January 25
Job 22:1-25:6
Doris had seen much difficulty and heartache in her long life. She and her farmer husband raised eight children on a small fruit farm in the Midwest. Their fifth child was tragically killed at age four when he fell beneath the wheel of a small tractor. Their oldest daughter was stricken with bulbar polio on the eve of her departure to college and spent a year in an iron lung. In the bitter winter, Doris and her husband drove several hours almost daily to see her, in an unheated car and no winter coats. Their seventh child was in a coma caused by encephalitis following an episode of measles. Her parents were told that if she survived, she would be a vegetable (the doctors turned out to be wrong!) After enduring numerous crop failures due to weather, the couple finally began to get ahead financially. Then Doris’ husband died an early death in his sixties, leaving her a widow for over thirty years.
Doris lived to be almost 100 years old, and for all that time, she radiated joy and proclaimed her faith in God and His goodness. She was my mother-in-law and our children’s grandmother. Truly she embodied Job 23:10 that in the testing we can “come forth as gold.”
Lord, please help me have the faith of Job; knowing that You are a good and just God despite my circumstances. Through difficult times of testing, keep me focused on obedience, remembering that you are not punishing me, but refining me as I trust you. Amen.
How could remembering God’s goodness and love of justice help me deal with challenging situations in my life?
Doris had seen much difficulty and heartache in her long life. She and her farmer husband raised eight children on a small fruit farm in the Midwest. Their fifth child was tragically killed at age four when he fell beneath the wheel of a small tractor. Their oldest daughter was stricken with bulbar polio on the eve of her departure to college and spent a year in an iron lung. In the bitter winter, Doris and her husband drove several hours almost daily to see her, in an unheated car and no winter coats. Their seventh child was in a coma caused by encephalitis following an episode of measles. Her parents were told that if she survived, she would be a vegetable (the doctors turned out to be wrong!) After enduring numerous crop failures due to weather, the couple finally began to get ahead financially. Then Doris’ husband died an early death in his sixties, leaving her a widow for over thirty years.
Doris lived to be almost 100 years old, and for all that time, she radiated joy and proclaimed her faith in God and His goodness. She was my mother-in-law and our children’s grandmother. Truly she embodied Job 23:10 that in the testing we can “come forth as gold.”
Lord, please help me have the faith of Job; knowing that You are a good and just God despite my circumstances. Through difficult times of testing, keep me focused on obedience, remembering that you are not punishing me, but refining me as I trust you. Amen.
How could remembering God’s goodness and love of justice help me deal with challenging situations in my life?
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