Grace for Your Day June 13

At the heart of every Christian walk is the question “How can I be pleasing to God?” After all, we’re implored to walk in a manner worthy of the calling that we have received (Ephesians 4:1).

What does it look like to be pleasing to God? Can that be me?

And if I am, does that mean that my life will look a certain way? Does it guarantee blessing? Freedom from trial?

If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you know that that doesn’t appear to be the case. Suffering is a part of life for everyone. Some however seem to manage it better than others. Why?

God says Job was a righteous man, and yet he suffered greatly.

Job’s friends told him that it was because he had sinned.

Job’s conscience told him that he hadn’t.

Clearly, God uses pain and suffering as a consequence of sin: He punished a whole nation for
unfaithfulness by sending them into captivity in Babylon. But is that the only reason? Job’s friends had one explanation and ultimately God says they were wrong.

God has given us the amazing book of Job to help us as we wrestle through some of these very deep questions. Forty-two chapters to be precise. We will not be able to answer every question but as we start a mini-series on the book of Job we will start off with tackling “Is it possible to be pleasing to God?” And secondly “Is it possible to be blameless and still suffer?”

If you’ve struggled with questions like these I hope you can join us this Sunday as we open up the Scriptures and learn together some lessons from the life of Job: it’s the story of a righteous man and a sovereign God. — Quentin Smith