A little while back I was leaving home to go pick up our son Luke. As I closed the garage door, our outside cat, Spooky, made a run to get into the garage. The garage door was already on the way down. It looked like it would be close but I thought, he’s a smart cat, he knows what he’s doing. I was wrong.
I then found myself sitting in the driveway looking at the garage door closed with half a cat sticking out! I began pushing the door opener to get the door back up. It was not responding real quickly but finally it started to move and the door lifted. Spooky then rolled over on his side. I walked over to him. I wanted to see how he was doing. All of a sudden, he took off like he was running for his life. So, I went to pick up Luke and told Christine about the Spooky story. She went outside and found him hiding in some bushes, and all was well with Spooky. He seemed to have survived the incident relatively unscathed!
Sometimes in life you may have a day like Spooky had. It may not be a garage door closing on you, but for whatever reason, some things just don’t quite go as planned. It might be bad news from a doctor. Maybe you are involved in a car accident. Maybe you have some unexpected bills that need to be paid. Maybe some temptations are particularly strong – – – and you are weak. Maybe it seems like everything in your life is breaking down at once; your computer, your dog, your air conditioner, etc.
Can you still sing: ‘It is well with my soul?’
The Old Testament character named Job was a man of great faith who walked with God in his
integrity. But, one day he was struck with a number of severe trials, ultimately to test his faith. Job’s trials included sickness, loss of possessions, and even the loss of family members.
The critical issue at play was whether or not Job would continue to trust in the Lord, given all of the calamities that came into his life or would he curse God and turn away from Him?
The book of Job reflects his tremendous faith in the responses he gave. Job is responsible for such classic lines as: ‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; Blessed be the Name of the Lord.’ ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.’ ‘I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take his stand on the earth.’
Job reminds us that no matter what occurs, if our faith is in God, we can still lift up our eyes to heaven and say, ‘It is well with my soul.’ Why? Because we know that our God always has good purposes for His children. We may not understand the purpose of every event we encounter in life but we can trust that God is good and causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. [Rom. 8:28]