It seems to be the worst of times. For several years now Al's health has gone downhill with blow after blow. As he struggles to cope in one particular, another difficulty is added; and so it has gone. For a man who was always so strong and physically active, this was a bitter pill to swallow. Nevertheless we still hoped that the light at the end of the tunnel was not an oncoming train.
In addition to surgeries, the exhausting, seemingly endless round of doctors, tests and hospitals wreaked havoc on any schedule or routine in our lives. Week after week got more discouraging; it seemed that the more we prayed, the worse things became. Early one morning as I cried out to the Lord from my aching heart, He said, "Joy cometh in the morning." At first I thought He meant that very morning but that day certainly brought no improvement. Then things got much, much worse. A line from a hymn was skittering around in the back of my mind.
"Jesus knelt to share with Thee the silence of eternity, interpreted by love."
I spent some time in God's Presence, meditating on these wondrous words. When there is no apparent response to prayer, when it seems that God is silent, do I need to probe that silence?
Is there something of eternity in that silence, something which personally affects me? Can I share the silence with God? Just silence ... with Him.
Just silence ... drinking in His unfailing Presence, His tender closeness ... needing only to know that He is there. How will I interpret this long silence -- by judging God as unfair or uninterested or far away? Or will I interpret the silence by Love and sense the mystic joining with eternity and learn that it is truly the silence of eternity, not the silence of rejection?
On this long, dark pathway it's often hard to recognize God's love. And yet ... I don't have to fully understand all things in order to truly know the vital things. God is love and God is my environment. Therefore, no matter how the circumstances attempt to deceive me, I am enveloped, surrounded,overshadowed,protected by Almighty Love.
The point that gives the Book of Job meaning for us is to grasp that not only did Job not know, everything hangs on the fact that he was not meant to know! If he had understood, there would have been no place for faith and he could never have come forth as gold. Job's real message is that there are some things God cannot reveal to us at present. If He did, the very revelation would thwart His purpose for our good. There is an explanation.
God will reveal His purpose -- maybe!
But ... He will reveal Himself!!!
Once again I confirm my stand on Psalm 145:17; The Lord is too wise to ever make a mistake and too loving to ever be unkind.
The morning of joy will come ... in God's way ... in God's time.
In the meantime, WE CAN TRUST HIM!
With love & prayers,