I have one on my desk at work. You know that talking button that Staples sells and it part of their trade mark in office supply shopping. But today I want to talk about the "Dread" button.
Being honest, since coming back from Jamaica - I have been under such spiritual attack like I have never experienced before. I wont go into much details ... because I dont want to open the flood gates. But I do want to address what I am going to do because I believe in my heart speaking to those things only keeps us there but speaking past those things puts our hearts and minds ahead of those things. God is already in those next moments and he meets us there when we get there. So my focus is moving past these spiritual attacks with the best way I know how.
I have been in the book of Job this morning in my quiet time and it really is speaking amazing things to me. I hope to share what I have gathered this morning.
I have read this book before but probably then, I was not in the place I am today and that loved ones, is why we must continue to read Gods word. It is alive and able to speak into you life even if you read it before. Even if you have read the gospels 4 times over the past 2 years, today may find you at a place where Gods word in Matthew comes to life and speaks to you. Never give up on the things that God is trying to teach you through his book.
Hitting that dread button looks differently for each of us. It may be as season of time where you are in between employment and jobs are hard to come by but bills continue to keep coming in. It may look like your marriage is on the brink of letting go and someone moving out breaking the family in parts. It may look like that son or daughter continues to show themselves being immature and making poor choices time and time again.
It may also mean - your son or daughter taking the car out for the first time and its 11:00 and the phone rings. It may be that doctor who called and left VM about a test that was done last week and they have news. It may be that the door bell rings and 2 service men are standing on your front porch knowing your son is over seas.
Those are "dread buttons" and in our lives we WILL have them. We pound them with panic wrapped around our cold fingers because of the fear you have in your heart. Those moments almost paralyze us and take our breath away. Its almost like time stands still for a few moments and there is nothing going on except that moment. We have all had them.
Consider Job and his situation. A man of great wealth. Known as a good person through the land. A family guy leading his family and sharing the love of God in many ways. He was a honoring man to God and God knew his heart. God allowed Job's "dread button" to be pushed as he allowed Satan to test his servant. He not only had one button pushed but many. Losing his family, his wealth, all he has worked for in his life and then covered head to toe in sores and pain. He had lost everything and was suffering on top of that.
If you can relate to all of this or even part of this in your own life - Job's trials connect thousands of years to your situation today. Your "dread button" is very much the same as Jobs.
Far too often we pray for these kinds of things never to happen to us. We become complacent in our walk when things are going good but always looking over our shoulders waiting for that moment when something happens.
Some folks seem to go through tough seasons without much harm or emotion. Sometimes those things dont appear until years later when they resurface in some way. Some folks are immediately affected.
I love Job's prayer in Job 1:21 - "Naked I come from my mothers womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the neame of the Lord be praised."
We are just stewards of the things we have in this life. I know some folks who have fallen on hard time financially because of the economy or over extending themselves and they have put so much into their stuff. Their stuff gives them an identity and they stive and strain to keep those things. As Paul has said in:
2 Corinthians 11:26-28 - I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jes, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worded hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my convern for all the churches.
Even besides all the things that Paul was suffering through - his concern for the church was his main focus above all else. A daily burden to strain ahead for the people of God. Job was in that place. Though he could have easily given up, gave into the temptation to scream out to God to curse him and blame him. He never waivered in his faith and in his trust of Christ. Jesus taught us to wrap our hearts around whatever we treasure most. If we treasure most what can be taken away or destroyed, our hearts will always be in danger. Job appreciated what he had, what he had been given but his life didnt revolve around his possessions. Instead, his heart was wrapped around his relationship with God. A personal relationship with Christ.
So looking at your situation today, along with me looking at mine, what kind of lesson can you learn from Job and his experience?
In Job 2:11-13 - share a great story which I wont put here but I will challenge you to read in your bible or online so that maybe you will continue to read - it talks about Job's 3 friends. They travel long distance probably to come and be with him in his agony and pain. 7 days without a word to him and each other, not a word spoken as they stayed with him, weaped loudly and tore their clothes because of the suffering their friend was under.
Remain faithful loved ones, strain forward and not give in or give up to where today finds you, the things you are suffering from or challenges that today has for you. You will get a new job, you will not be a cancer patient but a person who follows Christ because of that cancer. You will rise to lead your family and out the trust back in your marriage. Your son or daughter will call at 11:05 and say she is running late and then you take the keys from her/him and ground them for the next 28 years.... and all the while.... tears and a heart that is thankful inside because they are safe.
Lord we praise you the storms of our lives. Help us learn from Job as he was so passionate about honoring you even while he suffered so much. Help us relate to where he was and his example so that we may do that in our own lives and through the things we are suffering with. May we all have friends that will come along side and suffer with us, who will cry with us, give us a leaning shoulder when we need it and a church family who will step up and support us. May Jesus speak into our next moments before we even get there and feel him in some new way that will give us hope, direction and confidence to keep striving forward. We love and praise you today and through our storms in this life. Amennnnnn~
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