Volunteered to Conquer

God volunteered Job.

It wasn't that Satan had already targeted Job and God allowed it to happen. Satan came looking for someone to accuse and God suggested Job.

Why do bad things happen to "good" people. The Bible tells us that no one is truly good. But Job was presented as blameless and upright (Job 1:1). The same word used to describe Job is used to describe the animals offered as sacrifices. So you could say Job's lived his life as a pleasing sacrifice unto the Lord. That's about as close to being a "good person" as you can get.

When Satan came before God, he was looking for a follower of God's he could attack and make God look bad.  

And God said, "What about Job?"

Satan challenges God, saying the only reason Job follows God is all the wealth God had blessed him with. "Take it all away and I bet Job will curse you to your face!" Satan wanted to prove that people only follow God when it benefits them (Job 1:6-12).

Here's where it's easy for us to question God, "If you were so pleased with Job, why didn’t you spare him? Why punish his devotion to you? Why even bother with being a ‘good person’ if all it gets you is suffering!?"

God must have been confident in Job's devotion by volunteering him. If you think about it, this is actually an honor. Of all the people on earth, God looks on Job and sees him as so upright, so devoted, so blameless that he is chosen as an opponent in this battle against Satan. An opponent that God has chosen because he is confident that Job, by God’s grace, will win the victory.

We tend to focus on Job ultimately being given back all his earthly wealth twofold. But in the grand scheme of things, Job’s devotion wasn’t ultimately rewarded by wealth. Though he was never given this explanation this side of eternity, his actual reward was being given the opportunity to lose it all to prove that God’s goodness extends beyond earthly gains. See, Job was chosen to be God’s conqueror. His choice to stand firm in his devotion to God, even after he had lost it all, defeated Satan’s accusation against God. In this way, through Job’s weakness, God’s power over Satan was on display (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

There’s another man who was upright and blameless that God also volunteered for this sort of victory. Just like Job, Jesus sacrificed it all and put Satan in his place. Though he experienced weakness of the flesh through his death, his divine power was ultimately displayed. Satan’s grip on humanity was destroyed when Jesus rose on the third day.

Jesus really does understand what it means to give it all. Not only did he sacrifice his life; he sacrificed his will, his desires, and all his earthly gains. We see clearly in the Garden of Gethsemane that this was not easy for Jesus. He pleaded with God for another way. As a human, I imagine Jesus might have also longed for a “normal” life at times. But ultimately, he chose to remain devoted to God’s plan to save sinful people and put Satan to shame.

Jesus understans my suffering.

A while ago I was talking with someone who has walked the journey of infertility who said to me, “I came to realize that Jesus was with me for every negative pregnancy test, the disappoint every month, every tear I cried.” I couldn’t understand that because it felt like God had done all of this to me. How could he then also be with me in my suffering? Wouldn’t that make him a hypocrite? No. Because Jesus understands what it means to be chosen to suffer so God’s power can shine in our weakness.

I was pondering all this yesterday on the eve of the anniversary of the brain infection that eventually caused my epilepsy. I reflected on all the suffering I have endured in addition to that since that day seventeen years ago. More than just a remembrance of the day I got sick, May 31, 2009, now also feels like the kickoff to a lifetime of suffering.


I asked God, “Why did you volunteer me?” I felt the Holy Spirit whisper to me, “Because I knew you wouldn’t turn away.”

 

God may have volunteered me for suffering. But he did so knowing that, by his power, I could withstand suffering and Satan, the accuser, would be silenced.

I was chosen to endure hardships so others could look at my life- a life filled with epilepsy, addiction, infertility- and see that there is no logical reason for me to remain devoted to God except that his goodness surpasses earthly gains.

Though I have been selected to share in Christ’s sufferings, God has declared that I am more than a conqueror in all things by his love for me and one day, in eternity, I will also share in his glory (Romans 8:14-39).

Popular posts from this blog

My Dayenu Ebenezer

Image
The past two years of my life have been hard, but the past 6 months of my life have been especially hard. I'm in a season of life where I feel as if God is mercilessly piling hardships on me. I’ve been doing a lot of figurative stomping my feet and angry fist-shaking at Heaven. Part of the reason I’ve taken up hiking is that it gives me quiet, peaceful, distraction-free time where I can be completely alone with God in nature and we can duke it out and deal with these things. Recently, I was watching “The Chosen” and learned about the "Dayenu," a song of gratitude sung during the Passover Seder. It is a Hebrew phrase meaning "it would have been enough." The idea is that even just one act of faithfulness from God is sufficient. The pattern is as such: "If God had brought us out of Egypt, but not punished the Egyptians, Dayenu". I was hiking the day after watching this episode. As I was walking through the forest, I started recalling specific moments of ...
Read more

A Glorious Blessing

Image
Sixteen years ago, yesterday, May 31, 2009, I had two unexpected seizures, was diagnosed with viral encephalitis (a brain infection), and admitted to Children’s Hospital for 18 days. For the next 8 years, I lived a normal life, free of seizures and side effects. I thought my story was one of miraculous healing. But in 2017, I started having seizures again and was diagnosed with epilepsy. Today, my seizures are controlled. It’s been 2 ½ years since my last one. I used to have a difficult time classifying myself as disabled because of that. But recently, I recognized that even though I don’t have seizures daily, epilepsy still affects my daily life. I have taken anti-epileptic medication daily for the past 8 years. I make sure to carry my rescue medication with me everywhere I go. I pack an extra set of underwear in my carry-on when I fly just in case I have a seizure on the plane and wet myself (it happened once). I’m prepared to lose my driver’s license at any time in case of a break...
Read more

A Picture of Health

Image
Recently, I saw a post from someone celebrating her weight loss. But there was something very unique about her post- there was no "before" picture. There were just a few pictures of her, looking happy and feeling good in her own skin. Her success wasn't measured by what she used to weigh or look like. Her success was measured by how her weight loss made her feel. A couple weeks ago I picked up my one year coin for working on food addiction. It's been a long journey with ups and downs, literal gains and losses. One day at time, I've finally been gaining traction. So I wanted to do the same thing as that girl. But as I was summoning the courage, I found myself caught up in many of the lies society tells us about weight loss and body image. "You haven't lost enough weight yet to start bragging about it." That one's almost humorous. What's the magic number at which it's socially acceptable to start talking publicly about your weight loss?...
Read more