kumuyi

Topic: Beyond our Nightmares [Tuesday May 3, 2016]

Text: Job 7:12-21

Key Verse: “So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life” (Job 7:15).

Jean Paul Richter, 18th century German writer, observed, “If there were no cloudy days, we would come to curse the sun. The ups and downs of the highway make the journey interesting. Suffering does not make men and women, but it reveals them for what they really are. God’s people may seem to endure hell on earth, but that is all the hell they will ever know. Sorrow gathers around great souls as storms do around mountains; but like them, they break the storm and purify the air of the plain beneath them.”

 The full picture of pain is better seen through the eyes of one who drank from the undiluted bitter cup of earthly adversities. This man was stripped of his wealth, servants and children the same day. To cap it, he was afflicted with body ailment that brought him down with an excruciating pain. He had the company of “miserable comforters,” who ignorantly accused him of sin. That man was the righteous Job. In today’s text, Job took his complaint to God. He was at a breaking point. The intense physical pain, emotional grief and mental torture he went through compelled him to desire death rather than putting up with the unending nightmare. Eventually, he prayed to God for pardon and timely respite. Like Job, a committed child of God may experience such a grievous setback. He/she may not have done any wrong. But a true Christian finds strength enough to bear them and to grow more Christ-like.

In bereavement, he sorrows with hope and even at death, he has eternal comfort. There is therefore no basis for despair. It may be that, right now, you are passing through some perplexing nightmare as a Christian. Do not give up your faith. Quell every longing for death and look up to God who turned Job’s case from misfortune to fortune.

Thought for the day: Look beyond your nightmare to God’s nigh care.

Bible Reading in one Year: Judges 5-7

DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.


(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});