Job was on to something when he said in verse 1 of Job Chapter 7, “Is there is a time of hard service for man on the earth?” We as humans definitely go through an up and down cycle of good times and hardships.
When Job asked this question, he was moving away from his high and into his low. Job was used to living a life of prosperity for much of his life: He had a large family, plenty of servants to wait on his every need and plenty of livestock in his stables and barns. Then suddenly all of those things were gone.
Like Job, many of us single, career-minded women were on a high before the housing bubble bust: We had a large social network to see and be seen with; routines that financed manicurists, hairstylists, therapists, trainers, yogis, psychologists and the like; and closets full of clothes, shoes and other accessories.
Now in the throws of an economic downturn, many of us are faced with a hard hitting low. We’ve had to say bye, bye to expensive outings every weekend and weighty club dues. We’ve had to say adios to regular appointments with stylists, trainers and other beloved service providers. Some of us have even had to say see ya’ later to high-end clothing and handbags, forced by hardships to put such items up for bid on e-bay and Craigslist.
For many of us this is enough to put us in a bottomless depression … or at least throw a pity party. However Job’s immediate response to his hardships was, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job recognized that all of those things are just things. We didn’t always have them, and we certainly can’t take them with us when we die. He also recognized that those things weren’t worth losing the only thing worth keeping — faith in God.
He is one who has given us all the things we have grown so accustom to, and He is the one who remains when all those things are gone
During Your Quiet Time, Read: Job chapter 1.
After Reading, Mediate on These Things: What is my attitude to my things? Am I so consumed with them that any cutback could send my emotions spiraling downward? What can I do to keep my attitude to my things in a perspective similar to Job’s? When you done thinking it through, praise God for being a mainstay in your life.
If you have read this and you do not have a personal relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son, the most important thing you can in troubled times is make God a mainstay in your life. When all the wonderful things are taken away, we need to have a mainstay to keep us stable. Who better than God of all things, the rock of ages to keep your grounded?
Pray this prayer:
Dear God,
My things have ruled me long enough. I would like to seek stability, strength from the source of all things, God. I reject stuff and accept His son Jesus and his sacrifice to create a pathway to God. Thank you for coming into my life and being an anchor in my life. In Jesus's name, amen.
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