[God] knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
Job 23:10
I've been reading through Job in my quiet time, and that reading converged with a thought from J.I. Packer in Knowing God Through the Year. Sharing it with you today.
The same wisdom that ordered the paths that God's saints trod in Bible times orders the Christian's life today. We should not, therefore, be too taken aback when unexpected and upsetting and discouraging things happen to us now. What do they mean? Simply that God in his wisdom means to make something of us that we have not yet attained. Perhaps he means to strengthen us in patience, good humor, compassion, humility or meekness by giving us practice in exercising these graces under especially difficult conditions. Perhaps he has a new lesson in self-denial and self-distrust to teach us. Perhaps he wishes to break us of complacency, unreality or undetected forms of pride and conceit. Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself, for it is often the case that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest. Or perhaps God is preparing us for forms of service of which at present we have no inkling.
