Overcoming Sadness
The Bible mentions Job to be a God-fearing man who is blameless, upright, and turns away from evil. Even when his property was taken, his children killed, and his health destroyed, Job did not blame God. Instead, he fell to the ground and worshiped the Lord.
Often when we talk about Job, we often talk about his faithfulness and pursuit of the Lord. Many acknowledge that the worst of the worst happened to Job, yet he still praised God. We say we need to model this ourselves and worship the Lord no matter what. While this is extremely true, and something I want to emulate in my own life, we often overlook the rest of his story.
The third chapter of Job is full of emotion; it is entirety is made up of his cry out.
Job questions what the point of being brought into the world was if suffering and tragedy are all that his being alive brought. In other words, Job essentially says he wishes he was never born. Job 3 is 26 verses of self hatred and deep pain.
What we tend to ignore is truly how relatable this is! Our lives are full of celebrations, but they are also full of hardships. When we are in the thick of it, and we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, we begin to question everything.
What did I do to get myself in this mess?
Why do only bad things happen to me?
Why was I even born if I was just going to end up in this trial?
These emotions are so common that I have thought of things like this. I have thought that I wasn’t going to make it out. I have lost hope. God gave us emotions for a reason, and it is okay to feel them. Jesus modeled sadness, and He modeled grief. But what we aren’t supposed to do is stay in those places.
The enemy wants us to be consumed by these emotions because it makes us vulnerable. And when we are vulnerable, the enemy has a foothold and an easy way in. John 10:10 says, “the thief [the devil] comes only to steal and kill and destroy…” That was exactly the enemy’s motive with Job; and that is his motive with us. When we look back at what the enemy did to Job, we must understand that, yes, God did let it happen, but He did not cause it. It is not in God’s character to cause pain because He is a loving Father.
What God does is use these moments to shape us and point us back to Him. After Job’s cry, there are several chapters with people condemning him and telling him where he went wrong. Of it all, what matters most is God’s response. The Lord reminds Job of His goodness and the miraculous things He did. He gave Job a new perspective and told him that He knows everything and wants Job to have complete trust in Him.
How does Job respond?
He repents! Job puts his trust in the Lord and asks for forgiveness as he began to question God’s intentions. He doesn’t remain in those feelings, and he doesn’t ignore God.
Why don’t we always model this ourselves? I think it’s because a little part of us wants to stay in sadness. We enjoy being victims to our sufferings because it is easier than working through them.
But here’s the thing, nothing good can come of that.
I have heard it said like this, nothing good grows in the dark. So why stay in that darkness?
The only way to fall out of sadness is to seek the Lord, who is overwhelming Joy. The Lord has a plan, and nothing will change that because He doesn't change. The Lord ends all suffering, it just may look different than we expect, and it may require us to do some work.
I know it may be tiring, but I think a little sweat and soreness is worth the overwhelming joy that the Lord will bring. Do you?
