Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
In Job 29, Job is continuing a conversation with his friends and musing on his current situation. He says, “Oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days when God watched over me;
When His lamp shone upon my head, and when by His light I walked through darkness;
Just as I was in the days of my prime, when the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
When the Almighty was yet with me….”
Job didn’t understand the circumstances surrounding his plight. He had no idea of the conversation between God and Satan and the affliction God had given Satan permission to place upon Job. He was in a low period, seemingly beginning to question whether God had abandoned him. He certainly wasn’t experiencing the blessing that had characterized his life.
None of us have been through anything like what Job underwent. Overall, the trials of our lives don’t compare with all Job suffered. But, nevertheless, we might identify with the words Job expressed. At times our challenges are very large to us. It might seem sometimes that God has abandoned us. It might seem we have no light to show the way and no counsel to guide us. It may appear that we are walking in darkness. Hopefully, we are not surrounded with friends like Job’s.
By God’s grace, we live in a different age. We have much more revelation about God and His ways than Job had. God spoke to Job at the end of the book and revealed much about Himself, but we have the revelation of scripture that Job didn’t have. And God has spoken to us, not only in the written word, available at any moment to us, but also by His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And He has given us His Spirit as our guide and comforter.
His word is a light to our path so His lamp always shines on our heads and we do not walk in darkness. We do have the friendly counsel of God in the word. And, far from God abandoning us, He promises He will never leave us or forsake us. We never have to say, “when the Almighty was with us.” He is always with us by His Spirit Who indwells us.
Whatever our situations, may we never fall as low as Job fell in questioning whether God has abandoned us. May He increase our faith to trust in His loving heart even when we don’t see His hand. May we walk in the light He gives. May we be assured that there is never abandonment by God concerning one of His children.
Dale