Our topic for this devotional is Finding Peace In Troubled Days.
Job is an interesting book, and quite complicated to understand. It does though have some remarkable verses that show the supremacy of God.
In Job 19 25-27, Job says: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” A remarkable statement that Job could say, despite his trials, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that one day I will not only see him but be with him.”
The verse I want to draw your attention to though is Job chapter 1 verse 12. Speaking of Satan, God says of Job: “And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.” In the preceding verses, Satan has been talking to God about Job. Satan says: “It is only because you put a hedge around him that he worships you.” So God allows Satan to test Job but sets a limit on what he allows Satan to do. This is key to this present day. although we may not understand everything, God is in control, and places a limit on what man can and can’t do. There is an old hymn that says: “God is working his purpose out, as year succeeds to year. God is working his purpose out, and the time is drawing near. Nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be, when the earth shall be filled with the glory of God, as the waters cover the sea.”
With the war in Ukraine, God can stop it if he desires, and stop Putin, and cause him to withdraw at any time. To understand all this, we need the greater picture, and to take comfort from God’s Word. Some verses of comfort from the gospel of John chapter 14: 1-6. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Later in the Gospel of John, Jesus shares with his disciples these words. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14: 27.” So Jesus is saying: “Do not fear in these troubled days. I have overcome the world and given you my peace.”
Matthew 24: 6-13: “You will hear of wars and rumours of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
And again, in Luke 21: 28: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” What God is saying is a warning to us that these things will happen. We must not fear and must place our trust in him.
Then we see in Matthew 10: 28: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Sadly, we will always have wars and disasters etc, but ultimately God is in control. Despite what may happen to us, nothing can destroy or take away the faith that we have in him. Colossians 1: 17 reminds us: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
So despite everything, we know that God is in control, and one day he’s coming back to take his to be with him forever. We can leave it to him.
As a friend of mine once prayed during the uprising in Burma: “God, I do not understand what is happening there, nor do I have the answer. However, you know what’s happening, and why. I therefore leave the solution to you.” Amen.