Word for Wednesday: The Beginning and the End

While studying James chapter 5, I was particularly drawn to verse 11, “Indeed, we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord– that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” This season of my life has been like no other; these past two years have surely had their share of tribulation involved. The book of James also says, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” And… I have felt myself growing weary.

I learned a few things from the first verse up there. I found myself on my face, with all my enemies surrounding me, pointing at me and mocking me, and I cried out to God and said, “God, I am not in sorrow for my soul. I know that only Your mercy saved my soul. But God, I need Your mercy now; I have nothing left to move forward with. I feel ashamed to even call Your name, not because I have sinned but because I am so sorrowful and inconsolable.” And He brought me back to the phrase repeated through His Word so often, “The mercy of the Lord endures FOREVER.” It endures at all times. God’s mercy toward me is new every morning. He is helping me. That was the first thing I learned.

Second thing. James 5:11 made me want to study the book of Job, an exploit I have not taken on in-depth before. I almost couldn’t believe what I found out the first session. Job was blameless and upright before the Lord; he feared God and shunned evil. He lived in the protection and blessing of the Lord. I find the heavenly discourse quite interesting; I mean, how often does it happen? And that Satan’s bounds are defined by the Lord. I knew that, but this is quite an interesting context for the rest of the story. So Satan wanted Job to curse God. So he went forth and in one day, struck Job with four huge tragedies. Job fell to the ground in grief, but he opened his mouth and praised the Lord. He did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

God spoke to Satan again, “And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without a cause.” Still, Satan wanted to give it another try. But God defined the boundaries: Satan could not take Job’s life. Still, through Job’s pain and sorrow, he did not sin with his mouth.

I’ve gotten as far as the first 10 chapters, so I’ve still got a ways to go, but even what I have read so far is just… uh, keep reading.

Job eventually got to a place where he was very, very weary in his heart and body and mind, where he was seriously depressed. He even said that he wished he hadn’t been born. “My groanings pour out like water…I have no rest, for trouble comes.” Then his three friends began to talk to him. My mouth nearly dropped open when I read the words of Eliphaz: “Surely you have instructed many, and you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees. But now it comes upon you, and you are weary. It touches you, and you are troubled. Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope? Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off?” Whoa!

After reading the first friend’s speech, I couldn’t take the suspense, so I read ahead at the end of the book of Job, and was almost startled to find these words spoken by the Lord to Job’s friends: “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as My servant Job has.” I guess… God was not pleased with their words! I guess Satan does use the same tactics through the centuries.
Cuz when I became so weary in my heart and body and mind, to the point where I finally wished that I could just leave the world for just a little while; sounds crazy, but I just wanted to sleep in peace–not tossing and turning, not waking up throughout the night or even in the morning– for days. Where I became weary of the constant troubles and said, “God, please, help me; let me rest just a little while. Can the tribulations, like, wait?”

Then came that little imp, speaking to me, saying, “YOU were the one who said, “Trust God; it will work out; time is in God’s hands; be patient; be strong, endure, quting Scripture and all that. But look at you now. Trouble comes, and here you fall down into the mud and rocks. It’s not even persecution, it’s sheetrock, it’s dishes, it’s all your problems and frustrations, it’s not like you’re in jail or anything. Oh, what could you have done to get you here? Guess somebody’s not trusting God, else they’d be persevering. I see a child of God growing weary.” And I found myself a lot like Job, without the strength to even argue back, only to say, “God, please, just let me rest a little while. Please, I don’t ask for strength, all I want is peace.” I don’t know how it happened, but after one Sunday at church, I did not feel fully recovered, but I was able to get back up. During the service that day, God spoke through two different people two things that sunk to my heart: “The sun will shine again; the night is always darkest just before the dawn; hold on just a little longer; sorrow may last for a night but joy comes in the morning.” “The Lord only turns His face from those whose iniquities separate them from Him; the righteous, who are made righteous as a gift of God, do not shrink back from faith; if you are walking in the way of the Lord, He is your Helper, your Comforter.” Somehow, I was helped. There are still those days that are so rough, because I am so worn down. I still eagerly wait for rest, but I am able to hold out. So I learned that the accuser is just up to his old tricks; that I do not need to fear, nor even question whether or not the things he says are true. Eliphaz obviously thought Job did something wrong to get him in trouble, but God did not think so! All I need to respond to the accuser is, “YOU, who comes to steal kill and destroy, go back to where you came from!”

Another thing I learned is that when life brings its storms, and we wonder how the very things we prayed God would be glorified in bring us falling to the ground. Isaiah 40 says, “The Creator of the ends of the earth neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths (that’s me!) shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall RENEW THEIR STRENGTH; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Yes, we become weary to the point of fainting. No reasoning will help us, we are at our last drop. But if we (those who are weary) wait on the Lord, our strength shall be RENEWED. It doesn’t say they won’t be weary; it says if those who grow weary wait on the Lord, their strength shall be renewed. Ahh…… I don’t need to feel guilty because I became weary; I just need to wait on the Lord through that time, and He will give me His strength. I have not denied the Lord; I can look at myself and say that I have definitely not been the most faithful, strong, enduring follower of the Lord to walk the planet. Nooooope. Yet I walk in the way of the Lord, following Him to the best of my ability, fearing Him and shunning evil, and when I find myself messing up, I turn right around and ask Him to forgive me and help me to make it right. I trust in His faithfulness and His mercy, not my filthy rags of works, to save me. I am saved by the Lord, and I am a follower of the Lord. The accuser has no business telling me how it is.

Finally, I would like to close with the Scriptures the Lord led me to just today, Hebrews 3:14.

“For we have become partakers in Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.”

Hold out! Wait on the Lord!

also 1 Peter 1:6-9

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of souls.”

God’s name will be glorified. Once it had to be done through His Son being crucified, but the end was victory; Resurrection and regeneration by the advent of the Holy Spirit!

Philippians 1:6

“… He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

It is not over! You know that He has begun a good work in you; it does not look pretty now, or the way you expected it to be, but if you wait on Him, the end will be in His hands, too.

Jesus is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. In the book of Job, we see in the beginning that Job was blessed by the Lord, then Satan took all he had away to test him, then God restored to Job even more than what he had. James 5 says that Job persevered, and that the end was intended by the Lord! God works all things together for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose! There are seasons and times in all of our lives, to rejoice and to weep, to live and to die, to plant and to uproot. But the Lord is very compassionate and merciful! If your works are done in the Lord, they are NOT IN VAIN. We do not only conquer, we have the promise that we will reign with Him!

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