Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for sharing this burden about your father. I am praying with you for him right now, asking the Lord for open doors, for favor in the eyes of employers, and for His protection and provision over your family in this uncertain time.
Your request brings to mind the story of Job. That book is counted among the poetry books of Scripture, and it is very ancient, likely going back to the days of Genesis. Though cultures and times have changed a great deal since then, the deep needs and questions Job faced are still the same ones we face today when loss comes suddenly.
Scripture gives us a view behind what Job and his friends could not see. God Himself spoke well of Job as a man who was upright, who loved God and turned away from evil. At the same time, the adversary had been watching Job closely, studying him and forming a theory that Job only served God because God had placed a hedge of protection around him and blessed him with so much. The adversary was allowed to strip away Job's possessions to test that claim, and Job was left with almost nothing, even his health and his family, brought down to the bare awareness of his own life before God. Yet even then Job worshiped and said that naked he came into the world and naked he would leave it, and he did not curse God or accuse Him of doing wrong.
When his friends came, they meant to comfort him but they ended up accusing him. They assumed his suffering must mean he had done something wrong and told him to simply get right with God and everything would be fixed. They were wrong. Not every hardship is a sign of God's displeasure or a person's failure. Job himself was crying out from grief and pain, saying things about life and death that came from his sorrow, not from settled truth given by the Holy Spirit. We cannot build our understanding of God on words spoken out of anguish.
What Job longed for in that stripping and confusion was someone who could stand between God and man, touching both, bringing a suffering person into the presence of God. That longing is answered in Jesus Christ. John declares that the One who was from the beginning has been seen and heard and touched, and Jesus is that One who is one with the Father and who also became one with us, putting His hand upon us so that through Him we are brought near to God.
I pray that truth will steady you and your father now. God sees your father, He knows his needs, and He is not measuring him by this job loss. Pray that the Lord will guard him from discouragement and from the voices that would falsely say this is punishment. Ask Him to give your father peace as he seeks Him, to lay up God's words in his heart, and to trust the Lord's care even while he does not understand all the reasons for this trial.
Father, in the name of Jesus I lift up this dad to You. You know his skills, his needs, and the weight he carries for his family. I ask You to provide for him quickly according to Your wisdom, to open the right door for work, to give him favor with those who are hiring, and to protect him and his family from fear and want. Surround him with Your hedge of care, sustain him day by day, and let him know Your nearness through Jesus Christ who brings us to You. Give this family Your peace and a clear testimony of Your faithfulness. Amen.
Your request brings to mind the story of Job. That book is counted among the poetry books of Scripture, and it is very ancient, likely going back to the days of Genesis. Though cultures and times have changed a great deal since then, the deep needs and questions Job faced are still the same ones we face today when loss comes suddenly.
Scripture gives us a view behind what Job and his friends could not see. God Himself spoke well of Job as a man who was upright, who loved God and turned away from evil. At the same time, the adversary had been watching Job closely, studying him and forming a theory that Job only served God because God had placed a hedge of protection around him and blessed him with so much. The adversary was allowed to strip away Job's possessions to test that claim, and Job was left with almost nothing, even his health and his family, brought down to the bare awareness of his own life before God. Yet even then Job worshiped and said that naked he came into the world and naked he would leave it, and he did not curse God or accuse Him of doing wrong.
When his friends came, they meant to comfort him but they ended up accusing him. They assumed his suffering must mean he had done something wrong and told him to simply get right with God and everything would be fixed. They were wrong. Not every hardship is a sign of God's displeasure or a person's failure. Job himself was crying out from grief and pain, saying things about life and death that came from his sorrow, not from settled truth given by the Holy Spirit. We cannot build our understanding of God on words spoken out of anguish.
What Job longed for in that stripping and confusion was someone who could stand between God and man, touching both, bringing a suffering person into the presence of God. That longing is answered in Jesus Christ. John declares that the One who was from the beginning has been seen and heard and touched, and Jesus is that One who is one with the Father and who also became one with us, putting His hand upon us so that through Him we are brought near to God.
I pray that truth will steady you and your father now. God sees your father, He knows his needs, and He is not measuring him by this job loss. Pray that the Lord will guard him from discouragement and from the voices that would falsely say this is punishment. Ask Him to give your father peace as he seeks Him, to lay up God's words in his heart, and to trust the Lord's care even while he does not understand all the reasons for this trial.
Father, in the name of Jesus I lift up this dad to You. You know his skills, his needs, and the weight he carries for his family. I ask You to provide for him quickly according to Your wisdom, to open the right door for work, to give him favor with those who are hiring, and to protect him and his family from fear and want. Surround him with Your hedge of care, sustain him day by day, and let him know Your nearness through Jesus Christ who brings us to You. Give this family Your peace and a clear testimony of Your faithfulness. Amen.
