Job 1:9-11  Satan replied to the LORD, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!” (NLT)

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How easily do you give up on God? What is your breaking point?

The satan knew how easy it is to get people to fall away from trusting God. “Everyone has a price,” we have heard it said. Everyone has a point at which he or she will give up or compromise in matters of integrity. 

God wanted to prove this was not true in Job’s case and gave the satan great leeway to test him and see what he was made of. The satan was confident that destroying every good thing in Job’s life would reverse his trust in God. 

The first two chapters of this book are hard to read. Everything goes from great to horrific. Job loses everything but his integrity. 

Deepest darkness surrounded his heart and mind. Just so you and I can get through this book with peace and perspective, what we discover in Job’s life is summarized in two short verses from the Book of Proverbs. 

Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart;
don’t try to figure out everything on your own. 
Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
he’s the one who will keep you on track. 
(The Message)

Is God worth that kind of trust? Job before his great losses and Job at the end of his recovery would say Yes.

Is God’s perfect love and faithfulness enough and more for all we face now and across our lifetimes? Yes. 

Is life sometimes so hard that doubt will plague us? Of course. 

Sometimes, bad things happen to pretty good people.

Sometimes, the worst possible outcomes arrive uninvited.

In the heavenly sunlight of our best days, let us commit to memory the proverb above. “Trust God from the bottom of your heart” when you are at your best, when life is tedious, when times are hard, and when everything seems like it is lost. Trust God because the end of the story is better than its beginning.

“Don’t try to figure out everything on your own.” Some things are bigger than our ability to understand. Some things lack clarity now. Some things will only make sense through the rearview mirror of our lives.

“Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go.” The most important lesson we will ever learn is how to hear God and do what he says. Invite him to speak to your heart now and all day every day. Lean in to listen for his gentle whisper.

“He will keep you on track.” Step by step, thought by thought, moment by moment, he will faithfully lead you all the way home. (See Psalm 23.)

Life doesn’t make sense some days. One day, everything will be clear. Until then, let us trust God to see and know what we cannot. Let us live in the fullness of his grace and goodness. Let us walk with him through every dark valley and along every hard road. Let us trust him from the bottom of our hearts, even when it seems we will never laugh again. 

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I will trust God from the bottom of my heart.

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Our Father, you are trustworthy and true. You want to speak to us more than we want to listen. You want to direct us more than we want to follow. You want to show us your presence and purpose more than we want to see it. Give us hearts like yours that are faithful and true. Give us minds like yours that see in the dark the light of your grace and mercy. Give us firm footing and a steady pace. Amen.