Blessed Be the Name of the Lord
In this day when I seem to be scratching my head quite often regarding the things that I am going through, I've now been reminded of the numerous warnings given to us all about the trials and tribulation, sorrow and pain, which many of us must experience so as to be prepared as vessels in whom the Lord will come and manifest Himself with great power and glory.
Many Christians today in their immaturity have attributed to the devil most all of the things that bring sorrow and pain into their lives, but one need only to read the book of Job without pre-bias to come face to face with the One Who is behind all sorrow. This is not to say that the devil may not be an unwitting instrument for the application of that particular working of God, but in that working, there is a transforming instrumentality of sorrow that is obvious to the message of Job.
Dear ones, for some folks, sorrow and pain might be the instrument of God to lead them into the outer courts of salvation where they can fall into the arms of their loving heavenly Father and find mercy and grace in their time of need. In Job's case however, and in the case of many of us who are now progressing on into the Holiest of All in our pursuit of God, sorrow can attend a breakthrough into a level of greater spiritual maturity, and this, many times, is even worked into our heart in the midst of brethren who cannot understand nor attribute to the workings of God such pain and anguish. Oh, this is surely a tough and painful work!
Anyway, I don't know about you, but I seem to be going through a whole lot of stuff lately, and though I don't particularly like going through it, I KNOW that it is a necessary part of the second work of Christ's Atonement that I might be prepared as a divine "habitation" for the Lord Himself.
So ... to this glorious end, I am learning to now rest in the sovereignty of my heavenly Father, and this, even in the midst of all sorts of tribulation and pain. I really do hope to offer to my God and Father a sacrifice of praise through even the toughest of my trials. I really do want to be able to say with all my heart "Even though He slay me, I will trust Him." And though He strip me of everything (even as He did Job), I too want to be able to say in the midst of all my pain, "Blessed be the Name of the Lord."