Today's Daily Bread
God Must Love Me More
During a difficult recession, I organized a support group for
fellow Christians to help them cope with unemployment. We provided
resumé reviews, networking, and prayer support. One problem emerged:
Whenever someone got a job, he or she almost never returned to the group
to offer encouragement. That increased the loneliness and isolation of
those left in the group.
Worse, though, were comments from those who had never experienced a
job loss. They mirrored the accusations of Job’s friends in his
suffering: “If you were pure and upright, surely now [God] would awake
for you, and prosper [you]” (8:6). By chapter 12, Job is starting to
express things in terms modern workers can understand. He says that he
feels despised by those whose life is easy (v.5).
When things are going well for us, we may start to think that we who
don’t have troubles are better somehow, or are more loved by God, than
those who are struggling. We forget that the effects of this fallen
world are indiscriminate.
We are all loved by the Lord and we all need Him—in good times and
bad. The successes, abundance, and positions that God has given to us
are tools to help us encourage others in their time of need.
Give us the humility, Lord, not to act like Job’s friends
who accused him of sin because of his trials. Show us
how to help those who are struggling so that we might
give the kind of encouragement You have given us.
who accused him of sin because of his trials. Show us
how to help those who are struggling so that we might
give the kind of encouragement You have given us.
Humility toward God makes us gentle toward others.
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