Ever feel like you just can’t figure out what God is up to in your life?
You know He’s there, in the background—at the control panel, pulling levers & pushing buttons, but from your end it feels random.
And frankly, you’re wondering about the outcome.
I mean—what’s the plan here?
Please tell me there’s a plan.
You’re not alone.
We all feel that way sometimes.
It puts us in good company.
Lots of the ‘big names’ in the Bible had the same experience.
When your spouse doesn’t understand how you feel and your closest friends
get stingy with their support—it might not be you.
It might be God at work.
I’m halfway through the book of Job.
He’s in it deep at this point and he can’t find God, see God in his life at the moment.
BUT—Job, patient man that he is, gets the take home message from his experiences.
That’s what we need to focus on when we’re confused and hurting—“what’s the take home message here God?”
There are two ingredients in a take home message:
the first reminds us of something divine and worship worthy about God
the second teaches us about how God relates to us, how He works in our lives
Can you find it in this section from Job 23?
“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;
on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
Job concludes that God knows—or has planned and is directing—his life.
That’s not a small thing.
It’s a huge divine thing.
“God directs my life.”
Recognize that, acknowledge it as true.
In the middle of his life confusion, Job remembers a few things about God.
The eternal God who, by His own wisdom and power, made the world and everything in it is directing my life.
We get shortsighted when we’re stressed and stretched by difficulty.
We make the mistake of thinking that when things are out of OUR control—they’re out of control.
So not true.
So not the case at all.
What Job remembers is that God is God.
All Knowing & All Powerful
And He loves us enough to work in our lives to create His plan, to bring it to life in us.
Think of something beautiful in the world—a meadow filled with wildflowers, the sweetness of an orange, the sound of birdsong.
God designed and made those things.
He’s at work in you, in your life, and the plan is to make you shine like 14carat gold.
He’s got a plan and He’s not a quitter.
Everything He has in mind for you—He’ll do it.
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?
What he desires, that he does.
For he will complete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.
That’s the second part of Job’s take home message.
God doesn’t waste the experiences He allows in our lives.
Every bit of pain and suffering, every hour of confusion and chaos has the potential to produce something valuable in us.
We just don’t see it in the moment—unless we start looking for it.
Job found it in the middle of his trial.
You can too!
And it will be a fresh source of spiritual strength and encouragement to lift you and carry you through the confusion and on to a place of trust and rest.
Now that you’re thinking about it—can you share a take home message from a difficult time you’re in or have experienced?
What worship worthy thing did you remember about God and what did you learn about how God relates to you?