What Faith Is

Read Job 12:1-13:19

It is hard to avoid the clear meaning of the book of Job. The story of a man who was at the height of glory was stripped of all his glory. His glory was smeared with the stuff of death and devastation but it did not awaken in him anger for loss but reaffirmed his hope in God. I never see Job angry about his loss, just angry about God’s silence.

I spent today (4/29) at the hospital with my family. My brother-in-law had a small surgery on a tumor on his brain. The doctors did what is called a needle biopsy. He took several samples of tissue from the tumor and sent them to a pathologist for tests.

I spoke with my brother today after his surgery. He has asked that I baptize him. He also referred to his sister as his ‘beautiful sister’ and his girlfriend as his ‘sweety.’ He smiled a lot too. He was cordial. I even heard him utter an apology to my other brother-in-law for something.

When we suffer it has a way of changing our perspective on a great many things. We start to view relationships differently than we did before we suffered. We start to view people differently than we did before we suffered. In fact, we start to take on an entirely new attitude towards everything in life when we suffer. At least that is how it has frequently worked in my life.

Bobby said something interesting today. He said that when all of this is over if he starts to slip back to his old ways we should remind him of what he said today. I think I will.

But today read what Job said, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (13:15a) Did Job always trust God? Surely. Did he trust him more after his world collapsed? I think he did. Job had the foundation already present in his life. But maybe this time of suffering rattled something in Job’s life. As they say, when you get to the bottom there is nowhere to look but up. This seems only to be half the story though because Job is a remarkable character and not nearly that shallow. As I said, Job already had the foundation in his life. He trusted and hoped in God with possessions and would do so without possessions. Job’s life was not defined by his possessions. It was defined by his unalterable trust in God.

Job is expressing something that you and I call faith. This is Job’s way of saying, “despite what my eyes behold, despite the pain in my flesh, despite the fact that God will give me no answers…yet, I will hope in him.” Faith is trusting that all things make sense to God even when they do not make sense to us. The just will live by faith and if there has ever been a more remarkable statement of faith it is this one. How many people can honestly say that their faith will remain in God, perhaps even stronger than before, after they have suffered such devastation? And how can they say this if they never suffer such devastation?

Prayer Thoughts

Walking by faith and not by sight is not as difficult as people want it to be. The just will live by faith because eyes of faith have insight into things that the eyes of the flesh are simply not privy to. Pray that, like the servant of Elisha, your eyes will be open to see the power of God in your life. Renew your hope in God and soar on wings of Eagles. Put your hope in God, even though for now, he may be slaying you. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”