For several years I’ve been reading stories of the miraculous things happening in the persecuted Church: stories of Christ appearing to Muslims in dreams and visions; stories of Christians protected by angels; stories of lions appearing to rescue Christians about to be beheaded. Many more such stories have been told. Are they believable? I believe that God is working in miraculous ways.

I have communicated with a handful of Christians native to persecuted areas. Many have now vanished from social media and email. I know this about them: they felt abandoned by the Church in the West, if not by God; they felt alone.

It is in our nature to sometimes feel alone in the struggle of righteousness, even here in the US. It is both easy and self-serving to believe we are the only ones standing against the post-Christian version of Baal worship. In truth, the Church in the West may be fooling itself into believing we are a part of the Church at all. Our faith paddles in comparison to the faith of Christians in Africa.

We in America may be a type of Church of Pergamum while the Church in Africa and the Middle East is the Church at Smyrna (see Revelation 2:8-17).

Yet, know matter how often or to what degree any of us feel abandoned, we never stand alone. God always has a remnant. Just as Elijah knew nothing of his 7000 contemporaries who had not bowed down to Baal, Christians worldwide are refusing to bow to the false gods of this world. We are not alone, even when we stand unto death.

Christ said, “For I am with you always, even into the end of the earth.” He is with us, and there is always a remnant.

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While waiting for yet another surgery to remove any cancer cells in the muscles and tissues around the tumor site, I went to a men’s prayer breakfast where two men pulled me aside to pray with me. Specifically, they prayed that my sins would be removed and my faith would be bolstered so that my cancer would be healed. A few weeks later, the surgeons flayed my leg from my knee to my ankle to obtain “clean margins.”

Though I was offended and confused by by the prayers of those two gentlemen, I knew they meant well; they are good men. However, they told me directly that if my faith had been strong enough then I would have grown close to God that I wouldn’t have gotten cancer. Over time, I became resentful of that statement. Still, I had to investigate the truth of the matter.

Is there any truth to the belief that Christians battle illness because of sin and lack of faith? That question is too big to deal with in its entirety. The question of faith-healings and faith-healers has incessantly stalked the Church for a century and a half. Any stance taken has been and will be largely subjective. Instead of looking at faith and healing, let’s see what the Bible says about sin and sickness.

We will begin with James 5, where the brother of Jesus asserts that when someone is healed of their illness, their sins are also forgiven (James 5:14-15 NIV).

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

The relationship here, though not explained, is undeniable: the prayer of faith makes one well and raises them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Moreover, the next verse could not be clearer (James 5:16 NIV):

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

It follows, are you sick? Call the elders, ask to be anointed with oil, pray in faith, confess your sins to one another, and then your sins will be forgiven (if you’ve sinned) and you will be healed.

Still, that is a far cry from saying that the sins of the person who is sick are to blame for their illness. There is a growing belief in people that I know who attend churches that put greater emphasize the practice of praying for the sick than they do anything else. It goes like this: many are sick because they have sinned, and because they are unrepentant we won’t pray for them, but instead we will turn them over to Satan. This is a dangerous, unloving, and calloused belief. It may be why James concluded his letter with a call to rescue the perishing.

The belief that illness is directly linked to the sins of the ill was also a common belief in the first century. But, is it a sound belief?

Let’s look at John 9:1-7 NIV:

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

Here we see that Jesus and His disciples encounter a man who had suffered a lifetime of blindness. His parents would have suffered as well, raising a boy who was blind. The disciples look at the man and – in their minds – condemn him for his sins. But then they think that perhaps they are being too harsh. Maybe he didn’t sin at all; maybe it is his parents who are to blame*.

Jesus tells them that neither supposition is correct. The man had been born blind so that God would be glorified in His healing. God knows why we suffer illness, but we cannot with certainty determine such things, so we must not pass judgement.

While we cannot and must not conclude that anyone is sick because of one’s own sin (only God can say for sure), we can be certain that the path to healing begins with the attitudes and faith that James outlines in the steps in his epistle. Corporate confession (genuine confession must include repentance), faith, personal and corporate prayer, and the symbolic anointing with oil. One may not be sick because of sin, but unrepented sin demonstrates a lack of faith in Christ, and one cannot be healed without faith in Jesus.

Isn’t it interesting that the Bible never tells us (not that I can recall) that Jesus asked believers to gather together, pray, and anoint the sick with oil while He walked in this earth, but after He ascended into heaven this practice became the norm. Why? Because it is just as important to God that we (His body, filled with the Holy Spirit) love and care for each other in the same way we love God. He emphasized this in naming the Greatest Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40).

This too is certain: sickness and death have been with us from almost the beginning of this age and will be with us until the end of this age. Sickness and death, though, are not part of God’s ideal journey for humankind; sickness and death came about only because the first-created of mankind (Adam and Eve) chose to be like gods instead of loving and cherishing the true God. Original sin.

*It is interesting to note that even the Pharisees, experts in the Law, believed that this man had been born blind because of sin. See John 9:34.

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Once, when his wife noticed Luther in the midst of a bout of depression, she put on her finest mourning garb. Dressed in black, face veiled, she presented herself to him.

“Who died?” Luther asked.

She lifted her veil and replied, “It seems as if God must have, by the way you’re acting.”

Like Luther, I suffer depression. I often feel like I am fading away, or like there is a veil that prevents me from looking within, or like I simply want to stay in bed forever. Like Luther, I have learned to cope most of the time. He seems to have figured out how his wife could help lift him from the depths. His wife, it appears, had a few tricks of her own to help him cope. I think most people who suffer fron depression develop some coping skills, even if they do not seek professional help.

Too often, though, pastors and others in Christian ministry dismiss the idea of Christians suffering from depression. One pastor I spoke to in preparation for this blog represents the attitude of many. When asked how he counsels parishioners with depression, he responded with, “… I also tell them that they have no need to be depressed because there is an inner joy that we as Christians possess.”

While what he says is true so far as it goes (Christians are blessed with an inner joy), he is misinformed. Depression is an illness not an attitude. Like any illness, the attitude of the patient can affect the sickness, but it does not cause or cure it. To tell that someone suffering from clinical depression is akin to telling a man who just suffered a heart attack that there is no need for bypass surgery because he has Jesus in his heart.

While pastoral education about depression and other mental illness is becoming more common, it is not yet common enough. Today, more Christian pastors are trained as counselors than ever before. The science of psychology has grown by leaps and bounds, just like all the sciences.

Personally, I have no doubt that, had my sarcoma been diagnosed in 1915 instead of 2015, I would have died a slow and miserable death. Had it been diagnosed in 2005 instead of 2015, I would have likely lost my leg. There have been so many miraculous medical advances in the last 100 years that practically no pastor would counsel a sick parishioner to change their attitude so that all will be well.

It is time to start viewing mental and emotional diseases like we do cancer and heart disease. Sure better attitudes help, but better attitudes don’t heal us. God heals us and He usually – but not always – does so through the hands of medical professionals.

Just as a pastor would advise someone with acute chest pains to go to the ER, a pastor should advise someone with chronic depression to seek medical attention. Besides that, though, what can pastors – or anyone – do for those in depression? Here are a few ideas:

• Do not be dismissive of their problems.
• Ask them how you may help.
• Sit with them without speaking if necessary.
• Let them know they can talk to you without judgment.
• Let them know you will support them emotionally and prayerful through the entire journey (do not say this if you don’t think you can handle it).
• Let them know you are their friend and would love to hang out whenever they are ready.
• Without condemnation and without cliche platitudes, help them look at the positive things in life.

We should remember, though, with every illness – physical or psychological – that though He usually works through the hands of doctors, it is God alone that heals. Every illness should be taken to God in prayer.

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I was six years old when the original Disney flick was released and I loved it. So much did i love it that I begged my mom for the book. She brought home the Disney book based on the movie. I wanted Rudyard Kipling’s novel, but school had just started and she had spent every dime she had on clothes for three school-aged boys. So I was content for a while to relive the movie through Disney’s colorful book, and even tried to imitate the voices of Baloo, Bagheera, and Kaa, but especially Bagheera and Kaa because I knew them as Mr. French and Winnie the Pooh. (Look it up.)

I eventually got the Kipling book and was as enraptured by it as I was by the movie. I read that book a dozen times growing up. Fifty years later, though, it’s not Kipling’s book that stands out in my mind, it’s the movie. Here is why I make reference to it. The elephants. Remember? In the Disney movie Col. Hathi, the commanding elephant is a true leader, a benevolent and kind figure whom every other elephant follows.

No. I am not going to compare Col. Hathi with God. I will, however, contrast him with God. In rewatching, I realize that most of the time the elephants do not follow Col. Hathi, rather they follow the elephant that follows the elephant that follows the elephant that follows the colonel.

God never asks us to follow anyone else but His Son. Not once did Christ say, “Follow James. He is following me and I am making him a fisher of men.” He never said, “Follow John. He’s young but he’s wise in spite of his youth.”

Christ inevitably called – and still calls – every man, woman, and child to follow Him. He never calls us to follow a man who is following Him. Sure, we can learn from our pastors and teachers and Christian mentors, but we follow only Christ.

Jesus sits at the right hand of the father, and, if you have accepted Him as your Savior, His Spirit lives in your heart. He acts as our advocate. He teaches us, guides us and even prays for us when our broken spirits cannot utter a word. He preserved all things necessary for salvation and discipleship in His Holy Book, the Bible. All you have to do is follow His command when He calls you.

And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him. – MARK 2:14

So… Hup two three four

Keep it up two three four

Company, sound off!
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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

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When my children were young I would often find extra work to supplement the income of my full-time job. One weekend, I agreed to clean leaves out of a yard, which led to a job the next weekend at the same location. I would be taking down a tree.

I had never cut down a tree by myself but I managed it pretty well. A few days later, the same people asked me to remove the tree stump. How hard could that be? I agreed.

I spent the next two or three weekends digging and cutting and chopping, until, at last, I was ready to tie the stump to a rope and pull it from the ground with my little Ford Courier pickup.

That did not go well. I tugged and pulled, smoking my tires, and straining my clutch, until something gave. It wasn’t the stump that I felt give. It was the rope snapping, the end of which whipped across the truck and shattered the back sliding window.

I never got that stump removed. Instead I cut it off at ground level. A few years later, shoots of green sporting fourth from that stump and began to grow. What the homeowners had thought dead was rooted so deep and so wide that it could not be removed, and it could not be killed.

Those who trust in God for their salvation are given a measure of faith that leads to discipline, compelling us to walk hand-in-hand with our Lord. Consequently, we are rooted in His love, built-up in His grace, and established in the faith. Once we understand that, we cannot help but give Him all thanks and all praise.

“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2:6-7 ESV

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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

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Levitical law separated the leper from the rest of society; lepers lived at a distance, never again to touch their loved ones, or to speak with them intimately. Never again could they hug their children or kiss their spouse.

Leprosy is highly contagious, and is spread by skin contact and through water droplets, like a cough or sneeze or a runny nose. Leprosy attacks the central nervous system, but its symptoms appear as tumors and disfigurement of the flesh and bone. Fingers twist in unnatural ways; hands become claws, and arms and legs become useless over time. The life of a leper is a painful and sad.

Lepers suffered so greatly that people in the time of Jesus naturally assumed that the afflicted must be paying for some terrible sin. And, why wouldn’t they think that? Two thousand years later, many of us still believe that way, to some extent.

It was near the end of His ministry when Jesus, passing through an unnamed village between Samaria and Jerusalem, was called on by ten such lepers. In keeping with the Law, they called from a distance.  “Master, have mercy on us!”

His answer may seem strange to us, but that is only because we don’t live under the Law. “Go, and show yourselves to the priests.” Before a leper could rejoin society, he or she must have been certified to be free of the disease by a priest.

The Bible doesn’t say for sure, but I imagine an expression or two of doubt on the faces of the lepers, and perhaps a few questions among them. Still, they obeyed Him.

And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

– Luke 17:19

The healing must have been slow and progressive, rather than instantaneous. Before the lepers arrived at the Temple or synagogue, they found themselves healed. One of them – just one – was so grateful that he turned back to thank Jesus before he had made it to see the priest.

So grateful was he that he fell at the Master’s feet and worshiped Him.

“Didn’t I heal 10 people?” said Jesus. Of course, He knew the answer. “Where are the other 9? Only one has found it in his heart to return and praise God, and He is a Samaritan.” Christ once again reminded His followers that their prejudice against their neighbors is simply wrong.

“Get up, He tells the Samaritan. “Arise and go your way. Your faith has made you whole.”

The leper’s mission had changed. Before turning around to express his gratitude to Jesus, his mission had been to go see the priests. Now, healed and made whole, he received new inductions from Christ… to go his own way.

“You are made whole.”

And, here’s my point. Those who experience a real encounter with Christ are made whole, spiritually whole; theirs lives are renewed and made complete and they simply cannot continue to go on living like they once had. They are compelled to follow Jesus. Their missions change. Christ directs them in a different direction. They receive a change of plans. Theirs hearts have changed. Their entire lives change.

Have you been made whole? If not, you only need ask. Fall at His feet and praise Jesus. Ask Him to change Your heart. Your life will change. Forever.

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Holiness is, perhaps, the most misunderstood concept in Christianity. Anyone who has striven to follow the life of Christ can likely tell you that it is impossible to do. No one can match His love, His grace, or His compassion. For no one but Jesus is perfect. Once the believer is filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit, though, he or she is filled to the brim with the love of Christ, and desires nothing more than to please God and follow in Christ’s steps. The love of sin is gone. In its place is a love and passion for others. That is Christian Holiness. This is Christian Holiness Daily.

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I’ll be working my way back to you, babe, with a burning love inside

Yeah, I’m working my way back to you, babe, and the happiness that died

I let it get away

That old hit (written by Denny Randall and Sandy Linzer) could easily be made into a Christian song, but it would be so wrong. In the song, released by the Spinners in late 1979, the story teller boasts to his love that, even though he has cheated and emotionally abused her, he begs her forgiveness and will be “working my way back to you.”

Too often, Christians feel the same way. We promise God that we love Him and will never go back to our habitual sins (this that we love so much). Then, when we fall into the same old trap and sin again, we set out to work our way back into His favor.

The thing is, that doesn’t work for God. When Christ died for us, His sacrifice was for all our sin, past or future. Neither salvation nor sanctification is based on our merit. We can earn neither.

Then how does one become sanctified? Through faith, just like salvation. Read Hebrews 10:10:

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

We have been sanctified. Notice that the word “sanctified” is passive. We are not sanctifying ourselves; rather, God has sanctified us.

Because we are human, stuck in bodies, with imperfect minds, and fragile emotions, we are no more able to live a holy life than we are able to save ourselves from hell.

Why, then, so most Christians get hung up on how we live? Because we often confuse sanctification and holiness with discipleship. Nothing we do will get us into heaven. Nothing we do will make God love us more.

Likewise, so long as we are believers in Jesus Christ, nothing we do will lose is our spot in heaven, and nothing we do will cause God to live is less.

This may sound radical to many in A holiness church, but it is true. There is a place for holy living and Good sites call us to separate ourselves from the world, but we are unable to do either.

We cannot live a holy life. We can only have faith that Christ can live His life through me. Only He can sanctify me and only He can live a holy life through me.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

 

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“Take the children to the dining room and set them at the tables,” he told the housemother. He then prayed, and thanked God for that which He provided, even before He had provided a bite to eat.

Within minutes a baker had knocked on the door and delivered bread to the children, telling Mueller that God had impressed it upon his heart to give it to the children. Then a milk man knocked on the door. His cart had broken down and the milk would spoil unless he found someone to use it. He gave the milk to the orphans.

Mueller never doubted that God would provide. Through his  92 years, Mueller lived by faith. In addition to five orphanages, he preached in the same church three times a week for most of sixty years. He worked beside D.L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon, and Hudson Taylor. He traveled to 42 nations, preaching the Gospel. In the end, he personally preached to over three million people. All the while, he  trusted in God to pave the way and provide the means.

He took the promise of God to David and Solomon to heart. “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.”

Do not fear. The same God who called you to do His work, has already provided the means for you to complete that work.

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Jairus had no warning when tragedy struck his house (Mark 5). He was a man of some importance, a ruler in the synagogue, which is more or less like the chief administrator at the church. Life had been good to him. He was prosperous.  He had a family. What could go wrong?

For most people, though, something usually does go wrong. Jairus’s daughter fell ill, very ill. He was desperate. This girl was the love of his life, his reason to live, as any daughter is for any good father. She was obviously dying and there was nothing that any doctor could do for her. 

Then, Jesus arrived on the shores of his town. He begged Jesus to heal her, and Jesus immediately headed to his house, followed by a throng of people. On the way there, though, Jesus stopped. 

“Who touched me?” said Jesus. 

Jairus panicked. His daughter was deathly ill. There was no time to waste. He must have thought Jesus crazy, for He was surrounded by hundreds of people, each vying for His attention, yet the Master had asked who touched Him?

In his mind, Jairus screams, “Come, hurry, Jesus. There’s no time for this…” Only the dignity of his position prevents him from grabbing the Master by the arm and dragging him to his daughter’s side. 

No sooner does Jesus bless and heal the woman that had touched Him, than Jairus sees his servants rushing into the crowd. They need not speak. He could tell by their expressions that his daughter had passed. 

When the servants did speak and confirm his deepest fears, he lost it. Tears welled in his eyes. His lips quivered. His hands shook. His heart sank. Death had called on his home, and taken his daughter. Oh, that he could take her place. If only the woman hadn’t distracted the Master. If only… 

The Master, though, had heard the servants and took pity on Jairus. “Do not be afraid. Only believe.”

Jairus heard those words and looked into the eyes of the Master and saw not death, rather he saw eyes full of life, light and love. What he felt as he did so compelled him to believe. For when Jesus spoke, the ruler of the synagogue understood this: no one loved his daughter more than he, except the Master. And, at that very moment, Jairus knew that whatever he found when he arrived home, all would be well because his home was in the hands of the living God. 

Oh, that I had understood the lessons of Mark 5 twenty years ago, when the sheriff called my office and asked me to meet him at the scene of my wife’s accident. I would have saved myself a world of grief had I trusted in God like Jairus.

So long as we listen to the words of Jesus, keep our eyes on Him, and invite Him into our home, all will be well. No matter what tragedy strikes, it is but a small bump in an eternal road; God will provide us the strength to endure whatever besets us. “Do not be afraid. Only believe.”

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One of the most difficult of Christ’s parables is found Luke 19, the Parable of the Minas (also spelled maneh. A maneh of gold was worth more than 102 pounds.). Basically, an incredibly wealthy ruler is called away. Before he departs, he calls his servants and gives them each a portion of his wealth to invest on his behalf.

Those who generated a profit were rewarded accordingly. The one who sat on the money instead of investing it was stripped of all he possessed.

What’s the point of the story? It’s found in verse 13. Occupy until I come.

When my kids were growing up, any time they complained they were bored, my wife would give them a chore to do, just to keep them occupied and out of her hair. My mother would tell me to find something to occupy my time. Both these are good examples of how we have distorted the true meaning of the word occupy. It originally meant something quite different.

The word occupy was originally a military term. It still is. An occupying army is one that has taken its objective, captured territory, and digs in. It is entrenched… literally. It’s always ready to defend its position, always in full armor, and always ready to go on the offensive at a moment’s notice. It works hard to keep and expand its territory.

The NKJV doesn’t use the word occupy, but instead reads “do business until I come.” This is more accurate. This is the intention of the speaker in the parable.

The parable is supposed to teach us two obvious things. First, we have but one life and we should use it to diligently work for our Master. Secondly, we do that work because our reward in heaven will be proportionate with our devotion to Him.

To say that Christ intended that we draw parallels from the military meaning of the word occupy, as we noted above, would be a distortion of Scripture, but it is interesting to note that an analysis of the word is not in conflict with the portrayal of a Christian as a soldier in the Army of The Kingdom of Heaven. This is perhaps why the word was used by early translators of the Bible.

An old hymn makes my point better than I ever could…

O land of rest, for thee I sigh!

When will the moment come

When I shall lay my armor by

And dwell in peace at home?
We’ll work till Jesus comes,

We’ll work till Jesus comes,

We’ll work till Jesus comes,

And we’ll be gathered home.

– Elizabeth K. Mills

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The way I know it now.

I could not see my need for Him,

My pride would not allow.

I had it all, without a care,

The “self-sufficient” lie.

My path was smooth, my sea was still,

Not a cloud was in my sky.
I thought I knew His love for me,

I thought I’d seen His grace,

I thought I did not need to grow,

I thought I’d found my place.

But when the way grew rough and dark,

The storm clouds quickly rolled;

The waves began to rock my ship,

My anchor would not hold.
The ship that I had built myself

Was made of foolish pride.

It fell apart and left me bare,

With nowhere else to hide.

I had no strength or faith to face

The trials that lay ahead,

And so I simply prayed to Him

And bowed my weary head.

His loving arms enveloped me,

And then He helped me stand.

He said, “You still must face this storm,

But I will hold your hand.”

So through the dark and lonely night

He guided me through pain.

I could not see the light of day

Or when the storm might wane.
Yet through the aches and endless tears,

My faith began to grow.

I could not see it at the time,

But my light began to glow.

I saw God’s love in brand new light,

His grace and mercy, too.

For only when all self was gone

Could Jesus’ love shine through.
It was not easy in the storm,

I sometimes wondered, “Why?”

At times I thought, “I can’t go on.”

I’d hurt and doubt and cry.

But Jesus never left my side,

He guided me each day.

Through pain and strife,

Through fire and flood,

He helped me all the way.

And now I see as never before

How great His love can be.

How in my weakness He is strong,

How Jesus cares for me!

He worked it all out for my good,

Although the way was rough.

He only sent what I could bear,

And then He cried, “Enough!”
He raised His hand and said, “Be still!”

He made the storm clouds cease.

He opened up the gates of joy

And flooded me with peace.

I see His face now clearer still,

I felt His presence strong.

I found anew His faithfulness,

He never did me wrong.
Now I know more storms will come,

But only for my good,

For pain and tears have helped me grow

As naught else ever could.

I still have so much more to learn

As Jesus works in me;

If in the storm I’ll love Him more,

That’s where I want to be.
Written By:

Wendy Greiner Lefko

© 1996 Used with permission
Thanks, Nancy Okabe for your contribution

On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 

Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 

And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. 

And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are preparing?”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

Mark 4:35-41

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He shaved his head, ripped his clothing and went into mourning. His three closest friends mourned with him, sitting silently for seven days. 

When Job finally spoke, he cursed the day he was born. His friends, however, had their own ideas about Job’s problems. One believed that Job was being punished for unrepented sin. Another believed that Job had exhibited evil behavior and should have endeavoured to be more righteous. Still, another believed that Job likely deserved far greater punishment than that which he had already received. With friends like that…

Job defended his innocence to his friends and proclaimed that there is a Redeemer in heaven who would vouch for him (Job 16:19, 19:25).  He longed for an intercessor, someone to speak to God on his behalf. Amazing, isn’t it, that this man of God, who lived perhaps 600 years before Christ, could so succinctly sum up the role of Christ, who now sits at the right side of His Father. 

There are many lessons and insights to be gleaned from the book of Job, and one that is often overlooked is this: Job turned to his friends for help, and they were no help at all; instead, they frustrated him. Yet, he stood beside them, and reminded them that he was a better friend to them than they were to him. In the end, Job stood alone and even defended his friends before God. 

Job’s patience is often the topic of discussion, but it is his faith that we should learn from. He trusted in God before there was a Bible to read. He believed in a Redeemer before mankind had been redeemed. And, he had faith that if he trusted in God, God would remain faithful to him. 

We worship a God of infinite might and never-ending mercy, and His Spirit lives in the heart of every one of His children, given to us so that we may experience firsthand that for  which Job could only long. He is our Comforter, our never-failing, True Friend. With Christ in our hearts, we never really stand alone. 

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