Josef Tson: Courage in Christian Ministry

Josef Tson, a Romanian follower of Christ, suffered intensely for his faith at the hands of the Romanian government. Josef shared this powerful testimony at Desiring God in 2000.  He entitled this message Persecution and Christ-likeness. It is available to download for free from the Desiring God website.

This message is full of magnificent statements like, "If all of your enemies are God's instruments, why are you afraid?"

Let me encourage you not to deny yourself the tremendous blessing of listening to this excellent message.

Taming Tigers...

Yesterday during our family's trip to the zoo we encountered this rather large tiger.

My five year old daughter was quite nervous and would not stand next to the glass by herself. It occurred to me that although we were only a few feet from the massive animal, I was completely unconcerned for our safety. This was obviously because of the secure facility which housed the great beast.

I could not help but ponder the parallel; our lives are lived in close proximity to the treacherous enemy of our souls. 1Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Our God is our shield, our defender, and our fortress. Though daily we walk in the midst of predators we need not tremble for them. Romans 8:31b If God is for us, who can be against us?

Psalm 23:4-5 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Certainly this life affords us various experiences of suffering and trials. This is why the Psalmist uses the phrase, "the valley of the shadow of death." What a solid foundation we have in God's sovereignty over suffering. We can say with the Psalmist, "I will fear no evil, for you are with me." If He is with us, what have we to fear? There will be troubles, there will be trials, there will be dining in the presence of enemies... But He is with us. And our God is the One who can make ALL things, including suffering and tragedies, work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28).

I love how John Piper puts it in his poem about Job:

The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God
(Part 4)

I have some friends who thought they knew
The mind of God, and that their view
Of tenderness exhausted God's,
And that severity and rods
Could only be explained with blame,
To vindicate his holy name."
"So you think it was God who made
You sick?" "I think God never laid
Aside the reins that lie against
The neck of Satan, nor unfenced
His pen to run at liberty,
But only by the Lord's decree."
...

That he might kindly show to me
What I would be when only he
Remains in my calamity.
Unkindly he has kindly shown
That he was not my hope alone."
...

And finally, my servant, Job,
Can you draw down and then disrobe
Leviathan, the king of all
The sons of pride, and in his fall
Strip off his camouflage of strength,
And make him, over all the length
Of earth and heav'n, to serve the plan
Of humble righteousness? I can.
I make Leviathan my rod.
Belovèd Job, behold your God!"

To You It Has Been Granted...

"Have you considered my servant Job?"
This single divine inquiry set ablaze an inferno of tribulation for Job. The searing flames of righteous Job's trial were ignited to highlight the glory of the All-Sovereign God. Though a severe cost was paid by Job and his family, their flaming circumstances have since served throughout the mellennia to display the glory of the Sovereign God who reigns over and above all circumstances.

Joseph too suffered great pains. This also served the very same purpose, God's glory put on display for all to see. Such displays of the glory of the Lord are costly. Joseph's painful and trying ordeal set in place both the divine provision for his family, and ultimately also four hundred years of the enslavement of the nation of Israel in Egypt. Tremendous suffering was endured by generations of God's people until the time was right for the Lord to unleash a magnificent display of His glory in the mighty and multi-miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

So also all of humanity is bound to endure an enormously vast array of sufferings. Yet these painful situations and trying circumstances serve to display the glory of our God who reveals Himself in and through them. Our sufferings are not in vain. There is purpose in the midst of this pain. One day all sufferings will cease, but until then we have an opportunity to glorify the Lord on our painful path. This opportunity is unique to this side of heaven, for on the other side the Lord will no longer be glorified through our pain, as it is there that He will be glorified in the eternal removal of it.

For it has been granted to you
that for the sake of Christ
you should not only believe in Him
but also suffer for His sake
- Philippians 1:29

Not only do we among humanity bear the burden of suffering. The Lord Himself also stooped very low to bend beneath the unimaginable weight of divine suffering granting the greatest display of His glory. This side of heaven the most clear revelation of the glory of the Lord is seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Divinity became humanity to deliver mankind from bondage to the insanity of worshipping everything but Him.

For in Him
all the fullness of God
was pleased to dwell,and through Him
to reconcile to Himself all things,
whether on earth or in heaven,
making peace by the blood of His cross.- Colossians 1:19-20

Hiding In? Or Merely Dipping Toes?

It seems that I have not been hiding in the Sovereignty of God as much as I had thought I was. It seems rather that I was just dipping my toes into the magnificent waterfall that is the inconceivable power and wisdom of God.

It is a terrifying thing, completely other-worldly and like nothing I've ever experienced. The fury of the falling water is so loud that it takes my breath away. It is overwhelmingly clear that these are dangerous waters, yet they are also strangely inviting. The message was delivered to my heart without language and it echoed through the corridors of my heart, "Come away with me." I tremble at the fury, yet at the very same time I long for more of it. Fear grips me so tightly that I cannot even speak and in the same moment I am drawn so sweetly that I cannot back away.

The beckoning resounds from deep within the heart of the raging waterfall. I cannot resist. Why remain content to have wet feet when my entire body and my very soul longs to be soaked in and surrounded by this majesty.

Years of walking in the sinking sand of the idea that I was in control have left me weary and almost completely unable to trust. Yet the feel of the quicksand beneath my feet deposited some deceitful comfort in the notion that I have at least some level of control.

The choice is so crystal clear as to make any deliberating completely foolish. Who would continue to dwell in the sinking sand of self-wrought control when there is a massive rock upon which to gain an unshakable hold. Yet this immovable foundation is only found deep behind the unending waterfall.

My thoughts are engaged in combat with each other. On the one hand I can remain here in the familiar, and on the other I could charge head long into the depths of the unknown. An illusion of security in this land where everything and everyone sinks into oblivion, or an unfathomed security in the midst of the everlasting explosion that is the absolute sovereignty of God?

Eventual oblivion in the land of the forgotten or eternal significance found only by beholding and ever enjoying He who alone is eternally significant? Is there really even a question?

How could it be that I would abide one more second without throwing myself into the waters? What is it that keeps me at bay?

It is decided; or rather it has been decided. May all the days perish when I imagined that my life would be best secured in my own hands. Having let go of everything, in order that I may truly grasp everything, I close my eyes, hold my breath, and charge violently into the furious downpour.

Potent Medicine

____________________

No good thing does He withhold 
from those who walk uprightly

- Psalm 84:11b

____________________

    

He does not hold back anything that will benefit His people.  So also He does not permit anything which will not finally work out in the good of His people.  If all Scripture is true (and we believe that it is) then this verse holds true even in the midst of the most severe storms of life.  What a medicine to my soul, to consider that God has my good in mind even when He permits the winds of life to rage.  For if such things were not to serve ultimately for my good then He would not permit it.
 
How strange this sounds in the ears of those who have imagined that God is good only when our circumstances are pleasant.  Oh, but how potent is this medicine for those who will bow to receive it. 

   

Bonhoeffer on Sovereignty

"Everything we cannot thank God for, 
we reproach Him for."


- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Quote from Bonhoeffer, by Eric Metaxas

Though He Slay Me...

Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him
- Job 13:15

Who says things like that?  Who hopes in one who is killing him?  Job does.  Only when one hopes in another greater than he hopes in himself can one say such a thing.  In Job's case his hope in God sustained him, despite the bitter cup he had been given.

Though the category 5 hurricane was still in the midst of demolishing his life, Job had a death grip upon the ledge of the grace of his God.  His life wass utterly devastated and laid in shambles around him like the scattered remains of a trailer park after a tornado has just passed through.  Job's children were snatched away from him, his wife wagged her tongue at him and bid him to give up and to curse the God in whom he hoped, his friends too were fashioned into weapons to be wielded viciously against him, and as if all of that were not enough he was granted a cup overflowing with physical suffering as his entire body was covered with intensely painful sores.  Yet Job's fingers refused to let go, "Yet I will hope in Him."

Job clearly saw where his storm originated; "Though He slay me."  His point of view stands in sharp contrast to that so often heralded to those enduring various storms in our day.  I remember clearly during a funeral service years ago hearing a clergy member declare to the mother of her deceased son, an officer killed in the line of duty, "Don't let anyone tell you that God did this."  I bit my tongue as I sat in the room with hundreds gathered to mourn the loss of this heroic public servant.  My blood was near to be boiling as this man in priestly garb spoke as if he were delivering the words of God.  As if the medicine he had to offer would assuage any discomfort.  He may as well have given her a sugar pill and said that should help.  How can it be that those who would endeavor to speak on God's behalf would neglect that which He has already so effusively spoken.

The Scriptures which teach contrary to the fancily dressed man upon a stage are too numerous to list in their entirety yet I will highlight a few which quickly come to mind:

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Deuteronomy 32:39

Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has done it?
Amos 3:6

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
Matthew 10:29

You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah.  You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
Psalm 88:6-8

Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.
Psalm 88:16-18

With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools. He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips. He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.   He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.  He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.  He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.  He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.  He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.  They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
Job 12:13-25

I'm thinking Job may have said something like this if he could have been in attendance at that funeral service.

Not only was Job clearly able see from whom the storm originates, but he was also able to see through the pounding rain and fierce wind.  He could see beyond the massive storm surrounding him and into the goodness of his God.  This is faith.  Faith is seeing beyond the storm, it is seeing beyond all that the eyes of flesh can see in order to behold that which only the eyes of faith can see.

Job's faith caused him to be able to see through the blinding storm like radar enables a pilot see in order to safely land a plane in the midst of a dense fog.  His radar-like faith saw clearly through to the goodness of his God.  This is why Job could honestly say, "Though He slay me, yet I will hope in Him."

Governing Those Who Govern

____________________

The king's heart
is a stream of water
in the hand of the LORD;
He turns it wherever He will

- Proverbs 21:1
____________________

The kings of earth represent earthly sovereignty and rule as they please, yet even they who rule on earth are subject to the ultimate sovereignty of the Lord who rules in the affairs of men. The Lord directs the king’s heart wherever He pleases as easily as He directs rivers and causes them to flow where He wills.

He who is truly Sovereign sets up kings and governments and brings them down just as easily. He has purposes even in permitting the wicked to rule for a time. Therefore what have we to fear for even the wicked who govern have no authority over us except it has been given to them by Him who purposes all things according to the counsel of His will, to the praise of His glory.

Those who govern on earth are governed by Him who uses the earth as a footstool.

I'm gonna lose it anyway...

The conversation with my uncle was rather one sided due to his intense struggle to communicate. He lay there in his hospital bed almost entirely unable to move, a ventilator breathing for him. I brought him Piper's book, The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God. With his hands too weak to hold the book, I asked him if he might like me to read it to him. He responded with a barely perceivable nod.

I brought this particular book because it has repeatedly proved so powerful in my life as it has often served to highlight the hope sustaining medicine, that is the sovereignty of God. Only shortly after beginning to read, I choked up as tears streamed down my face. The powerful words combined with the massive reality of visible suffering, seen in my devastated uncle, was overwhelming.

The last sentence I was able to read was this, "O Lord, if this were lost instead, and all I had was You, I would be rich, and have the greatest Good." I couldn't finish the sentence the first time, but had to attempt to gather my composure. Even then the words could only barely come out of my mouth, "It's ok to lose everything, if in the end we gain Him." This is exactly what Paul said, "I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ."

It's ok if we lose everything and in the end gain Him. The words hung in the air more powerful in this atmosphere of incredible loss and suffering. He responded in a slow feeble whisper, "I'm gonna lose it anyway." Until then my uncle had struggled to form words. But here his message was uniquely comprehendible.

My uncle is dying of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was recently diagnosed with this disease and appears to be rapidly declining in health. He is currently in a local hospital and has only within the last few weeks been put on a ventilator.

The words of my uncle proclaim a truth which is largely disregarded in our day. One day we will all indeed "lose it anyway."

The question remains, why then do we live as if this is not the case? We would be wise to consider the wisdom from this man whose time on this earth is short. Men in such circumstances do not lie.

it is HE...

Oh, can you not see? This is Job’s cry to his less-than-helpful friends, who in seeking to highlight the cause for all of Job’s calamities can only point fingers at Job. Oh, can you not see that He reigns over all and nothing happens apart from His knowing and allowing. Job then begins to exposit on the very essence of what it means to be God:

With God are wisdom and might;
He has counsel and understanding.
If He tears down, none can rebuild;
if He shuts a man in, none can open.
If He withholds the waters, they dry up;
if He sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
With Him are strength and sound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are His.
He leads counselors away stripped,
and judges He makes fools.
He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.
He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.
He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.
He makes nations great,
and He destroys them;
He enlarges nations, and leads them away.
He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
They grope in the dark without light,
and He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
(Job 12:13-25)

While reading this portion of Scripture I could not help but to think of the state of our country and those who lead it. There is a reason for the peril we are in. There is a cause of the tremendous ignorance sweeping our nation. There is purpose in the midst of chaos. It is He...

Psalm 115:3
Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases.

Daniel 4:35
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand or say to Him, "What have you done?"

Sovereignty

"Sovereignty characterises the whole Being of God. He is sovereign in all His attributes. He is sovereign in the exercise of His power. His power is exercised as He wills, when He wills, where He wills. This fact is evidenced on every page of Scripture."

"Many other instances might be adduced illustrating the sovereign exercise of God's power. Take one other example. God put forth His power and David was delivered from Goliath, the giant; the moths of the lions were closed and Daniel escaped unhurt; the three Hebrew children were cast into the burning fiery furnace and came for the unharmed and unscorched. But God's power did not always interpose for the deliverance of His people, for we read: "And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented: (Heb. 11:36, 37). But why? Why were not these men of faith delivered like the others? Or why were not the others suffered to be killed like these? Why should God's power interpose and rescue some and not others? Why allow Stephen to be stoned to death and then deliver Peter from prison?"

- A. W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God

The Sovereign God

"The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When we say that God is sovereign we affirm His right to govern the universe, which He has made for His own glory, just as He pleases. We affirm that His right is the right of the Potter over the clay, i.e., that He may mould that clay into whatsoever form He chooses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. We affirm that He is under no rule or law outside of His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any."

- A. W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God

Grace in the Midst of a Storm

Today the Michiana area had it's first battle with the coming winter. Niles sustained a few inches of snow before I got off work at 11pm.

At about 9:30pm, after just handling a minor weather related traffic accident, I responded to the scene of a vehicle in the ditch on US12. My patrol car was parked on the shoulder of US12 with the emergency lights activated as I awaited a tow truck to remove the stranded vehicle. As I walked back to my patrol car I opened the driver side door and looked up to see a vehicle sliding out of control towards me. With no time to go anywhere else I jumped up and stood on the floorboard of my car and pressed against the car as tightly as possible. The sliding vehicle quickly brushed by me and smacked into my open door, pealing it backwards. Photos may follow later.

Needless to say the two motorists who lost control of their vehicles received citations for this lack of control. Contrary to popular opinion, poor weather conditions are not excuses for losing control of one's vehicle. Rather the loss of control is evidence of the fact that one was going too fast for the weather conditions. For some reason people find this unreasonable? The man who was stranded in the ditch, and who watched as I was nearly hit, questioned the receiving of such a citation as he cited the fact that the road was snowy and slippery. My reply, "Exactly, all the more reason to drive with much caution and with reduced speeds in order to maintain control of your vehicle."

As providence would have it the lady who almost hit me was driving on a suspended license. An interesting coincidence with the last time I was almost hit. 2 years ago again in the midst of a snow storm on I-94 a suspended driver of a semi-truck lost control of the truck and came within feet of striking my parked patrol car as it crashed into the median and into a vehicle I had stopped to assist.

Again I'm reminded of tremendous and sovereign grace. A matter of a few inches could have resulted in significantly different results. There is One who draws the lines between protection and devastation. Today, again, I'm glad to have been on this side of that line. There may come a time when I may be on the other side of that line, and if that time ever comes, this same One will have drawn that line, for He alone draws such lines.

Psalm 68:20 (NIV)
Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.

Job: New Illustrated Edition

Desiring God is releasing this new addition of Piper's poetic summary of the book of Job. The book was previously released under the title, The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God.

I must reiterate what I've previously written about this material; this material (book / audio) has had the most significant influence on my understanding of suffering and the sovereignty of God. Again I must highly recommend the audio version (approx. 45 min.) in which John Piper reads his four poems on Job (download for free here). If you've never heard this then I would plead with you to do yourself the tremendous favor.

The audio from the above trailer is merely several different clips from the poems joined together in order to give an audio sample.

Nick Vujicic: No arms, No legs, No worries!

Simply amazing...

Bitter Cups and Purpose

John 18:11
So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?"

What an interesting statement, "shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" What was Jesus doing here? What was it that He was relaying by using such words?

Certainly Jesus, more so than all mankind, knew intimately that the Father is good and as such does not give bad things. Jesus clearly sees the coming suffering as something given to Him by the Father.

The phrase cup is unique and effective in relaying this powerful truth. What father would give his child a poisonous cup? Setting an example by such powerful submissive language, Jesus displays His willingness to receive the cup given to Him by His Father, bitter though the cup may be. On this side of history it is clear to see that though the cup was indeed bitter, it has orchestrated the greatest good that has ever, or will ever come to mankind. (1Peter 3:18a) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.

Such are the ways of the Father whose ways are as high above our ways as the heavens are above the earth.

Jesus knew full well that His Father is good. Jesus was able to see through the bitterness to the joy. (Hebrews 12:2b) who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Philippians 1:29
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,

Would we as children of this same Father receive such a cup from Him in like manner?

Praise You In This Storm: The story behind the song

This is the story behind the song "Praise You in the Storm" by Casting Crowns (the song from the last blog post). I must admit I've never heard such a song before. What an incredible focus upon God in the midst of deep and intense suffering. The story was found here:

He Gives, and Takes Away
by Mark Hall, posted 08/14/06

You're probably familiar with the Casting Crowns hit single "Praise You in This Storm." In this excerpt from his new book Lifestories, frontman Mark Hall tells the story behind the song.

Great songs don't just come out of nowhere, and there's quite a story behind the Casting Crowns hit, "Praise You in This Storm." In a new book called Lifestories (available August 29), Mark Hall, the band's frontman and chief songwriter, tells the stories behind the songs—including this one about a little girl dying of cancer who never gave up her trust in Jesus . . . and her mother who literally stood on the promises of God through the whole ordeal. The following story has been adapted and condensed from the book.

Laurie Edwards watched her little girl gasping for air and wanted to breathe for her. She wanted the Maker of breaths to swoop in and fill her child's lungs and dissolve every tumor with His mere glance. She wanted another miracle.

It was the early morning of Saturday, October 30, 2004. Ten-year-old Erin Browning lay in a hospice bed in her home, in such pain and shortness of breath that, in fear and exasperation, she could manage only one request of her mother.

"Just read the Scriptures!" she said.

So Laurie began reading the Scriptures. She included Erin's favorite passage, Proverbs 3:5-6. From 1 a.m. until 5 a.m., loved ones took turns reading aloud the Word of God over a child in the last, cruelest stages of cancer's grip. Little Erin had battled for more than three years.
And now the end was near. Laurie tried to refuse to believe it, but her trust in the Lord remained steadfast. She was frightened and faithful all at once. She prayed for an eleventh-hour miracle. And she kept reading the Scriptures, as Erin had asked.

At one point, Laurie placed her Bible on the floor and stood on it, literally standing on the Word of God as she read over her child. Finally, after the long night of reading Scripture followed by another long night of hopeful prayer, Laurie consented for a hospice nurse to administer an IV with medicine that essentially placed Erin in a painless coma on Sunday afternoon. There would be no more gasping for breath.

I met Erin Browning on Valentine's Day, 2004 at Westover Church in Greensboro, North Carolina. Erin loved Casting Crowns, and, after six years of dance lessons, had choreographed a dance to our song "Here I Go Again." When Laurie initially contacted us, we made arrangements to meet their family before that concert. Three months later, Erin danced for the last time as her mother and two sisters joined her for a performance of "Here I Go Again" at The Carolina Theatre.

I was gripped by the imagery of Laurie's standing on her Bible and quoting Scripture over her sick little girl. After all the e-mail updates and prayers, that moment melted my heart and sparked the lyrics to this song.
I kept up with Erin's condition through Laurie's e-mails detailing the family's wrenching ordeal. Every e-mail described a change in Erin's condition. One e-mail would offer hope: "There is a new treatment, so please be praying." So we'd pray, and then the next e-mail would report, "It's not working."

Sometimes Laurie had questions: "What's going on? I feel like I'm all alone in this." But her love of Jesus remained fervent even though she questioned what was going on and didn't really understand the reasons. It was raw, rare faith, and it was inspiring.

On June 21, 2004, I e-mailed Laurie to tell her that I was writing a song for Erin entitled "Praise You in This Storm." Upon the news, Erin screamed so loud that it hurt Laurie's ears. Erin never got to hear the song, but Laurie heard it for the first time when her mother bought the CD on the day it was released and took it to the school where Laurie works. The two women sat in the car, listened to the song, and "cried and cried and cried."

"Erin would be so happy to know that other people were being touched by something written for her, because she was never about herself. She was about other people," Laurie said. "Other kids at school would say 'I want to be like Erin.' And she would say, 'No, you don't. You want to be like Jesus.'"
I was impressed with Laurie's faith, but Laurie will tell you how much she was impressed with Erin's faith. Erin was six years old when she prayed to receive Christ. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was seven, and by the time she was eight she was visiting area churches to give her testimony.
Four months after Erin was first diagnosed, a second bone scan revealed that the cancer was gone. Doctors called the results remarkable. Laurie and Erin called it a miracle. Emboldened by the Lord's clear hand in her life, she began regularly sharing her faith and giving her testimony.

"She had a desire to reach people to let them know there is no hope or joy without God. And even though she had reason in her life not to be happy, she was joyful because she had Jesus in her heart," Laurie said. "She wasn't afraid. She let the Lord speak through her, and when she would get up and speak it was like I wasn't listening to my own daughter. He would put words in her mouth, and it was just awesome."

But the cancer eventually returned, and this time, it didn't go away. The tumors grew so large that they displaced organs and created a visible bulge in Erin's chest. They pressed down on her spleen, pushed her heart to the right, and deviated her trachea, straining her breathing.

Near the end, Laurie's e-mail updates were desperate. Her last one before Erin's death was a simple request in all caps: "PLEASE PRAY FOR ERIN!" It was the night in which Laurie stood on her Bible during the four hours of Scripture reading. The weekend crept into Saturday, when at 1:15 a.m. the hospice nurse told Laurie that Erin's vital signs and statistics suggested she had only approximately 20 minutes to live.

Fifty-one hours later, [she] finally gave up her fight. Erin Browning went home at 4:24 a.m. on November 1, 2004.

Laurie still doesn't fully understand what happened next. She remembers only a tremendous peace and describes it as being under the shower of the Holy Spirit. She held Erin's body for 90 minutes while her daughter played in heaven.

"It was not like how I expected her last minutes to be. I thought I'd be hysterical, but I wasn't," Laurie said. "But she was where she always wanted to be. She told me when she was six years old that she couldn't wait to get to heaven. She said she had felt an emptiness in her heart, but when she asked Jesus into her heart she never felt it again because Jesus had filled her and would never leave her. For the 10 years she was on this earth, God used her in a remarkable, powerful way.

"I've learned that He can use an average, ordinary family to do extraordinary things and that He continues to use us despite ourselves," Laurie said. "How He has done that is beyond me. But He has a plan and purpose. A lot of times I may not like His plan, but I accept it. I'm just honored that He chose to use Erin and this family as He has."
Through it all, I was captured not just by Laurie's faith but also by her worship. She had the worship of Job:

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.Job 1:21

I have a son and two daughters, and I was amazed at how Laurie faced a parent's greatest fear. It doesn't mean that she wasn't angry. It doesn't mean that she wasn't sad or doubtful, but at the base of it she was leaning on God even if she was angry, sad, or doubtful. I was reminded once again that just because we cannot see God's purpose does not mean He doesn't have one. I was reminded that God is faithful, regardless of the circumstances. I was reminded that God is sovereign, and we're not. Finally, I was reminded that we cannot control how long our lifesongs last. We only can control how loud we sing them. Little Erin lived out loud for Jesus.

The Tragic Death of an Officer and the Sovereignty of God

Late on a cool spring evening the two police officers responded to a dispatched call of shots fired at an often problematic motel. The officers arrived one right after the other. A bystander was contacted and directed the officers towards the subject who had been firing randomly, awaking all who lived nearby. The officers moved in unison and climbed the stairway to the second level of the motel where the suspect was thought to be.

There he was, scraggly and unkempt. The fidgety middle aged man was agitated. The officers took up tactical positions as they made contact with the suspect and began to speak with him. Something was wrong and both officers sensed it. The first officer grabbed a hold of the suspect in order to safely detain him until the investigation was complete. The other officer stood nearby watching the suspect’s every move. Then it happened. The suspect reeled with a gun in his hand. The gun seemed to come from out of nowhere. One second the suspect’s hands were empty and the next the gun appeared and fired almost instantaneously. A shot rang out. The first officer was hit in the right shoulder, his weapon still seated firmly in it’s holster on the right side of his body. The second officer responded immediately. There was not a moments hesitation, instinct took over and the second officer grabbed hold of the suspect in order to defend his partner at any cost.

The suspect now physically entangled with the second officer. More shots fired, sounding like the quick explosion of firecrackers on the fourth of July. The wounded officer miraculously drew his weapon with his wounded right arm and fires. The suspect goes motionless. The rounds found their intended target. The suspect was dead. Romans 13:3-4 “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.”

The first officer immediately attended to his partner who was also wounded and laying on the floor. Now starting to feel the pain from his wounded shoulder, the first officer knew that his partner gave his life in order to save him. John 15:12-13 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” The second officer departed from this earthly realm. His appointed time had come. Ecc. 3:1-2 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die.” This brave officer was now seeing for the first time with eyes that are not limited to the sights of this physical world.

Many people consider a tragedy such as this and immediately conclude that this isn’t God’s will. And in one sense they are right, but not entirely… God does not delight in evil, but God is absolutely sovereign. That is to say that He is in absolute control of everything. According to God’s sovereign plan sin and evil are permitted to exist, but they have only a limited time and scope in which to reap their destruction. Nothing escapes His view, nothing remains outside of His control. Statements like these make some cringe with the obvious thoughts like; how could God be good and still allow something so terrible to happen?

To consider the absolute sovereignty of God is not an easy endeavor, not something that can be comprehended too quickly. An example that might help with an understanding of the absolute sovereignty of God is found in the God-Man, Jesus of Nazareth. God came to this world that He created, in the form of a man named Jesus. This same God-Man lived 30 plus years on the same earth that we do – with all of it’s sinfulness, and then died, bearing our deserved punishment to bring us to God. 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” The very fact that the God-Man, who created the earth and all who live in it, would suffer to die a tortuously painful death at the hands of sinful men – demonstrates the greatest example of how God arranges for good to come out of tragedy. Isaiah 46:10 “declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. ” This verse declares God’s ability to orchestrate the end from the beginning. Nothing takes Him by surprise.

The greatest good in all the world was accomplished when Jesus, the Son of God, the Word made flesh, came to live among us and die for us as a sacrifice bearing the wrath of God upon our sins. God, according to His sovereign plan, still allows suffering, trials, and tragedy to accomplish His purposes. Do not dismay at the sight of such difficulties but rest assured that God is Just and will render punishment where it is due. We will see much injustice here on earth, but justice will absolutely be served in eternity. We see glimpses of God’s justice in His creation. An example is seen in the immediate response of the first officer to the lawless and self-full acts of the suspect who was instantly ushered into the presence of the God-Judge who is entirely Just. Hebrews 9:27 “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”

Considering the justice of God, set no vain hopes of escaping God’s wrath against your sin. Set your hope in Jesus Christ, the God-Man who alone can bear your unrighteousness and your just deserved punishment and impart to you His holiness. John 14:6 “Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Romans 10:9-10 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Sovereignty over Suffering & Saving

One of the blessings of my job is a repeating array of examples of the sovereignty of God in relation to suffering. I have often told others who question me about my job that I have an overwhelming sense that when it is my time to go I will go, and when it is not nothing on this world can cause my appointment with death to be rescheduled.

Here are a few brief incidents at work which have caused me (and others) to ponder on God’s sovereignty.

Last night during the night shift I worked with a trooper who 8 years ago was struck by a semi truck during an ugly outburst of Michigan’s winter weather. I had heard the short version of the story and as such knew that this trooper had been hit by a semi truck while standing outside of his patrol car. Last night I asked this trooper whom I have worked with on numerous occasions to tell me the details of what happened on that day. This is what he told me.

While working the day shift on some rather snowy and icy road conditions this trooper responded to an accident on I94 near the 21 mile marker. He had arrived on the scene of a semi vs. car accident with minor damage. The trooper parked his car behind the semi truck on the should of E/B I94 to warn on-coming traffic. As the trooper was standing with the driver of the car only a few feet in front of the semi truck he heard that dreaded sliding noise that a semi truck makes when it loses control on icy roads. He said he knew then that he was dead. Just then the out of control E/B semi truck side-swiped the troopers patrol car and then struck the rear of the semi truck parked on the shoulder. The parked semi truck lunged forward as a result of being struck by the other semi truck. While standing barely a few feet in front of the parked semi truck this trooper had no time to even move before he was struck by the parked semi truck, launching him through the air. The trooper described a sensation of time moving very slowly as he hurled through the air and towards the ground. He remembered his flight quite well.

The next thing he remembered was waking up laying in the snowy ditch. Amazingly he was able to stand up and stumble around as he called dispatch to request assistance. Other troopers who arrived on scene tell stories of cleaning the dirt and weeds out from being imbedded in this troopers uniform. He was still very dazed and disoriented. After a few days off of work it became apparent that he was not going to be physically able to work again for quite a while. The unusual and varied array of symptoms that come with a spinal cord injury plagued him for over a year. 15 months after the trooper was struck by the semi truck he was able to return to work. Again that was 8 years ago, and miraculously this trooper is still patrolling the streets of the Bridgman post area.

Another miracle incident occurred within the past few months. This time it was a Niles trooper who was on the receiving end of a miracle. Officers had responded to the scene of a 911 call for help. Officers checked the interior of the residence and did not locate anybody. One of the troopers from Niles then began to check the exterior of the residence. During hours of darkness the trooper searched the area with his flashlight. His light landed on a man with a shotgun standing only 5-10 feet away from him. This subject leveled the shotgun at the trooper and pulled the trigger… Click. The gun did not fire and the trooper had milliseconds to make his decision and move. The trooper ran. The suspect re-entered his residence and after a lengthy standoff was talked into coming out of the house and surrendering. A subsequent inspection of the shotgun revealed that there was in fact a live round in the chamber, and that the firing pin did in fact strike the primer. (Amazingly enough this is not the first time I’ve heard such a testimony of misfiring rounds resulting in saved lives).

I know these guys. I know these stories are real. I can’t help but see the similarities between semi-trucks that hit pedestrian officers and a den full of lions who don’t eat a helpless Daniel. Or between shotgun shells that don’t fire and flames that don’t burn the flesh of 3 Hebrews in Nebuchadnezzar’s firey furnace.

As an officer I have seen the other side of incidents which result not in the saving of lives but in the taking of them. Several examples come to mind. One which echoes of the sovereign timing of God who calls His children home when and for His reasons is an accident that I responded to on the freeway a year and a half ago. It was a bright sunny afternoon and traffic was thick on the freeway. The 911 call came out. A semi truck had crossed the median and hit an oncoming vehicle. The W/B semi truck hit an E/B mini van. The collision had a laser precision. The angle was such that the driver side door was pealed off and the driver was untouched. The 7 year old daughter in the rear seat was literally there one second and gone the next as her seat took the impact of the front corner of the semi truck. Her sister was seated next to her on the passenger side and remained untouched. 3 out of the 4 occupants walked away from the accident. And the little one who did not, suffered not, and likely never even had any idea what was going to happen. The grace of this incident is highlighted by the fact that the semi truck which crossed the median on that heavily trafficked day hit only 1 car and not 10, or a bus. And sovereignly it was time for one little girl to leave this planet and not 50. Holding mom’s hand and telling her and dad that their little girl was dead removes with certainty any imaginations that our lives can exist apart from suffering.

Many other examples of tragedy permeate my mind, but underneath it all is a confidence that God is in control. He knows what He is doing, He has reasons, and He is good.

The interesting thing is that though I’ve been privy to see such evidences of His sovereignty, I find myself attempting to maneuver and make decisions as if I had any say in such divine decisions. That anxiety remains in me, or in anyone who truly believes that God is sovereign and good, is a quandary to me.

Journaling through the book of Job

(This is the previously posted 5 parts combined into 1 with light editing)

Chapter 1
Worship a result of suffering?
In one day Job’s wealth, friends, and family were devastated:
1) Attacking Sabeans stole away 500 donkeys and 500 yoke of oxen (1,000 oxen) and then killed the servants who cared for those animals.
2) Fire destroyed Job's enormous flock of 7,000 sheep and a the servants who cared for those animals.
3) Chaldean raiding parties stole away his herd of 3,000 camels
4) A mighty wind demolished his son’s home which was filled with all 10 of his children who all died as a result of this calamity.

Yet Job responds with worship:
Job 1:20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. Job 1:21 And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

Chapter 2
More pain.
As if all this were not enough, more truckloads of suffering are lined up and on a collision course with the already battered and tragedy torn Job:Satan gains permission from God to afflict Job’s body.
Job 2:4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. Job 2:5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face." Job 2:6 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life."

Interesting to note that previously Satan did not have permission to do this:
Job 1:12 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand."

Physical malady is the next in line awaiting it‘s appointment with the miserable Job. Job is afflicted over his entire body with painful sores. His wife, who is as affected by these tragedies as Job, becomes a mouthpiece for Satan himself when she tempts him to forsake his God.
Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die."

Chapter 3
Suffering under the weight of such tragedy, Job pours out his complaint.

Friends
Job has three good friends who come to his aid. Three loving friends who care so much for Job that they sit with him in mourning for a week without speaking. This is love. When words fail, love is still seen in the silent companionship of those who will accompany Job along his pathway of pain.

Chapters 4 & 5
Accusation tears through the air as arrows in flight. Jobs first friend fires at him. Surely Job you would not be suffering like this if you had done no wrong.
Job 4:7 "Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? Job 4:8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

Job 4:13-16 is a chilling description of what appears to be a demon planting seeds of accusing thoughts in this friend of Job. Those seeds grew and bore the fruit of cutting accusation.

Sovereignty
In the background of this story of Job’s suffering is another deeper and profound telling of the Sovereignty of God over suffering. Satan came before God and it is God who highlights the righteousness of Job. Satan mocks God’s reference to Job saying that Job merely holds to God because God has been so good to him by protecting him and blessing him. God first grants Satan permission to go after Job, but this leash only goes so far. Satan tears away Job’s possessions and his loved ones. After further relation with God about Job, Satan gains more permission, more length to his leash, but again is limited in not being allowed to take Job’s life.

God allows suffering for His reasons. He knows what He is doing. The seeing of who God is, is much more valuable than the maintaining of Job’s protection and blessing. Job’s astounding suffering enabled us (& God’s people throughout history) to see a tremendous display of God being in absolute control over suffering. God grants beauty for ashes - a glimpse of who God is came through a taste of pain. Some would say that this is not fair. And that would be correct, but things are not exactly as they might perceive them. They might say that Job’s suffering was not fair because he did not deserve to suffer like that. Others (including me) would say that it (beauty for ashes) was not fair because God is so immensely valuable that the seeing of Him is of infinitely more worth than any and every suffering. God is so glorious and magnificent that Job’s suffering was a bargain, a good deal, a steal… because the priceless can never be purchased. It was by grace that Job suffered, so that he might see more of God and so that God’s people throughout history might also see more of God through Job’s amazingly painful ordeal.

Chapters 6 & 7
Job replies to Eliphaz. Job remains in anguish and feels that he is standing on the very edge of the grave.

Chapter 8
Job’s second friend, Bildad, enters the conversation and joins in the accusation:Job you’re full of hot air. Maybe your kids died because of their own sin. Job, friend, what you need is to repent and plead for mercy that God might relent.

Chapter 9
Job replies to Bildad. Who can contend with God. How can my feeble words diminish His wrath. He is God, He is powerful and I am not.

Chapter 10
Job pours out his complaint to God before his friends:
Job 10:1 "I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. Job 10:2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.

Chapter 11
Zophar, friend #3, chimes in.
Job 11:14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

Chapters 12 & 13
Job replies to Zophar, "I’m innocent." This is God’s doing, is it not plain for all to see? Job continues his rebuttal:
Job 13:4 As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all. Job 13:5 Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom! Job 13:15a “Though He slay me yet will I hope in Him."

This is probably one of the most potent demonstrations of hope in the completely sovereign God in the Bible. Job clearly saw that it was God's arrows that were lodged in his heart and yet magnificently Job says that his hope remains in God. Job saw in God, obviously from his knowing of Him before this unspeakable suffering, His goodness, mercy, and sovereignty. Job's knowing of God was the foundation of his hope in God.

Chapter 14
Job 14:1 "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.
Job 14:7 "For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
Job does question God as to the reasons for his intense suffering. Would you bring such questions if you were in Job's place? I cannot imagine that I would do otherwise than he. Why God? Why this? Why me? Why oh Lord would you bend your bow in my direction?

Chapter 15
Eliphaz regroups and returns for his counter attack at Job. More arrows of accusation, aimed at the heart of Job, flung sharply from the mouth of Eliphaz:
Job 15:12 Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash, Job 15:13 that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth?

Friends & attempts to comfort
Lessons to be learned remain written here in the responses of Job's friends who saw not the God who reigns supreme over absolutely everything. Attempt not to comfort those sitting in the seat of much suffering with judgment and accusations of "surely you brought this upon yourself" or "this must be your fault."Rather the God-loving and God-fearing friends will hold the tongue of accusation and exchange it for a loving and Scripture-sharing encouragement:
Psalm 42:11 Why cast down, oh my (your) soul, and why are you in turmoil within me (you)? Hope in God: for I (you) shall again praise Him, my (your) salvation and my (your) God.
Romans 8:28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

The God whom we serve is able to sustain you through whatever you may face. And more than that He can even make trials and tribulations ultimately work out for your good. Our God is the God who can make good come from much trouble, much sickness, and much suffering. This vision of the God who is completely sovereign, who is good, and who never makes mistakes (even if we don't understand what it is that He is doing) is that which we must bring to our ailing acquaintances if we are to be of any aid.

Chapters 16 & 17
Job replies to Eliphaz:
Job 16:2 “miserable comforters are you all”

Job continues his reply to his would be comforters now turned tormentors. He obviously struggles to maintain hope while under the weight of his affliction.

Chapter 18
Bildad again acts as a mouthpiece for the enemy of our souls:
Job 18:5 Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine.
18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God."

Chapter 19
Job responds to Bildad:
Job 19:2 "How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?
Job 19:21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!
Job 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

Chapter 20
Zophar, apparently not satisfied that his message has sunk in to Job’s head yet, sounds the same note: Suffering comes for the wicked...
Job 20:24 He will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike him through. Job 20:25 It is drawn forth and comes out of his body; the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder; errors come upon him. Job 20:26 Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not fanned will devour him; what is left in his tent will be consumed. Job 20:27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. Job 20:28 The possessions of his house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath. Job 20:29 This is the wicked man's portion from God, the heritage decreed for him by God.

Chapter 21
Job confronts Zophar with his error:
Don’t you have eyes to see that the wicked are prospering all around us?
Job 21:7 Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Job 21:13 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. Job 21:14 They say to God, 'Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. Job 21:15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?'
Job 21:34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood."

Chapter 22
Eliphaz comes armed well for this conflict:
Job 22:4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you?
Job 22:5 Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities. Cutting words and accusation are flung from Eliphaz like darts at the already wounded and miserable Job.
Job 22:10 Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, Job 22:11 or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.Surely Job, you suffer because you have not yet repented. Turn from your wickedness and turn to God then all will be well.Job 22:23 If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents

Chapters 23 & 24
Job deflects the assault of Eliphaz and maintains his innocence and God's sovereignty.
Turn back to God?
Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. Job 23:11 My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside. Job 23:12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food. Job 23:13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. Job 23:14 For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.

Again, Eliphaz, can you not see that the wicked all around regularly get away with their vileness? It is all around us. If the wicked prosper in their wickedness, then your statement that God only punishes the wicked is clearly false - because they remain thus far unpunished.

Chapter 25
Bildad continues to pile up words.
25:4a How can man be righteous before God

Chapter 26
Job responds to Bildad.
Job 26:4 With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you?

Chapters 27 & 28
Job maintains his innocence. God does as He pleases and the Godless will eventually face His wrath. Man does great exploits in pursuit of the riches of silver, gold, and fine jewels but he searches not for wisdom - because he does not realize it’s worth.
Certainly God knows where it (wisdom) is hidden:
Job 28:23 "God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.
Job 28:28 And he said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"

Chapter 29 & 30
Job summarizes his defense.
Men used to have respect for me and listen to my words before all this tragedy came upon me.
Now they only mock and torment me.
God has done this:
Job 30:19 God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. Job 30:20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

Chapter 31
Job insists, “I’m innocent“. Oh that there were balances to weigh me out and confirm my innocence. If I had sinned I would and should bear just punishment if I exchanged the glory of God for idols, then I would deserve all this.
Job 31:24 "If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence, 31:25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much, 31:26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor, 31:27 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand, 31:28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

If I sinned I deserve all this and more, but I maintain my innocence before God and before you all.

Chapter 32
Friend #4, Elihu, after patiently waiting finally enters the conversation. He is the youngest of the group (v.4).
Elihu is very upset with Job because “Job justified himself rather than God.” (v. 2)
Elihu is also upset with Job’s friends:
Job 32:3 He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Job 32:18 (Elihu) For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. 32:19 Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. 32:20 I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer.

Elihu says that he must speak or he will burst. This seems to me to be an explanation of a spiritual event which took place inside his heart. It seems that it is the Lord who has so filled his heart that he will burst if He does not let it out. It is very much like God, throughout the Bible, to use the least (or youngest) to accomplish what he wants (I think of Joseph, Jeremiah, David, and the small city of Bethlehem where Jesus had appointed to be born). Elihu is also later left out of the rebuke given to Job’s other three friends, which seems to add weight to Elihu’s words.

Chapter 33
Elihu first rebukes Job. He speaks kind but tough words to his friend.Salvation is illustrated:
Job 33:26 then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. 33:27 He sings before men and says: 'I sinned and perverted what was right, and it was not repaid to me. 33:28 He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.'

Chapter 34 & 35
Elihu confronts job with the fact that God is just.
Job 34:10 "Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.

Chapters 36 & 37
Elihu speaks of God’s greatness and majesty:
Job 36:15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.Job 36:22 Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? 36:23 Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, 'You have done wrong'? 36:24 "Remember to extol his work, of which men have sung. 36:25 All mankind has looked on it; man beholds it from afar. 36:26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.

Considering that God begins to speak in the very next chapter, Elihu seems to be the preceding agent, preparing the way for God’s word (not that He needs it but Jesus didn't need it either - yet He assigned John the Baptist to this task of preparing the way).

Chapters 38-40
God speaks.
The Lord questions Job in order to show Job’s finiteness, weakness, temporaries, and foolishness also in order to highlight God’s infiniteness, glorious power, eternality, and unfathomed wisdom.
(paraphrase)
Do you not see my glory and majesty displayed in the created universe. If so how could you or why would you question me? Do I make mistakes? Do I not know what I am doing? Has one star fallen out of existence without my knowing or my allowing it to do so? How would you mere clay vessel question the potter who made you? You questioning shows your blindness and your foolishness. Brace yourself. All creation shudders at my voice, at my very breath yet would you dare to speak wrong of me? I even feed the lions and the ravens - not even they in all their God-given resourcefulness can sustain themselves apart from my provision.

Entirely humbled and in trembling Job says he will speak no more and covers his mouth (40:3-5).

The Lord continues to speak to Job:
Job 40:8 Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

Chapter 41
The Lord references Leviathan, which seems to be a veiled reference to Satan.
Job 41:33 On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear. Job 41:34 He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride."

This reference seems to indicate that God is using Satan in order to show that God's sovereignty over all things including him, and that God even allows him to be used as God wills and for specifically for His purposes. Satan runs not free but only at the length of leash given Him by God. Satan would that he could unleash his wickedness and wrath at will, but he is only allowed to do so at God's discretion. Even when he is allowed to run at a prescribed length, he is able to do so it only because it serves the purposes of God. The premier example of this is found in 1st Corinthians 2:8.
1Co 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (ESV)
1Co 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (KJV)

Chapter 42
Job 42:1 Then Job answered the LORD and said: 42:2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 42:3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 42:4 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.' 42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 42:6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

The Lord rebukes Job’s three friends (who are named v. 42:7-10). Elihu’s distinction of not being named in this rebuke is evidence of his righteousness in dealing with Job (his right words in this matter).

Verses 8-10 displays an Old Testament example of a New Testament principle: pray for your enemies (which includes even your friends that become enemies - who can sometimes be more difficult to pray for than your non-friend-enemies). The Lord accepted Job’s intercessory prayer for his befriending-enemies.

Job is blessed by God after this entire incident more than he had been at first.

Overview:
Job’s suffering was not in vain. An enormous burden was placed upon Job, that through his devastating situation God might be seen. Glimpses of God are very costly.

God’s truth is and always has always been eternally true. Therefore the truths of Romans 8:28 and Psalm 84:11 were true long before they were ever written in the Scriptures.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Psalm 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Because of these truths we can view the book of Job through the lens of such texts and see that God had purposes in allowing Job's suffering. No suffering of God’s people is ever in vain. In Job’s case, he and his three friends saw more clearly who God is through Job‘s trying ordeal.

A glimpse of the infinitely holy, breathtakingly glorious, majestic, and all wise God is worth whatever price solely because God is infinitely valuable. Job’s tragedy was God’s designed method of allowing more of Him to be seen. The ultimate example that the seeing of God is absolutely priceless is the God-Man, Jesus Christ. The infinitely valuable God, became Man, and lived and died to bear our much deserved punishment and to bring us to God (1 Pet. 3:18). All this that God may be glorified (seen for who He is) and that He may give us an eternity of seeing Him and enjoying Him, something otherwise too infinitely expensive for us ever to purchase.


Thank you Lord for the costly visions of You in the lives of your suffering servants and in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.