Living in the World

A quote by Dick Lucas, a British preacher, on the story of Joseph:

"If you were to go to a book table and see a biography with the title, "The Man God Uses" or "The Woman God Uses"; you would immediately think it was a story of a missionary, or a minister or a specialist in some spiritual work, would you not? A pastor, or evanglist or someone who leads Bible studies, at least. But in fact what you have in the story of Joseph (Daniel, Ester, Nehemiah too) is a highly successful, secular leader. He's not a preacher, not a missionary, he's not leading a Bible study group. In the long term I think that in many ways, being a preacher or leading a Bible study group is easier. There is a certain spiritual glamour to it. And what we do each day is easier to discern, it's more black and white and not so grey. So it is often hard to get Christians to see that God is willing not just to greatly use men and women in ministry but in law, in medicine, in business and the arts. This is the great short fall today."

I'm thinking of this quote as I read through Job. And I think about Ester, Joseph, Moses and Daniel. These were not priests, missionaries or ministers, but they influenced nations, leaders and the masses. They were people who went through tremendous rejection, trials, heartaches, losses and struggles and they prevailed. God used them and they led nations, worked for racial equality and saved a people from genocide, provided spiritual insights to people in high places, worked out famine relief plans and brought deliverance for millions from slavery.

I'm reading Job, trying to find out the explanation for suffering. I guess my search would be fairly logical given our circumstances. I'm reading CS Lewis, The Problem with Pain, (very difficult) and Elizabeth Elliots, A Path Through Suffering. I don't think there are explanations or answers to every pain or grief, it is a mystery. I've never liked to read the Book of Job, it seemed so depressing. I was always so glad to get to the Book of Psalms. But I'm liking Job more now, I see that he refuses to accept the role of a defeated vicitim. I like that. We get to see his beginning from his end, so we have a bit of understanding about the situation; but I see that God doesn't explain to him the who or the why, the reason that everything was taken from him. And the book does not instruct us on how to live to avoid suffering, how to prevent pain and lose. But I see that Job is still remembered and reflected upon by the world as they go through lose, death and grief. I see that God gave Satan just enough rope to hang himself in Job's life. And Job's life lives on. It is remembered, examined, reflected upon and studied.

I read that we are refined in our fires and storms of life. And that somehow our lives can be strengthened, transformed, deepened. And I know it is not an easy process, not one that we ask for or look forward to. But a process that many are going through now.

Moses, Daniel, David, Joseph went through terrible situations and yet we can see the end from their beginning, how they triumphed, how they went on to achieve great things. How nations were restored and people saved. Not so with our own life. We only get to see now. And we trust God with our future and the future of those we love. And we ask our Father to lead us and direct us and cause us to be receptive to his will and plan for our future and the great things He has for each of us. Help us to hear that still small voice as we go forward into our futures.