LifeWay Bible Studies for Life Series for September 19: The case for God’s love

You have to love this about our God: He will actually have a conversation with you. Pick any other religion or system of belief and its “god” and you will find none of them have a god that even cares about its followers much less will be willing to have a conversation with those who are devoted to it.

There’s good and bad to being devoted to the living God who loves his children unconditionally. First, you always will have his undivided attention. Second, you always will have his undivided attention. Even when you don’t really want it, you still have it.

Much is the case with Job who, in his efforts to defend himself to his friends, crosses a line with God so much so that God steps in and says, “Okay, that’s enough.” But this action by God isn’t unique to Job alone, throughout the Bible we see God engaging individuals and entire nations in conversation.

In Isaiah 1:18 the Lord says, “Come now let us reason together.” In a sense he is saying, “you state your perspective, then I’ll state mine.” Of course in the end, God’s perspective will win, but he is at least willing to give you the consideration of hearing you out.

Knowing God is the same today as he has always been and will be, and that he looks for opportunities to have a conversation with his people, you must see he desires a conversation with you even now. How has he been trying to get your attention for the purpose of a conversation? Why haven’t you taken the time to talk with him? Why would you drop everything to talk with the president, your favorite movie star or a professional athlete, who don’t actually care about you personally, and not be willing to talk to the all powerful Creator of the universe, who actually does care about you?

What a great practice Job initiates in verse 4 when he says, “I put my hand over my mouth.” It’s as if Job doesn’t trust himself at this point to stop talking so he goes to a more drastic measure and puts his hand over his mouth in an attempt to control it.

What would our lives look like if we did the very same thing? Why not try doing this the next time you find yourself in argument that is out of control, or you find yourself gossiping about someone else, or saying something that simply isn’t true? Imagine how it could “revolutionize” your communication skills.

The lingering question for us all is, how do we cope with or make it through difficult situations, especially when it involves something so devastating?

We find the answer in the life of Christ and his approach to the cross. How did Jesus endure the cross and all the torture leading up to it? The answer for him and for us is found in Hebrews 12:2, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God.”

Did you see it? For the joy set before him. Jesus looked beyond the cross and the reward of the glory it would bring the Father. When he focused on all that was after and beyond the cross, the cross becomes bearable. When we focus on Jesus, even in and especially, during our times of chaos they become bearable. And we know Jesus isn’t some visual that is far away; he is right there with us whatever the circumstance—no matter how big or small it may be. He can handle it which means we can handle it with him.

What does a circumstance look like now versus what will it look like in 10 years? What things were you going through 10 years ago, and what do they look like now? Didn’t God see those past circumstances through and didn’t he prove yet again to be faithful and trustworthy? God is not bound by time or space so he able to see all of history and until the end of time. He knows what’s going to happen because he is already there living it. So when he says, “trust me, it’s going to be okay” you can take him at his word.

While God is infinite, we are finite with limited minds and aren’t able to comprehend the expanse of time, but we have been given the capacity to be able to trust and place ourselves within the care of a heavenly Father who holds us.

There is a bit of a warning or qualifier here in Paul’s writing to the church at Rome when he says in Romans 8:28 that it all works out for those who love him (God). This is a message written to believers and the fact of the matter is that without Jesus Christ, it most certainly will not be okay in the end, even though a person may have times of feeling okay.