it is all about staying power...

i know that for many of you are going through problems right now that you just can't explain. you try to come up with reasons for them but you can't find any. you are going to GOD and asking HIM to do something and your asking HIM to tell you what to do.

and james' answer to this is found in james 5.11 (ms), you've heard, of course, of job's staying power... and i'm sure that is not the answer you wanted to hear.

i'm sure you know the story of job and his suffering. you go to the dictionary and look up the definition of suffering and you get job's name.

as you know he was the wealthiest man that ever lived. he had everything going for him. and in a two-day period, everything crashed down all around him. he went bankrupt, his children were murdered, he got an incurable, deadly disease that was very painful. he lost his family, his friends, his finances. he was suffering materially, physically, socially -- every kind of way. and we think we have problems when we look at our 401k's.

one day his wife came to him and said, ''job, why don't you just curse GOD and die!" a lot of people are doing that today. i hope you're not one of them but it is understandable if you are. then GOD allowed the devil to take away everything in his life except this nagging wife.

now the worst part of job's suffering was that he had absolutely no idea why it was happening. for 37 chapters in the book of job, GOD doesn't even talk to him and tell him why it's happening. there was no apparent reason for all he was going through. and of all people, job had the privilege to say, "why me?"

listen, life is not fair! that is true. life is not fair. GOD never said it would be fair. i don't know if you remember but they killed HIS SON. a lot of things in life just don't make sense. maybe we'll never understand on this side of heaven. job didn't understand. but in all of those unexplained problems, job maintained his faith, he never gave up, he had patience.

sometimes we just can't figure out our problems. we don't understand all that has happened to us this past year and we want to focus on all of that. but have you heard, of course, of job's staying power?

now GOD what is this all about? this isn't what i signed up for. faith is suppose to mean that i tell you what i want and YOU get it for me right now. but james tells us to look at the story of job. he had staying power and that is real authentic not selfish faith.

how is your patience when you can't explain the problems you are facing?

just some thoughts from james here on the front porch.