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Job 23:17
17 Because I was not cut off [tsamath] before [paniym] the darkness [choshek], neither hath he covered [kacah] the darkness ['ophel] from my face [paniym]. KJV-Interlinear
17 But I am not silenced by the darkness, Nor deep gloom which covers me. NASB
God does not remove us from this life when trouble strikes, such that we might escape it, nor does He shield us from trouble so that we might not experience its sting.
Often times we do not take life seriously unless we come face to face with problems. Whether they be overwhelming problems, or itty-bitty inconveniences, makes no difference. Burnt toast or total paralysis, or anything in between will serve Gods purpose in testing our metal.
Some folks will fall apart over a mosquito bite, while others will hold up well while imprisoned in a concentration camp.
Regardless of your circumstances in life, it is God who has placed you there, and it is your obligation to learn from your experiences and learn humility with respect to your relationship to God, His plan, and more specifically, with respect to His plan for you.
God created you with one purpose in mind, and that is to live with Him in heaven for all of eternity. He did not create you to live in this world forever, or somehow for you to conquer the stars or invent some supernatural set of morals.
God created you so that you can recognize the great difference between you and life, so that you can recognize your need for God, so that you can learn to trust in Him, through faith, which by the way requires growth, so that you can grow up and attain the level of completion in your life, that He has designed for you.
Only those who refuse or are indifferent toward the scriptures, will never achieve these goals. And that, unfortunately will claim the greater portion of humanity. As an advancing or mature believer, you will be in the minority, a minority which you should strive with all of your strength to become a member of.
Angels fear to walk in the presence of Gods majesty. Nothing can attain an honest humility or fear, as much as the apprehensions of His glory and majesty.
Humanity is on a collision course with its own end. Even right up until the very last of the Tribulation, humanity will be defiant when Jesus Christ sets His foot back down on the earth in the Second Advent. Terror will then seize the entire world. But only for a moment. The end will then come quickly.
It is easy to contemplate the goodness of God and even to visualize or desire that only good should come from Him. But we forget His righteousness and justice are the cornerstones of His will, and that evil runs rampant in this world.
Job has reminded us of the awesome power, and sovereignty, and abilities of God. They make all things, even our universe, pale in comparison.
Without God we can only lose in life.
With God in our life, nothing can prevent us from succeeding in His plan. Not the politics of the day, not the social injustices, not the economic inequities, not physical deficiencies or handicaps, not anything you can add to this list, nothing can prevent God from leading us to victory in our life.
Will we be exempt from problems? No. The world will hammer us and hammer us until we cry out in anguish and doubt. And that is when faith will either take hold of our life, or not.
In life we will have many cards we can play in order to help us through problems. We can inherit, we can work, we can own insurance, we can even run away I suppose. But there will come a time when all of our resources will run out and faith is all we will have left.
Then prayer becomes your most powerful weapon, or probably your only weapon. Relief does not always come in an instant. Read some history and read of the stories of people who had to endure turmoil for years before being rescued, such as in WW-II. Or of people who were injured and paralyzed, but eventually overcame their handicap in order to rise up and make some contribution. Often times, years or even a lifetime passes before God is ready to use us for His purpose.
God has a plan specifically for your life. All you have to do is study daily, and grow up in your spiritual life, learn responsibility and then be responsible, persevere in your spiritual life, and then wait.
Do not be impatient. What is your hurry anyway?
When you enter a fun park ride, you know ahead of time that, that ride will take you through twists and turns, ups and downs, and loops and more loops. It will turn your life upside down and pull and tug at your inner being. Often times you will wear your stomach around your ears as you turn many colorful shades.
But if you learn doctrine, then you strap yourself in, and from beginning to end, you will be safe.
You board the ride in safety, ride through its tests and temptations safely, and you'll leave the ride in complete safety.
Throughout life, you will face tests from the source of your own thoughts, from other people, from bureaucracies, from various disasters which are natural, emotional, and physical. Often times you will be tempted to 'slip by,' trying to avoid some responsibility which God expects of you. You will also be exposed to phases where God seems to be doing nothing.
By sticking to your daily study, you will be able to defeat all of these tests.
You will slip from time to time. You'll get angry from time to time. You'll yell and scream and cry from time to time.
But then, you gather yourself together, confess your sins, acknowledge your weakness and pathetic uselessness before God, and resume your forward advance in your spiritual life.
The world cannot defeat you, unless you allow it, and you allow it by falling away from God.
In this world you are alone and weak, but in Christ, He places His own power inside of you, through doctrine, and in your spiritual life, nothing can defeat you. You just have to learn to believe it.
