Job 23:8-10New International Version (NIV)
8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This verse is one I heard last Sunday from my parents' church. I hung out on it all week this week with it. This is the verse that I turned to this week when I needed a reminder. It is a verse about suffering but yet it tells us that there is hope in the making. I also shared this with a friend of mine because I thought it went perfectly to their situation too. I love the promise it has in it.
As you read the entry before this one, you know that I have worked two jobs this week and that I "suffered" a lot or that is what it felt like at times. I didn't understand why God put me in what I thought was a mess before my mom said something to me one night and then I started to remember this verse. I thought I just made this huge mess and that I was never going to get out of it but my thinking got turned around and this verse helped.
We tend to look for God in where we think He is or should be. We want things to go our way and that is the only way but God has other plans to do other things. It is almost like saying that our ways are like the east and the west. That is where we are and we can't see or find Him there. The reason is because He turns to the north and the south, that is where He is working. He is working opposite of us and what we think. He also knows that we go away from Him at times and He knows the way we take when we do that.
God can test us at those times and see how we come out. It usually ends up working out in His Way. He will use anything to get our attention. It could be working two jobs to see which one is the best. The two jobs could also build you up as a stronger person trusting in Him only. He could even use a truck horn or another kind of animal to make another animal go away. It could even be the way the weather turns out that day. When I say that I mean, He gets His Way but mostly importantly He gets us closer to Him and that is what He wants all along. He wants us to come forth as gold shining for Him.
I know for me lately, He has used all those things and even more to teach me to trust Him more and just be patience but living one day at a time. As humans, we are so wrapped up in the future most of the time that we forget to live in the present. We want so many things right away that we forget to rest when we have the chance. Trusting Him and being patience are the two things that God always works on with me because those two are not my strongest ones, I will admit. Things will come when God says it is time. I just have to trust Him with them.
While I am in that waiting period, He is just refining me so I can come forth as gold. That is the promise that He has for us. Through the rough times, or what we think are the rough times, through that horn that made me miss something or those children being crazy today, that another animal that had to come through at that time, or so on, God is just making us into something more beautiful like gold. He is also teaching us to be more like Him. Although it might not be our plan from the start, we are glad that it was God's plan and we couldn't have thought it up better ourselves.
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This verse is one I heard last Sunday from my parents' church. I hung out on it all week this week with it. This is the verse that I turned to this week when I needed a reminder. It is a verse about suffering but yet it tells us that there is hope in the making. I also shared this with a friend of mine because I thought it went perfectly to their situation too. I love the promise it has in it.
As you read the entry before this one, you know that I have worked two jobs this week and that I "suffered" a lot or that is what it felt like at times. I didn't understand why God put me in what I thought was a mess before my mom said something to me one night and then I started to remember this verse. I thought I just made this huge mess and that I was never going to get out of it but my thinking got turned around and this verse helped.
We tend to look for God in where we think He is or should be. We want things to go our way and that is the only way but God has other plans to do other things. It is almost like saying that our ways are like the east and the west. That is where we are and we can't see or find Him there. The reason is because He turns to the north and the south, that is where He is working. He is working opposite of us and what we think. He also knows that we go away from Him at times and He knows the way we take when we do that.
God can test us at those times and see how we come out. It usually ends up working out in His Way. He will use anything to get our attention. It could be working two jobs to see which one is the best. The two jobs could also build you up as a stronger person trusting in Him only. He could even use a truck horn or another kind of animal to make another animal go away. It could even be the way the weather turns out that day. When I say that I mean, He gets His Way but mostly importantly He gets us closer to Him and that is what He wants all along. He wants us to come forth as gold shining for Him.
I know for me lately, He has used all those things and even more to teach me to trust Him more and just be patience but living one day at a time. As humans, we are so wrapped up in the future most of the time that we forget to live in the present. We want so many things right away that we forget to rest when we have the chance. Trusting Him and being patience are the two things that God always works on with me because those two are not my strongest ones, I will admit. Things will come when God says it is time. I just have to trust Him with them.
While I am in that waiting period, He is just refining me so I can come forth as gold. That is the promise that He has for us. Through the rough times, or what we think are the rough times, through that horn that made me miss something or those children being crazy today, that another animal that had to come through at that time, or so on, God is just making us into something more beautiful like gold. He is also teaching us to be more like Him. Although it might not be our plan from the start, we are glad that it was God's plan and we couldn't have thought it up better ourselves.
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