When I was a teenager, our youth group had an informal bible study that was led by a guy named Jim on Wednesdays. We would meet at people's houses and have refreshments and Jim or someone would lead a study. I remember first really feeling inspired to read the Bible through that Wednesday study. I remember telling Jim one day that he should do a study on the book of Job. He told me instead that I should do it. So, I told him I would. A few weeks later, I led the study.
The thing that amazed me about the book of Job is that in the first two chapters it looks like God and Satan are making wagers on if Job will cave in or not and curse God. First, God allows Satan to take away everything except his health. Then, God allows Satan to take away his health, but not to kill him. It tells us that Job was inflicted with painful sores and boils. If you just look at the first two chapters, God looks kinda juvenile.
But, the book does draw attention to an important issue, one of pain and why it happens. In the end, the book actually doesn't answer this question. In fact, for quite a while the book discusses the old reasons why people give for suffering from Job's friends and Job's responses. Job craves an answer from God Himself since he feels he is innocent. Then in the end of the book, God shows up in a whirlwind. Basically, he tells Job that he is creator and that He does not have to justify himself to Job. In a sense, God tells Job to trust Him even when he does not understand.
As you may have noticed from my last post, this has been a difficult issue for me. No more so, then when I was a chaplain at a trauma hospital in 2006. I saw people come in who had been stabbed and several very bad car accidents. I remember they taped one poor guy up from the middle of his chest down after surgery. He didn't make it to the next morning from internal bleeding. When you work in a setting like that, you see how quickly life can change. How often unreal and unexpected things change life in a nanosecond. You realize that life is not secure, safe and it makes you want to hug your kids harder. It makes you realize that we are not promised a tomorrow and then we need to make the most of our time.
Making the most of my time for me means doing things in my life that make an eternal difference in people's lives. Doing things that help people and encourage them. Really being salt and light in a dark place. That is what making the most means to me because people are eternal and all the stuff in this world is not. So, that is where I want to make a difference. I see the hurts of other people as an opportunity for ministry.
There is a parable that Jesus tells of the sheep and the goats. One is on his left and the other on his right. One is judged and condemned and the other is not. In the end, the ones who are condemned think that they should not be. The others ask Jesus when did they see him in hunger, naked, or thirsty or in need and help him. Jesus replies that when you do it to the least of these it is like you are doing it for him. That is an awesome thought to think that when we do something out of kindest for someone else in Jesus' name it is like we are doing it for him.
