A Reminder From Job

One week to go before flying to Singapore for the 13th International Kids Village, and I'm down with flu, severe headache, diarrhea, some major family concerns, and our baby Kaitlyn just got sick.  It's as if all our problems were being reserved for the whole year just to be poured out on this particular crucial week of preparations.  The Lord has blessed us in almost every aspect of the event; great CFC Singapore counterparts, exceeded target participants, dedicated service team, all-out coordinators, and excellent venues, to name a few. But truly the devil will not give up easily. The enemy will explore our weak points and target it.

Sharing to you some realizations while being sick. There are things that we face that are not in our control. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens (Ephesians 6:12). I did not choose to be sick nor did I choose for my daughter to get sick, nor did we cause some family concerns, it just came, clearly to discourage us, to dishearten us, and to divert our focus.

Second realization, God allows these things to happen so we will become stronger in faith and dependence on Him. And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, faultless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil? He still holds fast to his innocence although you incited me against him to ruin him without cause." And Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has will he give for his life. But now put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face."  And the LORD said to Satan, "He is in your power; only spare his life. (Job 2:3-6)"  How convenient for us to blame God when bad things happen, yet unknown to most of us, we are actually letting the devil win over our lives.  The easiest thing is to give up on God. The people around Job were already cursing God, yet Job still submitted to the Lord.

Which bring me to my third point: God is ever faithful, ever just, and ever lavish to us . After all that has been lost in Job's life, God has blessed his faithfulness in the end. Thus the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones. For he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.  And he had seven sons and three daughters...(Job 42:12-13).


I pray for all of us who are going through life's struggles at present, that we bring back our focus on the Lord and magnify His power in our lives. May Job's story, all 42 chapters of it remind us that even the most faithful of men go through oppressions, but may it also remind us that God cannot be outdone in His generosity and His will is always the best for our lives.