Job

No, I didn't go out and get a job. I have been reading the book of Job. Have you read this book in the bible? The poor man lost his family, his house, his livelihood-basically everything. Afterwards, his body broke out in sores from head to foot. Can you imagine the pain of raw open wounds? I've had bad days, but not this devastating.

But isn't it interesting that what started Job's troubles is God bragging about him? Am I living my life in such a way that my heavenly Father stands in heaven boasting of my integrity? Could that last difficult trial have been His way of showing me off? And yet my response was not what He had hoped. I endured, maybe complained. I allowed myself to become stressed out, forgetting God's sovereignty. Of course had I known that my trial was just to prove how much integrity I had, I'd have performed better. Ah, but this is where it gets sticky. That trial did indeed show what I was made of, how much integrity I really did have (or didn't.)

A trial is a good thing. It is a guage that shows me what my relationship looks like. I can see clearly whether or not I really trust God or whether I just think I do.

Whew! I've got a long way to go.