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Topic: When God’s People Suffer
[DCLM Daily Manna 12 August 2020 Devotional by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi]
Text: Job 31:24-32 (KJV)
24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
30Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
Key Verse: “Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.” – (Job 31:30)
MESSAGE:
Why? Why me? Why my family? What is the meaning of this suffering? These are familiar questions asked by Christians and non-Christians alike. No one is immune to suffering and adversity. “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upwards” (Job 5:7).
In what looks like a wrap up of his case before God eventually answered him, Job enumerated his righteous deeds in the passage under consideration. His trust was entirely on God and not on enormous wealth. He was not the kind of person that rejoices at the destruction of his enemies. He took strangers in and caused the mouths of the widows and the fatherless to rejoice through his compassion and care. His major dilemma is the reality that such a man like him could suffer so much despite his righteous ways.
Good people sometimes suffer as much as the bad. The reasonable expectation is that good people should not suffer like the wicked because they did not deserve to. They charted the path of justice, equity and truth. While others were living carelessly, they governed their lives with righteous principles. First, we must understand that certain things are too complex for the moral man to understand. We cannot fully understand why some things happen until we get to the other side of eternity. Job, for instance, didn’t understand that his sufferings were occasioned by the devil, not God. And that God allowed it to prove to Satan that he was not serving Him because he was blessed. He was in service to God because of who God is to him.
When we suffer, we should not despair or give up faith in God. The Lord will give us grace to endure in times of trial and suffering.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Our God is beyond human comprehension.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Job 1-6
