflective and self-aware. For example… In my teens and 20’s, I could take off from the gym for a while and then go back randomly a few weeks to a month later and pick up right where I left off as if I never took a break. Fast forward though, and if I’m being honest, my body doesn’t work that way anymore…
There are changes that we go through as we age. Physical changes yes, but also mental changes. For example… I used to have the worst road rage. If you cut me off on the highway, I might have chased your around town for a mile or 10 (*don’t judge me). However, now that I’m older, I think before I react. One might say, I’ve gotten somewhat wiser realizing that stalking people around town simply because they cut you off might be somewhat criminal…
I’ve also realized this though… We talk a lot. We say a lot of things whether it be what we want, what we intend, and especially what we believe. However, it’s what we do that really, and honestly, speaks for us.
In the book of Job, chapter 42, we find him in a unique and truly difficult place. After suffering terribly, as we read earlier in the book, we find him here at a crossroads - Does he truly believe or doesn’t he? In the midst of his pain, he began to gripe as any normal person might. However, upon being confronted with the reality of whether or not he truly believed, he takes the bold step to stand on and hold fast to his faith. It takes real faith to stare your hurt and shame, your immediate circumstance, in the face and declare that it will not define you and that there is something (someone) greater.
There have been plenty of times throughout my 30 years of life when I’ve wondered, “God, are you really real?” or “God, how could you let this happen to me?” I’ve been at the same crossroad that Job found himself at like so many others out there today. What I’ve realized though is that it’s not the crossroads itself, or the path that led to it that defines us. No, it is what he do at that crossroads that defines us. In other words, it’s not our pain, suffering, or circumstance that defines us. It is what we say to and do in response to that pain, suffering and circumstance that defines us. We can either give in and succumb to our pain, or we can stand firm in faith, knowing like Job, that there is a God that “can do anything” and who no person or thing “can stop.”
Be Encouraged!