Pondering Job

"Listen, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous miracles of God."  Job 37:14 NLT

"Praise the God who gives, and takes away," Casting Crowns.  Learning to praise God in spite of the difficulties we face is a challenging task.  Learning to trust Him when we cannot comprehend and lean on Him when we cannot see.  To trust His heart for us when we simply cannot, absolutely not understand.  Learning to glorify God for His wondrous miracles.  In Job's life we see physical evidence of God's tremendous miracles.  His favor is evident in the profound blessing He bestows after Job perseveres through his great calamity.  Yet this brings up the question, what do you do when things do not work out in your favor?  Essentially, even though Job was restored in multiple ways, it did not bring back his original children.  How do we reconcile the "wondrous miracles of God" when we do not receive our desired miracle? I have struggled with this question myself.

Like any other normal person, I love a happy ending.  When all things work out, everyone is happy and the good guy wins.  Yet in the entirety of Job's story, he did not really win, he overcame.  He was not passive, he had to choose to stand in faith in the midst of his questioning and desolation.  The wondrous miracles of God are often displayed in the fact that He has brought us through our difficulty in one piece.  That somehow, in spite of our doubts, tears and agonizing questions (often receiving no answers) we emerge from our trials to proclaim that God is good!  He will bring beauty from these ashes and He makes all things beautiful in His time.  The wondrous miracle is the work He does within our hearts, within the battle.  The wondrous miracle is Christ within us, the hope of glory.