After This…
Does God give us more than we can handle sometimes? Umm…absolutely yes!
Let’s see: a global pandemic, riots, fear run amuck, economic crisis, and the list goes on. All of this adds a fresh layer to the “normal” hardships of marital problems, health issues that crop up from time to time, or everyday run-of-the-mill problems.
We often get our scriptural wires crossed when it comes to whether or not God will put more on us than we can bear. God does say He will not put on us a greater temptation than we can bear, but will always give us a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). However, no such promise about hardships is given.
As a matter of fact, Paul, in 2 Corinthians 1:8, said that he and Timothy were “burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life”. It is during these times, we press into our Savior even more.
Our chosen response to these more-than-I-can-handle moments determines how we live out life “after this”. How do we handle the ugly aftermath?
Even people not familiar with the Bible usually know that Job is the forever example of someone who was put through life’s ringer. To put it simply, he was a good guy living a good life – and wham! All of his children, all of his livestock, and all of his servants were gone before the end of the first chapter of his book!
Job’s carefully chosen response, after lots of ear-bending and bad advice from his friends, was to worship God anyway.
Now do not misunderstand…Job was NOT ok. Reading through Job 3 gives us a glimpse into his deepest grief.
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes. Job 3:226
Job had to work through the pain and the sorrow of tremendous personal loss and personal ailments of having boils all over his body. I found this quote from John Piper several years ago that sums up Job’s response.
“Let your tears flow freely when your calamity comes. Job arose, rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon his face (Job 1:20). The sobs of grief and pain are not the signs of unbelief. Job knows nothing of a flippant, insensitive, superficial “praise God anyhow” response to suffering. The magnificence of his worship is because it was in grief, not because it replaced grief. Let your tears flow freely when your calamity comes. And let the rest of us weep with those who weep. When your calamity comes, may the Lord give you the grace to affirm the sovereignty of God. Let your tears flow freely, and let God Himself be your treasure and your joy.”
Whoa! The sentence in bold always takes my breath away. Even though ALL THIS had happened to Job, his chosen response was worship. He would declare “I KNOW my Redeemer lives” in Job 19:25.
Yes, Job had decided, AFTER THIS (after the loss, the pain, the heartache), to keep on worshiping, to keep on believing, to keep on holding on to the God he knew was FOR him -not against him.
And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. Job 42:16
God was so sweet to restore and increase everything Job had and blessed him in his “after this” days more than his beginning (see Job 42:12).
Our intentional choices about how to handle life’s hurts and heartaches, to a large extent, determines our after this.
Let your tears flow, mourn, grieve…and then let Him be your comfort, your treasure, and joy so you can live your after this life in victory.