Why not me?

“Then Job answered the Lord and said: “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.””
‭‭Job‬ ‭40‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.””
‭‭Job‬ ‭42‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Why not me?

All too often we think we know better than God. In the times of testing, when the consequences of living in a sinful world begin to reach critical mass, we can find ourselves questioning the Lord. What I have found, over the sum of my life, is that many things that have happened to me are really the consequences of my own doings, well worn miry pits, dug deep with my own feet.

In those times when things have happened that were the result of the actions and evil of others, I have wondered about the love of God. In the midst of the pain of a certain season, I too have at times questioned, “why me?”

Completing the book of Job this morning was highly instructive to my heart, for in poring over it, I could reflect on all the situations that I have endured over my sixty two years. Most of what I have endured was not of my making, and there have been many times when I struggled to fins answers as to why these many things had do happen.

Then I consider what the Lord has done with it all. Through what I have endured, the Lord has given me ministry, as I have used the struggles and losses as an opening to reach others who had been through the same experiences.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.”
II Corinthians 1:3-7 NKJV

Those of us who have been given the blessing of suffering are also set apart as a sign of the consolation of the Lord. As Paul says; “the sufferings in Christ abound in us”, and in those sufferings so does the comfort we receive from God.

I recall my cancer. I did not make it a private affair, but I made it very public, making many phone calls asking for prayer upon my first night at the Mayo Clinic.

What followed was an outpouring of prayer and visitation, as many looked to God on my behalf. In my suffering, He was getting the glory. In the darkest times, knew there was no downside, for I understood what Paul meant when he wrote:

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21 NKJV

My attitude toward God underwent a paradigm shift, for I was beginning to understand that I was placed on this planet for His glory and not my own. The Lord God had given me an example in the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself in the flesh, coming in the form of sinful flesh, yet living sinless, to die an unbelievably brutal death, to pay for the sins of humanity.

As I read of the Lord’s response to Job, I was taken aback by the reality that God most powerful would even begin to address one as insignificant as Job. It reminded me that the Creator of the Universe is far beyond me, but yet He cares for me.

I am reminded that the Lord was with me in my cancer, He was with me on Christmas Day 2008, when he held my next breath in His hands, and in the three year odyssey in the dialysis chair with me, through the many complications after kidney transplant, and I know He will carry me through to Himself in eternity when my days are done.

Brothers and sisters, I know that many of you are going through the most dire of circumstances, and I know that many of you are thinking right now, “why me?”. But know this: the Lord is with you! He will never abandon you, and the worst that can happen can be the best that can happen, for if you should die, you go to be with Him.

Our suffering is not without purpose, for it is but refinement, making us more worthy of the great reward to come, for we are further transformed from darkness to light, from those who walk by flesh, to those who walk in the Spirit.

In the mist of suffering, seek the Lord all the more, poring over His word, asking Him to search you and knowing that there is a plan that we cannot now fully understand.

Job repented in dust and ashes, and the Lord was beyond merciful, restoring him twofold after he prayed for his friends.

“And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters.”
Job 42:10-13 NKJV

What the Lord has in store for those who are the born again ones who have called upon the Name of the Lord is far greater than anything that can be found on this world, for we will spend eternity in the presence of our Lord.

“And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”
Revelation 21:6-7 NKJV

“But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
Revelation 21:22-27 NKJV

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https://www.allaboutgod.com/the-roman-road.htm