Am I Enough – Closing Thoughts

Greetings Dear Reader,

I realize our time walking with Job has been a long one.  For me it has been worth it.  Pain and loss are still coursing their way through my family.  The sorrow in my eldest Son’s eyes is so deep I am at a loss of how to describe it.  As we leave Job for a time I will take some real lessons with me.

Job accomplished all he did without the benefit of some very valuable things.  He had not Bible.  He did not have the thousands of years of recorded examples of those who follow in faith.  Of great advantage for me is that I have Job as an example.  As I said at the beginning, I consider him a friend and long to meet him at the end of the path.

I also need to remember that even when his “friends” thundered at him to confess to sin of which he was not guilty he maintained his faith.  He knew where he stood with God and owned it.  He did not allow circumstances to determine or define how he related to the Father.  Eventually it was out of the thunder that Job’s “friends” were scolded by God and Job vindicated.

I would have loved to have been there in the moment where God does finally tell him why all this happened.  I am sure that he would have willingly taken on all of it to be an example to us all.  I hope that so many take their example from Job.

God asks us all the same question.  He plumbs the depth of our being and wants us to answer the same.  God’s asks all of us.  He will be satisfied with nothing less.  God knows what is best for me and so he asks the question every moment of every day. 

When the pain, loss, and suffering rain down around me and around those I love he asks the question.  When the sun shines brightly on fresh snow and I am filled with joy he asks the question.  When I lay in the cool if the evening in my hammock the question is there.  When I sit here trying to spin out my thoughts, questions, and stories he questions me again.

No matter what the circumstance God asks me every moment, “AM I enough?” 

My only hope of finding the way through the pain and sorrow is a single word.  My only chance to find the depth of joy in the journey is that same answer.  Whether things are sunny and clear or the storm rages around me threatening all that I have and ever will have the answer must be a confident, resounding, and eternal “YES.”

Job Suite – Michael Card

Blameless and upright, a fearer of God

A man truly righteous, no pious façade

One about whom God was accustomed to boast

And so one whom Satan desired the most

One day the accuser came breathing out lies

It's you, holy handouts his faithfulness buys

In one desperate day his possessions were lost

His children all killed in one raw holocaust

His children all killed in one raw holocaust

And yet through it all, through the tears and pain

He worshiped his God, found no reason to blame

Once more the Deceiver denounced and decried

It's skin for skin and hide for hide

Strike down his flesh and he'll surely deny

And confess that his praying has all been a lie

Very well, take him, the Holy One sighed

But you must spare his life, my son shall not die

So Job was afflicted with terrible sores

Sat down in the ashes to wait for the Lord

Sat down in the ashes to wait for the Lord

And yet through it all, through the tears and pain

He worshiped his God, found no reason to blame

A throne of ashes, a crown of pain

A sovereign of sorrow, a mournful reign

May the day of my birth be remembered no more

May darkness and shadow come claim it once more

Why did I not perish on that dreadful day

And sleep now where kings and counselors lay?

What I dreaded most has now come upon me

Why is light giver those in misery?

I loathe my own life so my tears fall like rain

As I find that there is no peace in my pain

Lord, send a comforter now to my door

So that this terror will frighten no more

A counselor between us to come hear my oath

Someone who could lay a hand on us both

These friends of mine are no comfort to me

So deafly they listen so blindly they see

Their words and their doctrine they all sound so true

The problem is Lord, they're all wrong about you!

I know my advocate waits upon high

My witness in heaven sees the tears that I cry

A true intercessor who will condescend

To plead with God as a man pleads for his friend

If I've been untrue, if I've robbed the poor

If I'm without guilt, what am I suffering for?

God would not crush me for some secret sin

And though he slay me still I'll trust in Him

I know now that my Redeemer's alive

He'll stand on the earth on the day he arrives

And though my body by then is no more

Yet in my flesh I know I'll see the Lord

Who is it who darkens my council

Who speaks empty words without knowledge?

Brace yourself up like a man

And answer me now if you can

Can you put on glory and splendor?

What's the way to the home of the light?

Does your voice sound like the thunder? Are you afraid?

Where were you when earth's foundations were laid?

Who gave the heart it's wisdom?

The mind it's desire to know? Can you bind the stars?

Raise your voice to the clouds?

Did you make the eagle proud?

Will the ox spend the night by your manger?

Did you let the wild donkey go free?

Can you take leviathan home as a pet?

If you merely touched him, you'd never forget

Who is it that darkens my council?

Who speaks empty words without knowledge?

Brace yourself up like a man

And answer me now if you can

I am unworthy, how can I reply?

There's nothing that you cannot do

You are the storm that calmed my soul

I place my hand over my mouth

I place my hand over my mouth

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."