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| When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Go To Pray |
Yesterday I stumbled upon Job’s prayer to God while he was
enduring his time of great suffering. It stunned me because Job was so unwaveringly
bold in confronting the Lord about his situation, and he did not bite his
tongue, nor mince his words.
Job’s Prayer:
“My soul loathes my life; I will give free course to my complaint;
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn
me; show me why You contend with me. Does it seem good to You that You should
oppress, that You should despise the work of Your hands, and smile on the
counsel of the wicked? Do You have eyes of flesh? Or do You see as man sees?
Are Your days like the days of a mortal man? Are Your years like the days of a
mighty man, that You should seek for my iniquity and search out my sin, although
You know that I am not wicked, and there is no one who can deliver from Your
hand? ‘Your hands have made me and fashioned me, an intricate unity; yet You
would destroy me. Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will
You turn me into dust again? Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me
like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and
sinews? You have granted me life and favor, and Your care has preserved my
spirit. ‘And these things You have hidden in Your heart; I know that this was
with You: if I sin, then You mark me, and will not acquit me of my iniquity. If
I am wicked, woe to me; even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am
full of disgrace; see my misery! If my head is exalted, You hunt me like a
fierce lion, and again You show Yourself awesome against me. You renew Your
witnesses against me, and increase Your indignation toward me; changes and war
are ever with me. ‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Oh, that I had
perished and no eye had seen me! I would have been as though I had not been. I
would have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Cease!
Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, before I go to the place from
which I shall not return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, a
land as dark as darkness itself, as the shadow of death, without any order, where
even the light is like darkness.’” (Job 10:1-22 NKJV)
This is a man in clear agony and perplexed as to why God is allowing such dismay to enter his life. He said it was destroying him.
In Job 38:1-2, the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” The Lord began a long discourse portraying His deity before Job. And yet… in Job 42:7, the Lord said to Eliphaz (one of Job’s friends) that he and his two friends had not spoken of God what was right as His servant Job had. God did not hold it against Job for praying what was on his mind, although His response was just as direct as Job’s prayer was.
James 1:5 (NKJV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
There are times in our lives when it will get tough. This is not the time to back away from God because we misunderstand what He is doing. Job said in Job 42:3, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know.” It got rough for Job and his own wife encouraged him to curse God and die. Job cursed the day he was born, but he did not curse God as Satan had said he would.
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When the going gets tough, the tough resists self-pity.
When the going gets tough, the tough calls on God for
strength to endure.
When the going gets tough, the tough appeals to God’s grace
and mercy.
When the going gets tough, the tough will not stop praying
until help comes.
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While David and his men were out fighting, the Amalekites invaded their land and took all the women and children hostage. When they returned from battle and saw their city burned and loved ones gone, they wept until they had no more strength to weep. They wanted to stone David. Everyone turned against him. The Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord. He inquired of the Lord about what to do and God answered him. Long story short… they recovered everything and everyone. There was nothing lacking.
In the end, God came through for Job and for David. He will come through for me and for you.
Jesus taught in Luke 18 that men ought always to pray and not lose heart. Don’t give up. This is not the end. When you have nothing left, ask the Heavenly Father for something. When you're down to nothing, God's up to something. When the going gets tough, He will never leave you nor forsake you. Never, no never. God bless you.