God bless Job...

And He did, He gave him twice as much as he had before. (Job 42:10) If ever there was a man who had a right to ask why, it was Job. Blameless, upright, evil-shunning, God-fearing Job was allowed by God to have everything taken from him by Satan. His children, his servents, his wealth, his health ~ gone. And then along come his friends to help him understand "why" ~ and it was not that helpful. I think we have probably all been in a situation where we felt the judgement of others. Well-intentioned people try to make sense of a crisis, and find a suitable explanation. Sometimes people just want to make sense of things, and sometimes it is a way of trying to prevent that same crisis from happening to them - if they can explain it and find a cause - then they can keep history from repeating itself in their own lives. And we have probably all done the same analyzing over another person's grief. But I must say, that Billy and I marvel at our friends this past week. Simply put, we have the most amazing friends. Nobody has sat and counseled me as Job's friends did, on the probable causes of our situation. Every friend of mine has shook her head in disbelief and rallied behind us in prayer. We are immeasuably blessed - and I know that it is rare. It is tempting to want to ask "why" - but God never told Job "why" - He told him "Who" - as in "Who I Am". He spoke to Job and made himself known to Job, and at the end, Job said - "My ears had heard of you before - but now my eyes have SEEN you." 42:4 - in other words, now I know you ~ way better than knowing why! My friends don't look for problems - they look for God. They look for what He is working out, where He is moving, what His purposes are in our lives. My friends point us to Jesus, and remind us that there are things in this life that I will not understand - but I am safe in the Savior's arms and He knows what He is doing. I have nothing to fear.
God bless Job. His is one of the oldest books of the Bible, written during the time of the Patriarchs. What if part of the "why" was so that he could encourage believers (like me), for thousands of years after, with his story? What a testimony to have your life point back to God and not your own accomplishments. And, oh how his story makes me thank God for my friends! We went to the Memorial Day concert with just a few of our friends last night, and had a wonderful refreshing sweet time. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra played, our little girls danced as if it were their receital, and we watched fireworks and honored our military. It was wonderful family time that we needed! Thank you Lord for our friends!!!