Josh’s Thoughts

Job 36:15 HCSB
(15) God rescues the afflicted by afflicting them;
He instructs them by means of their torment.

This Scripture has always fascinated me, ever since I first noticed it about a year ago. If you’re familiar with the Book of Job then you know that Job is composed mostly of dialogues between Job and his four friends. Three of the four friends aren’t worth listening to (they say a lot of things that are incorrect, because they are trying to understand what is happening to Job through their own wisdom instead of through God’s wisdom), but the guy who speaks last–Elihu–has his head on straight. The reason that I mention that is because it is Elihu who says the words found in Job 36:15:

Job 36:15 HCSB
(15) God rescues the afflicted by afflicting them;
He instructs them by means of their torment.

When I first read this I thought, “Wow, God really does things backwards, doesn’t He?” It took me a little while to realize that it’s us who do things backwards, not God. You see, I’ve often wondered what life would be like if it were completely free from any sort of toil, hardship, and stress. I used to think about how great it would be, but now I’ve started to realize that it is our ability to overcome those things that makes us human–that’s what makes us feel alive. I don’t think I’d ever be satisfied if there were no challenges in life. Sure, Heaven might be that way, but we’re going to be changed in some fundamental ways before we go to Heaven, too.

On the other hand, sometimes I wish that life didn’t have quite so much hardship to overcome! Sometimes it just seems so…rough! There’s work & school, work & school, work & school in this never-ending cycle. Then we have to deal with things like being sick (like I am right now), dealing with emotional distress, pain, loneliness, fears, etc. Sometimes it’s enough to make a person just want to scream!

But when I start to feel like screaming I remember the words of Elihu. I remember that the afflictions we go through are designed to make us better–they are designed to rescue us.

I was talking to a friend the other night who recently broke up with her boyfriend. I was telling her about my break-up a few years ago with my fiance, and we were comparing stories and things that we learned. As I was talking to her I was thinking about all the emotional pain and turmoil that my break-up with my ex entailed, but I was also thinking about all of the ways that I have become a better person as a result of that break-up. I learned so much about myself through that relationship. Now that I look back on it I realize that I never would have been happy if we had gotten married. That’s nothing against my ex, she’s a great woman, it’s just that I realize we weren’t compatible. Much better to find that out before we got married then afterwards!

So I guess you could say that God took my affliction and used it to make me a better person. To rescue me, in a sense.

I suppose what it boils down to is that we have to go through afflictions in life no matter what we do. But when we do it with God, He takes those afflictions and torments and turns them around for our good. There’s hardship in life whether we’re saved or unsaved, Christian or non-Christian, but the way that we approach those hardships–and the One that we approach them with–makes all the difference.

Like Paul said:

Rom 8:28, 35-39 GNB
(28) We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
(35) Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death?
(36) As the scripture says, “For your sake we are in danger of death at all times; we are treated like sheep that are going to be slaughtered.”
(37) No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!
(38) For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future,
(39) neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.