When my daughter and her husband were dating, they texted long distance while he was away at college during the week and visited on weekends. They both had Apple smartphones so they regularly used emojis in their messages, and not those manufactured using punctuation creatively.
According to Siri Knowledge, emojis originated in Japan and are a combination of images and characters designed to give emotional cues in written communication where it may otherwise be unclear. My daughter had a specific set of smiles and hearts that she gravitated toward while texting and when she received those in kind, she knew everything was hunky-dory. If she ever received a smiley that was unfamiliar, she would often say, “I don’t know what that means?”
I prefer written communication in any form for the ability to proof my words. I admit that texting, though convenient, can sometimes be confusing. Responding to quick blurbs of information off the cuff is incredibly convenient for making plans to meet a friend for coffee, but far less desirable for hashing out much else. It’s especially easy to get lost when the comments come rapid fire and I’m still responding to the first of a series. The accountant in me like the debits to match the credits, so to speak, so when the answers don’t follow the questions, I begin to feel a little peevish!
Wouldn’t it be simpler if the questions and answers in life always lined up as neatly as the Frequently Asked Questions section for something other than your income taxes? Sometimes the cause and effect correlate perfectly, but more times than not, the questions outnumber the answers and we’re left scratching our heads or pulling out our hair!
During those times, we’re in good company with Job. His story begins by describing Job as “blameless—a man of complete integrity, who feared God and stayed away from evil.” (Job 1:1) His story, however, quickly escalates and four major disasters befall him in the blink of an eye. His farming animals are all stolen and all but one of his farmhands are killed by raiders, fire destroys his sheep and their shepherds save one, his camels and their herders are taken by another band of raiders, sparing only one messenger, and finally a powerful wind collapses the tent of the eldest brother and all of Job’s children are killed.
The Bible records Job’s response. “Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship.
He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!”
In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.”
Job 1:20-22 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/job.1.20-22.NLT
Job surely had questions, yet his first instinct was worship. I’m familiar with messages that leave you reeling. That January day when I received a call from the middle school secretary telling me to come back to the school to pick up my youngest before I had even made it home from dropping him off ranks way up there on my list! I will always regret my first words. “What has he done now?” He’d had a grand mal seizure at the start of first period and the nurse was wheeling him toward the office as I raced down the hallway to intercept them. That was a decade ago and though many of my questions have been answered, many remain a mystery.
October 23, 2020 ranks right up there as a day I hope never to repeat, the day I was diagnosed with cancer. What was supposed to be a routine screening exam turned into ten months of radiation, chemotherapy, and surgeries. I am on the other side of my diagnosis with a cancer free finding, but my body will never be the same. Every new ache and pain begs the same question. Will the cancer return? Is this new ailment life-threatening? It takes an act of will not to dwell on those questions. It’s not that they’re unanswerable as much as whether or not I really want the answers.
Your struggles may fall neatly into the category of health crisis, or financial disaster, or relationship trauma, or like Job, you may find yourself battling all three at once. One of the most wealthy men of his day came to financial ruin in a day. History records the many suicides resulting from the stock market crash of 1929 that ushered in the Great Depression, yet Job was able to say, “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Praise the name of the Lord!” When he is tormented with open sores and can get no relief, he laments the day of his birth, yet while his friends berate him and his wife encourages him to curse God and die, Job maintains his righteousness. He seeks the face of God in his misery and though in the end, he receives no answers to his many questions, he is able to pray for his friends to be forgiven and he is restored.
“When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!
Then all his brothers, sisters, and former friends came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring.
So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.
Job lived 140 years after that, living to see four generations of his children and grandchildren. Then he died, an old man who had lived a long, full life.”
Job 42:10-12, 16-17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/job.42.10-17.NLT
When the Accuser, Satan, confronted the heavenly courts with his opinion that Job’s righteousness stemmed purely from God’s blessing, God gave permission for Job to be tested, but not killed. Job lost so much for no reason at all. The enemy of our souls comes only to “steal, kill, and destroy.” (John 10:10) His purpose is death of the worst kind, eternal separation from God reserved for the devil and his demons. (Matthew 25:41) When asked where he had come from, Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” (Job 1:7) The same accuser still wanders the earth, angrier than ever because he knows his time grows short.
“Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”
Revelation 12:7-13, 17 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/rev.12.7-17.NIV
Job never got answers to his questions, but One thing never changed throughout his lifetime and remains throughout ours- God is on His throne and He seeks to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 NIV
https://2chronicles.bible/2-chronicles-16-9
“I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?
You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.“
2 Peter 3:2-5, 8-9, 11-12 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/2pe.3.3-12.NIV
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
1 Peter 5:6, 8-10 NIV
https://1peter.bible/1-peter-5-8
You and I do not suffer alone. Everyone living or dead has had their share of trials. The question for us is this: Will He find us watching for Him when He returns? For He has promised that for those who wait and watch, He is preparing an eternal home in the kingdom of His Father where there will be no sickness or death, where the streets are paved with gold, and where we are one in Christ, children of one Father and Lord.
“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.””
Revelation 21:4-5 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/rev.21.4-5.NIV
““Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me.
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:1-4, 6 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.14.1-6.NIV
Lord Jesus,
I have questions but my questions will pale in the light of Your glorious presence on that day when You make all things new!
As so often happens in my prayers, as I begin pouring out my heart to You, Jesus, my questioning and complaining quickly turns to praise and wonder!
May I learn to trust You without question, but thank You, Lord, that my questions don’t scare You!
In You is all knowledge, so today, as I walk by faith and not by sight, help me be content knowing that You are with me and that You know. And let the words that I say and the thoughts that I think be completely surrendered to You!
I love You, Jesus. 🥰 Amen.
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