What Do You See?

Let me lead with a question, "If you could be one person from the Bible (excluding Jesus), who would you choose?" The first choices that come to mind for me would be Paul I guess, maybe Solomon, David had his moments, possibly Zerubbabel just on the sake of his name alone. Way down on that list would be guys like Job and Jonah and Hosea because let's be honest, their lives had long moments of suckage. I'm talking about those moments that just make you look at the sky and ask God to just be merciful and end it, moments that seem to make no sense in the lives of those who follow God. The problem with that is that if you look at the afore mentioned guys like Paul and David and Solomon and even Jesus himself, it seems that their moments of suffering often outweighed their moments of peace and ease. It seems then that either God just likes to watch us suffer or maybe He understands something that we don't or that we wish were not true.
I was reminded of the necessity and the benefit of suffering and hardship as I read Job 42 this week. Job says in verse 42:5, " “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;
But now my eye sees You" after God allowed everything to be taken from him and he experienced this miserable period of life. This man who God had bragged on earlier in the book says here to God, I thought I knew you before this pain and suffering, but I realize now looking back that I only knew a little. It was the suffering that forced Job to rely on God exclusively and by doing that to understand the true scope of God's love and compassion. I like to think of this idea like you would in working out, if there is not a good measure of resistance when you work out, then there is no real growth. In this life, we need resistance and pain, because it is in those moments that we are forced to recognize that our own strength is insufficient and that God himself must bear the weight of what we are facing.
I was reminded of this today in talking to Susan about some issues we are facing with our renters that to be honest just suck, but I also recognize that it is in these moments that our faith either grows or diminishes. We are unable to do any more than we already have, but we are trusting God through this resistance and in that He is growing our faith. It does hurt a little, but the pain is part of the growth. It is these moments of doubt and confusion that allow us to really see God and so I am thankful that He is working this out for us and that after it is over, we will be able to look back like Job and to say "I thought I knew you before, but I see you now beyond what I could back then."
God is with us and He is with you too. I hope you see Him.