A Reason To Go On

A Reason to Go On

Job’s Wife

Read: Job 1:13-19; 2:7-10

It all seemed so unreal. The woman stood by the pile of debris that had once been her home. As she looked up and down the street, she felt as if she were dreaming—or rather, having a nightmare. Her neighborhood had been demolished by the hurricane and the flood that followed it. Houses, stores, the school, and her church—all gone. Worst of all, her husband had died of a heart attack during the storm. Although emergency workers and volunteers surrounded her, the woman ignored their offers of help. She saw no hope of rebuilding her uninsured home, and no reason to rebuild her life.

Job’s wife also knew how it felt to suddenly lose everything. When Satan claimed that Job worshiped God only because God had prospered him, God gave Satan permission to test Job with adversity. In one day, Job and his wife lost their livestock, their servants, and their ten children. Then Job’s body became covered with painful sores. The grief of losing her children and then seeing her husband suffer made Job’s wife lose all hope. Her life as she had known it seemed to be over. She saw no reason to go on. In her despair, she blurted out a suggestion that Job curse God and die. Death seemed preferable to such unbearable pain.

When sudden disaster strikes, we may deal with similar feelings. From a human perspective, it may look as if we have no reason to go on. Why bother trying to rebuild our lives when we have nothing left to work with? Even in the midst of our bewilderment that God has allowed such suffering, we can cling to the truth that he is also responsible for all the good in our lives. Everything that he allows to touch us has a purpose, and he promises to see us through it. That’s reason enough to go on.

“I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Jeremiah 29:11