Why Do You Trust in God?

I read Job this week and the obvious question from the book of Job is why do the good (or righteous, pure, innocent, etc.) suffer.  This has been written about many times and certainly is a central theme in the book.  But today I want return to the book’s question.

The question in the story is would Job be righteous and trust in God if he were not richly blessed.  I believe it is time for all of us to truthfully consider the question of why we trust in God.  Why do we come on Sunday morning to church?  (I know most of you reading this are the faithful who come week after week to worship.)  Why do we try to live as God commands us to live?

Every one of us has some different answers but at the heart of all those questions is why do you trust in God?

If you are honest, do you trust in God because you are blessed?

 When I look at my life, I have to admit that I am very blessed.  I was raised in a loving and safe environment.  I have parents who valued faith and education.  So I have a solid education and deep faith in a loving God.  I married a man who is loyal, trustworthy, and loves me as much today as he did when we got married.  We have always had a roof over our heads, plenty to eat, and decent cars to drive.  I had great, supportive in-laws and still have close relationships with my brothers and sisters-in-law, not to mention numerous nieces and nephews (even greats.)  If this were not enough, in my old age (okay maybe not old age but compared to others) I have been blessed with two healthy, beautiful, intelligent daughters.  So part of my devotion to God is knowing that I have a good life.  I can count many blessings.

If I did not have my health or my family were taken away from me, would I still give thanks to God and preach about God’s love and grace?  If I never knew the love of family and friends, would I have even believed in Christ’s unending love for me?

I will never know. I pray that none of us suffers as Job did and has to find out.  But I hope that I would remain faithful to the one who created me, redeemed me and continues to sanctify me.  But I know that God will remain faithful to me even if I cannot remain faithful to my maker. 

Yes, at times it may seem that God is not faithful. In Job it really does seem that God has abandoned Job or severely punished this righteous man.  Yet as we learn there are so many things about God that we will never as humans be able to comprehend.  God has a relationship with each one of us and even at the end of Job speaks and blesses Job even more abundantly than he was first blessed in life.

Thanks be to God who loves all of the creation and especially those created in God’s image!  May God be faithful to you always!