Faith like Job

My family, along with some friends are in our study of Philippians. We took a long break, but it looks bright for this year to keep the study going stronger then ever before. This Saturday we will dig for gold nuggets of truth in 2:14-18. I already posted on "Do all things...." and I am thinking about it again because of my Bible reading the past few days. I have been in Job for four days and I believe he is a good example of living out the command "Do all things without grumbling or questioning", and it just overwhelms my thoughts. I can't help but think about Job as a man that did just that. He was a godly man that didn't sin or charge God with wrong when life circumstances where the worst in his life. Take a few minutes to think and meditate upon Job 1:6 - 2:10. I linked it so you can read it online or you may just read it out of your own copy of God's Word.

Here are a few questions I asked myself regarding my circumstances in life (feel free to apply your heart to them):
1)How would I handle these circumstances in my own life?
2)What would my thoughts of God be if I lost a child, house, car, etc? Would I sin or charge God with wrong?
3)When my life/health is not going well do you hold strong to my faith in God and trust Him wholly through it all?

I am just in awe of Job's faith. The fact that he didn't sin or charge God with wrong tells me that his faith in God was not due to how life circumstances played out for him. It seems right to think that Job trusted God regardless of what he was blessed with or what was taken away from him. May the Lord make my faith as strong!

In relation to the gospel, I found this section of "A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent" to give some hope for us today in regards to our trials;

"More than anything else I could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ.
Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials in this way and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God's good work in me."

May 2010 be a year of growth gospel and stronger faith in our King! Psalm 115:3 tells us that "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases." Everything that will happen in our life is only for our good. Gospel growth is what will come out of all the trials that the good Lord has ordained for us while here on earth. To meditate and celebrate Romans 8:28 can and will make a difference of our joy in those trials....not that we will have joy in the trial but that our joy in God and His good for us will be our joy. What God started, He is sustaining, and He will some day complete it. Our salvation is being perfected through everyday trials and circumstances. Get excited. We can walk through our darkest valleys while holding fast to our promises of salvation! Our only hope is in the gospel. That will get us through anything this life will bring us!