Songs in the Night

this is the devotion that was published in the July edition of  "Living Today" my prayer is that it will encourage someone

Songs in the Night

“Where is God my Maker who gives song in the night?”

Job 35:10 (NIV)

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            I don’t know if you have ever read the book of Job from the Bible, but if you have, you

might have thought that it is rather depressing. In this book we find a man of God (he was “blameless and upright”) who had been blessed with everything a man could want; great family, wealth and social standing. Then in one day, through no fault of his own, he lost it all!  We can’t help but ask, “why do bad things happen to good people?

            I have never met anyone who has not had to go through dark times in life. I experienced an entire decade (my thirties) that was very. Undeserved suffering, loss, rejection, disappointment and betrayal are a part of life. Even those people in life who appear to “have it all” may be suffering in ways we cannot understand. The fact that they might think they need to keep their suffering to themselves to “save face” only adds to their pain. 

            Most of us have good friends we can lean on when we are going through difficult times; and it is usually then that we find out who our true friends are. In reading about Job, we find he had three friends who tried to help him, but instead they brought him more pain because they thought they understood the ways of God and tried to explain it to him. Sometimes as friends, the best thing we can do is just love them and support them and keep our mouths shut. Some things are not meant to be understood.

            As I read through the book of Job, I have the same questions that Job and his friends had. Why? Was it a test of faith? Was God angry at Job? Was it punishment for past sins? Was it to teach him a lesson? If God is in control, why did he let the good man suffer? And where was God when his servant was going through such darkness?

            They are the same questions we ask when we go through our dark times. Guess what? We may never know. In the last few chapters of the book of Job, God did not answer Job’s questions. Instead He showed Job that if He can control the wonders of creation and the powers of the natural world, things we don’t undertand( read Job 38-41, it is beautiful!) then He can also take care of one person’s pain and frustration by just being a Presence in their life.. 

            God does not always take away our pain but I know He will walk through it with us, if we ask Him to. And in His presence we can endure whatever comes our way in this world.

            When the darkness is gone, the dawn appears again. After all Job went through, God blessed him twice as much as He had before.  Proof, that if we trust in God, all of us will have a happy end to our story; maybe not in this world but definitely in the one that  follows, the eternal one.

            With that assurance in our hearts we can have a song even in the darkest of nights.

© 2011 Brenda J. Young