You Are the One We Adore

Are humans really creatures of comfort? I think this human, me, certainly is. My goal in this physical life is to be comfortable and to avoid pain and hardship with all I've got.  I like my life to go as planned...as planned by...well...me!  I think I have a good plan, so I would like to see it to fruition.  And that plan does not have room for loss, anxiety, fear, illness, loneliness, rejection or any of the situations that can cause pain or discomfort.  It's a plan for a good life...a comfy life...and what's wrong with that?  It's a good plan, right?  and a Good God should be on board with that, shouldn't He?  Why would He not want good things for His children? I mean, really!

So, when I read verses like this one...I tremble a little bit inside:

“Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1: 21 (King James)

This is the verse that has always made me a bit afraid and hesitant to read the book of Job.  The idea that "the Lord gives" I like.  I'm a supporter of this part of the equation.  I'm ready to crochet it and frame it (if I had the slightest idea of how to crochet).  It is that next part, I'm not so sure about:  "The Lord takes away."  Take away pain and discomfort, YAY!!  But, for some reason, I don't think that's what Job is fully referring to in here.  Rather, Job is stating the fact of God's sovereignty.  He is God, and as such, He rules over everything, and the same way He gives out of His abundance, He also is free to take away anything He wants.  What we have is not ours.  It all belongs to Him who decided to let us have it in the first place.  This earth is not heaven.  We are not in paradise.  This is the waiting room.  So, while in this world, we can expect trouble ... like Jesus said in John 16: 33, right?  UGH! Trouble? Really?  However, I just have to keep on reading.

The other part of that verse contains the redemption we so desperately thirst for:  But take heart, I have OVERCOME the world. (John 16:33b)

That's the truth we hang on to with all of our might.  He has overcome the world, and He who has overcome the world is in us...giving us the strength to say that regardless of whatever might happen to us while in this physical world, we choose to say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

The idea of a charmed life is very appealing.  A life where nothing bad happens to us...a life without heart-break, without illness, without tears, without loss, without loneliness, without rejection, without disappointment, without sadness and without any of the things that make us coward in a corner, or bend over in excruciating pain...who wouldn't want that?  A Good and Loving God would certainly want to give that to His own.  Well, He does.  He sent Himself to die for us so we could have that in due time.  In the meantime, we just have to hang on tightly to Him...hang on to the Cross...proclaiming: He is the One we Adore, and He is the One that we Praise.  You give the healing and grace our hearts always hunger for...My Redeemer Lives!  Jesus is my Hope for the abundant life.  In His Precious Name.  Amen!