Invisible Footprints: God's exceedingly abundant grace

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

God's exceedingly abundant grace

It's been more than a month since the tsunami hit South Asia on Boxing day. It is easy for us at home to blog, talk, read, discuss, think, joke or anything about it, since we were all very lucky to have enough money to have a home not along any of the coasts that were hit.

Yes, i feel lucky that i am not affected. I still have my hands and legs to carry me around and make a better day. I am happy i'm alive every minute of my life. But most of all, i thank God that my family too is here. I believe that any individual who lives near enough to affected areas must be thanking God for not being involved in such an epic destruction.

But how could one deal with a situation when God preserves you, but not your entire family? How do we react when God saves you, but only to go on without your family? Would we still be in church singing praises to the Lord, thanking God for saving me? Are we still capable of feeling blessed for the Lord spared you? Where do we find emotion and courage to withstand something as painful as this?

In Job!

Job lost 10 children, wealth and cattle all in a day. In modern times, that would call for immediately psychological treatment before the attempted suicides that would take place. Today, if i lost 10 children, i would die. Inside and outside. I will go insane. I will curse God. I think i would. I will lose it all; my mind, heart, body, faith and soul. It is improbable that one could recover on his own strength. If all close to you were swept away but you, you'll wished to be swept away as well.

We will question the timing of God, the timing of the disaster, the nature of it, why me and my family, why did this had to happen? All we would think of is why. Which is of course natural. Why is often easier to ask than how. Easier to absorb and execute. How is never an easy task. It takes effort. Cursing God is much easier.

But if we knew Job, who he was and HOW he overcame the tragedies of his life, we would know that there is still hope if we believe so. When everyone would have turned away and cast God through a series of tongue-lashing, screaming and senseless bashing, he still asked why, and how. Job was a blameless man. He was obedient, yet suffered in a test which he knew not of. He still obeyed God when his wife was turning against God.

He chose not to curse God. He accepted it. I never thought of something more tragic than losing 10 children in one go, which i think can be used as a modern metaphor for the very meaning of today's lives (since there is hardly families with 10 children anymore). To lose them all, is perhaps to lose all meaning in your life. We have no direction, the things that satisfies us are no longer useful.

But God's grace and mercy is overwhelmingly abundant. Job kept believe in his faith, in God that he would be deliver from all this madness. At the very down point of his life, he remain true and faithful to God. Not many of us are able to do this, but as Job have done, so can we i believe. It's hard when the battle is in the mind and intangible.

Persevere, and wait for God's timing, for we only have watches to know and measure time, but God has been watching for all eternity. For all Job endure, he was blessed exceedingly, exceeding what he had before, and everything was restored due to his faithfulness to the Lord.

I know all this is easier said than done, but, somehow we all have to endure and persevere through the darkest moments of our lives. We ought to remain faithful and surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.

However difficult the circumstance, know that God is always watching and is never late. Easier said than done, but do keep in mind, the volatilities of a human heart. Let God be in control.