Going Through The Fire

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10 (ASV)

Life is too complicated for simple answers. Job knew this, his friends did not. Job’s friends had life and God pretty much figured out. Their view was that good things happen to good people and bad things to bad people, cut and dry, pretty simple. The problem with this dogmatic-religious view is that it simply is not true.

Many times wicked people prosper, or they seem to enjoy a relatively trial-less life. While the righteous go through trial after trial, heartache after heartache, just as Job did. This was part of Job’s complaint to God as to why? He had searched his heart and in his heart he could not find any sin that he knew God had not forgiven. Job like God looked at the heart of the situation. The religious friends of Job looked on the outward. In their mind Job must have sinned greatly since many troubles were now upon him.

As God pointed out to Job at the end of that book the universe, the world, and each individual’s life is simply too complicated for the mind of man-kind to understand. Each moment of each day God takes care of these complexities, each day God watches over and directs the affairs of man-kind and the affairs of your life.

Our God is a God of mercy. His hope for those who do not know him is that they will. His hope is that his goodness on a daily basis will lead them to repentance, just as it did for us. As his children he corrects our ways, he refines us through the fires and complexities of life, because he desires our best, he desires his character to be formed in our lives.