The fall of 2010 was when I was diagnosed with a muscle disease. I had just come home from a missions trip to Haiti, I was starting my senior year of Bible college, and I had just taken a position as Director of an after-care program. Sounds like the perfect time to get seriously ill, doesn’t it?
My symptoms started out very mild. But they quickly progressed as I would go to doctor after doctor and leave with no answers. I even had one doctor tell me it was all in my head.
During that time, I received a card from my parents. It didn’t say much, just that they were praying for me, loved me, and that it was just going to take a bit of time to get over this one. Along with the card was a notecard inside with a verse written on it. This is what it read:
“As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.” Psalms 18:30
Since then it’s become one of my very favorite verses.
I’ve been reading the Bible chronologically this year, and I recently read through the book of Job. I am also going through a Bible study with some ladies on base, and you guessed it, the study is on Job.
I’ve read through Job more than once. I’ve known the story and the struggles. I’ve seen Job’s friends doubt and question. And I’ve seen Job’s faith in God. But what really caught my attention this time around was God’s response to Job. Spoiler Alert: God doesn’t give Job answers to why he suffered. But here are a few things He does say:
“Where were you when I established the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and total darkness its blanket, when I determined its boundaries and put its bars and doors in place, when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”?”
Job 38:4-11
And it continues on like this for 4 chapters! No answers, no explanations, just incredible truths of WHO GOD IS, His power, and His sovereignty. And that was enough for Job. And when we get a proper glimpse of just how big and mighty our God is, and we remember the work of His hands and that He controls all things, it’s enough for us too.
No, I don’t fully understand the struggles of this world. I don’t fully understand the pain and trials my dear friends and family have had to endure over the last 2 years. I don’t fully understand why I have a disease that is incurable. But this is what I do know:
As for God, His way IS perfect.
I simply need to trust in the One who tells the waves where to stop. The One who establishes the Earth and causes the sun to rise each day. The One who controls the stars and gives rain permission to fall. The only One who is our constant.
Life is hard and messy. But as hard as trials may be, the reward of intimacy with Christ is greater than the pain. And after all, if He takes care of the birds of the air, how much more will He take care of me?
Are you facing a mountain of a trial? Let’s lean in and choose to find rest in Christ today.
That She May Know 