Unsung Heroes: Commitment of Silas — Friday
Job 3:26
“I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes.” (NLT)
Happy Friday! Apologies for the downer verse today out of Job—but there’s a reason!
Speaking of being a downer, I’ve been compared to Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh more times than I’d prefer. It’s not totally wrong, though—I can be relatively melancholic and matter-of-fact, and I’m working on it. But it also makes deadpan humor pop, so it’s hard at times to compromise that shock factor. Again, I’m working on it, but also kind of not…
Speaking of Eeyore—when I reflect on Paul’s life marked by perseverance through suffering, I can’t help but find parallels to the Old Testament story of Job and his suffering. Job wasn’t so much an enemy-turned-major-ally as he was a steadfast, stellar dude who had a reputation of being really really good at following God. So good that God’s confidence in Job was used to trounce Satan, via Satan’s own plan to prove God wrong.
The book of Job is full of friends trying their best (or not), really hard circumstances, and prayer. The prayer piece is what I want to focus on today. The interesting thing is that when I read Job—kind of like some parts of Psalms—I think to myself, Can you even say that in prayer? Job’s circumstances made him feel like God had turned His back on him, and his friends also told him that was the case. But regardless of how unrefined his emotions were, he took his situation to God first. His prayer was raw, it was honest, it was dark and dismayed. He prayed Eeyore prayers, but he prayed!
Paul ran into so much trouble in his life, as he summarizes in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33 (check out The Message version, which paraphrases this really well). From being shipwrecked, imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and so much more, Paul had 100 reasons to say what we all say at one time or another: “Maybe God doesn’t like me. Maybe I'm not actually saved. Maybe He can’t use me.” We usually rattle those things off out of insecurity, but looking at the facts of Paul’s situation, it would be hard not to think that.
Both Job and Paul persevered in their faith, aired their emotions out in honest prayer to God, and knew that their circumstances didn’t indicate their status. They knew God’s word was true (Job), and that Jesus’ sacrifice covered their life in grace, mercy, and salvation (Paul). They lived out their faith honestly, and they loved God and loved people super well as a result.
Friday’s Reflection
Let’s take stock of our prayer lives to end the week. Is prayer your first thought in both the good and the bad? Are you rattling off the same rehearsed prayer? Frequent and honest prayers—in both the good and the bad, with your real personality in them—are the best way to pursue true connection and authentic relationship with God.
