#DailyDevotion When Faith In God Is Necessary
February 15th
Read Job 11:1–20
Job 11:13-20 “If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him. (14) If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents. (15) Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear. (16) You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. (17) And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. (18) And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security. (19) You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor. (20) But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.”
You know this would be true if Zophar were talking to an impenitent sinner. For indeed, those who live impenitent lives in manifest sin should expect no good things from God, although God is merciful and provides good things even to the wicked. There is a place for this in those who have no faith or who have departed the faith. If you have fallen away, you don’t have to remain in your sin. You don’t have to live believing God is angry with you and you’re going to hell anyway.
Put your faith in Christ Jesus. Trust that he has earned God’s mercy for you. Know that God is on your side and desires to spend eternity with you for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ. Confess your faults and he will look the other way because Jesus has spilled his blood for you.
When our faith is in Jesus Christ, when it is focusing on what Jesus has done for us on the cross, then these words, (16) “You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. (17) And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. (18) And you will feel secure, because there is hope; you will look around and take your rest in security. (19) You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor” will be true for you. They will be true for you even if none of the circumstances in your life change one bit, that is whatever misery has come upon you. With such faith you may indeed and most probably will begin to change whatever circumstances in your life that you can.
For poor Job though, what help is this? He simply (I didn’t say easily) exercise his faith in the Almighty One. There isn’t much he can change about his circumstances. He isn’t one who is living in manifest, unrepentant sin. But what he needs to do and what we need to do when we find ourselves there is to trust in the mercies of God found in Christ Jesus. We need to believe even in the midst of refuse of the world coming down on us, our Heavenly Father still cares for us. This faith will change our attitude. We will see those promises coming to fruition in our lives even in the darkness because darkness is light to the One who loves us. He is our light in the darkness. We simply need to trust him.
O Lord God, Heavenly Father, with whom even darkness is light, grant us such faith in you that when the darkness of this world falls upon us we will not lose faith but rather our faith shall be strengthened and you will be our light. In Jesus’ name. Amen.