Prayer for Today
God, today grant me
Strength to do as You please
Wisdom to discern Your best for me
Compassion to serve others who need You
Power to overcome the world’s temptations
Bible Verse
Job 13:15 (ESV) 15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.
Hope for Today
Job is enduring unimaginable pain. I am sure that at some level he has to feel abandoned by God. He has lost everything. He is sitting in the city dump. People who used to look up to him now look down on him. Even his friends who came to mourn with him have turned on him. But Job is an insightful man. Earlier in this book he acknowledges that everything he owned actually belonged to God. He reminds us that God gives, and God takes away. Every single thing that we think we own is only on loan from God. All of our possessions, even our families and friends were freely given to us by God. And if God chooses to take them back, it is not ours to question the why’s. God has His reasons and we may never know them, at least not while we are on this earth. I can only imagine the reception we will receive when it is our time to join Him in heaven. Maybe we will get answers then, or maybe the experience will be so glorious that we will forget the things that hurt us while on this earth.
Application
So, how can we put this truth to work in our own lives? Look at what Job says in today’s verse. Though he slay me I will hope in Him. What a blessed truth. No matter what befalls us, nothing can ever take from us the hope that we have in Him. As Job says, we may want to argue our case before Him, and that is fine. We are human and we have emotion just like God has emotion. We can question why we have to endure certain things, but we cannot allow our arguing to turn into disbelief, or worse, blasphemy. I can image Job asking, “Why me?”. It is only human nature. What we can tell from this chapter is that even though Job is clearly at the lowest point in his life, he is grasping onto hope with every ounce of strength he can muster.
What a blessed truth. No matter what befalls us, nothing can ever take from us the hope that we have in Him.
Today is the day before Easter, 2020. We have so much for which to be grateful, but we also live under the threat and uncertainty that comes with the COVID-19 pandemic. So, you may be asking yourself how you will find hope in these trying and uncertain times. Take time today to remember that Jesus paid the ultimate price for our sin and disgrace. He took all of that on Himself so that we would not have to suffer what we justly deserve. Remember the Old Testament? The Israelites had to suffer long term through various types of plagues and being treated horribly. And remember how Job responded in his time of adversity. We must stand strong and overcome, because that is the power that we have in Jesus, not in ourselves.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the hope that we have in Your resurrection. For Your resurrection is what provides us with the only true source of soul deep peace that we so desperately need in these difficult times.