\“𝙄 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤, 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚; 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪.𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙮 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣.” Job 16:4-5
Job’s three friends are still insisting that his suffering must be because of his own sin. They are sure that if he would only come up with a perfect repentance or if he only had enough faith, God would heal him.
Job points out that if their positions were reversed he could do the same thing they are doing. He could keep urging them to repent, and make them feel guilty. He could beat them down with the idea that there must be some other sin they haven’t thought of yet or that they are just not believing hard enough.
He tells them, "𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴; 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘭!” (Job 16:2)
Or, he could also instead give them words of comfort and solace, reminding them of God’s love for them and helping them to trust Him. Turning their eyes on Jesus they would find peace and comfort in their suffering.
Faith can’t be commanded. We can’t bring someone to trust in God by ordering them to trust in God. Faith springs to life in our hearts when we see how trustworthy God is, how good He is, and how great is His love for us.
Faith is created in our hearts when we get a good look at Jesus. The more clearly we see Him, the better we get to know Him, the more readily faith is born in our hearts.
𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴, 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺. 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘠𝘰𝘶, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺, 𝘵𝘰𝘰, 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺. 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘯.
Pastor Dan Giles