The Exalted Majesty in Suffering....

The emotions and eternity our heart longs for when suffering comes to mind or we have been ravaged by the devastating sins that plague this world. But who would have thought that even obedience brings about suffering???? The deep pangs of death haunt us. The unending hurt won’t stop. For some it’s the unimaginable pain that one cannot even comprehend and for others this pain has/is a current reality.

Job is an interesting book. A book that seems like it would defy any common understanding of suffering. Normally, obedience will bring about promised blessing. Obedience will bring about special favor with God. When in reality, Job’s faithfulness is the very thing that brought his hardship. He was the righteous man that would be up before the break of dawn pleading to God for not only his sins but for the sins of his family. He was the righteous man feared the Almighty. Yet it was the blamelessness of this man which brought about suffering. You ask yourself, what if there was a more righteous man in the land, would Job have been spared?

You immediately identify yourself with one of the character’s in the entire book. Are you the righteous Job? The one who fears God, the one who pleads before the break of dawn with the Creator, the one who despises evil. Are you the wicked wife? The one who sees the suffering and tell them to curse God, do you see them and tell them to give up on life and kill themselves. Are the self-righteous friends? The ones who see suffering because of some unconfessed sin in their life, the ones that see their well-being because of some righteous deed they did. Or are you Elihu? The young, faithful friend of the hurting, the one who proclaims the goodness of Christ’s majesty, the one sees the intensity of people's pain and points them to the exalted Christ. Be slow to speak, quick to hear, constantly placing your hand on the back of the crying, the hurting, the crippled, the lame, the self-condemned, the culture-rejected, the diseased, and so forth to sit beside them in their misery and have compassion. Encourage, not in saying how good God is, though He is, but in the exalted nature of God. Point to the Majesty. Point to the Glory! Point to the wondrous works of the Creator!

Job 36.5-7 Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise any; he is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right. He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

Job 36.15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ear by adversity.

Job 36.22-23 Behold, God is exalted in his power, who is a teacher like him? Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, you have done wrong’?

Job 37.2-5 Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Under the whole heaven he lets it go, and his lightning to the corners of the earth. After it his voice roars; he thunders with his majestic voice, and he does not restrain the lightning’s when his voice is heard. God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend

Job 37.22b-24 God is clothed with awesome majesty. The Almighty – we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate. Therefore men fear him; he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.

Here is a video that Desiring God released about 3-4 weeks ago:

Iran 'Apostasy' Bill Likely to Become Law

Please Pray....

IRAN - Without international pressure, there is little to stop the Iranian government from ratifying a bill that will make apostasy (leaving Islam) a capital crime, warns human rights groups and experts. On Sept. 9, the Iranian parliament approved a new penal code by a vote of 196-7 calling for a mandatory death sentence for apostates, or those who leave Islam. The Christian and Baha’i communities of Iran are most likely to be affected by this decision. “Unless there is a coordinated and very strong effort from the international community to place pressure on Iran for this, I don’t think there will be anything stopping the Iranian government from passing this legislation,” Joseph Grieboski, founder of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, told Compass Direct News.

(Open Doors)


For the rest of the article:
http://www.opendoorsusa.org/content/view/759/