Category Archives: People

Every Trial Has Its Limits

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This evening at Horizon Central in our series 66 Books, we’re looking at the book of Job.  Going through the book verse-by-verse can be a long, arduous process – almost a verbal version of Job’s actual trials.  It is also, however, a book with the happiest of all endings and that’s where the big lesson is.  James sums it up well for us in the New Testament:

Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord-that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” – James 5:11 (NKJV)

Every trial has its limits.  Every temptation has its way out.  Every difficulty has an “end intended by the Lord,” through which He will reveal His very compassionate and merciful character.

No temptation [trial, test] has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted [tested, tried] beyond what you are able, but with the temptation [trial, test] will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV)

Job also gives us an insight into the character and nature of Satan – which is just the opposite of God’s.  He was only interested in destroying Job.  His goal was to harm him, hurt him, make his life miserable, so that Job would give up, give in and ultimately reject God Himself.

This same cosmic struggle is played out each time we face a trial or temptation.  Every such moment is a moment of truth, in which we have the chance to succumb to the enemy’s wishes or trust God with all of our heart.  In submitting to the Lord’s will and waiting upon Him, we actually hand the devil one more crushing defeat.

Encouragement from the Lowest Pit

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Bad experiences make us twitchy.  The more of them we have, the more we tend to expect them.  The more often we fall, the harder it is to look up.  The lower we get, the more we need some form of encouragement – someone to give us a reason to be brave.  If people cause our bad experiences, people begin making us twitchy.  As bad experiences multiply, so do our fears.  If we have a wide assortment of difficulties, it’s easy to believe that God Himself is behind them.  With relief we can say that He’s not.

When things were at their worst – and then got even worse than that, our hero Jeremiah prayed and heard God’s voice in response to his desperate cry.  As he shares his story, if we identify with his trouble, may we also take courage as we share his encouragement.

My enemies without cause
     Hunted me down like a bird.
They silenced my life in the pit
     And threw stones at me.
The waters flowed over my head;
     I said, ‘I am cut off!’
I called on Your name, O Lord,
     From the lowest pit.
You have heard my voice:
     ‘Do not hide Your ear
     From my sighing, from my cry for help.’
You drew near on the day I called on You,
     And said, ‘Do not fear!'”
                    – Lamentations 3:52-57 (NKJV)

Mercy

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By definition, mercy is something that is not guaranteed.  The American Heritage Dictionary explains mercy like this:

  1. Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one’s power; clemency.
  2. A disposition to be kind and forgiving: a heart full of mercy.

So when it is clearly possible to get something else, and we get mercy instead – compassionate treatment, kindness, forgiveness – we tend to breathe a huge sigh of relief. 

Such was the relief experienced by the prophet Jeremiah after the destruction of Jerusalem.  Babylon had conquered, the city was flattened, the nation was defeated, the captivity had begun – and, tragically, it might all have been avoided.  It was all their own fault and Jeremiah knew this better than anyone; he had been prophesying it all along.

But Jeremiah had also prophesied that the captivity would last seventy years.  As his nation had already been promised an eternal future, he apparently figured that seventy years was, well, doable.  Eternity was a lot longer.

When we consider our own difficulties and disasters, we are wise to listen to Jeremiah.  He knew disaster well.  This doesn’t decrease the reality of our grief.  It increases our appreciation of God.  When we desire Him more than anything else, His mercies will fill our hearts with hope.

This I recall to my mind,
     Therefore I have hope.
Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
     Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
     Great is Your faithfulness.
‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul,
     ‘Therefore I hope in Him!'”
                    – Lamentations 3:21-24 (NKJV)

Unprofitable Prophets

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God has a lot of people who speak in His name without ever first hearing from Him what to say – and He knows it.  These false prophets lead people astray with messages that they have made up.  They say whatever they want and they serve no useful purpose. Normally, they say what people want to hear in order to gain a following.  This is no recent phenomenon, but has actually long been the case.

So it was in the days of Jeremiah.  He was a bona fide prophet – the real thing – and he was especially unpopular.  Prophets were a shekel a dozen in Jerusalem in those days and each of them had a following.  Things were beginning to go badly in Judah, so it was pretty easy to get listeners if you said something that sounded nice.  People were eager to hear pleasant-sounding messages – and to continue in their evil practices at the same time.  Jeremiah, on the other hand, with his continuously unheeded messages of repentance, found it easy to get discouraged.

So the Lord encouraged Jeremiah, His faithful messenger, by offering His personal commentary on these popular, but unprofitable, prophets.  Here’s what He had to say:

I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 
But if they had stood in My counsel,
And had caused My people to hear My words,
Then they would have turned them from their evil way
And from the evil of their doings.”
               – Jeremiah 23:21-22 (NKJV)

Every Christian should make it a point to stick to God’s counsel as found in His word.  We will be more profitable as a result, when the time comes to open our mouths.