Silas
Beloved of All
Your request for your son has been lifted before the Lord in prayer, and I have asked God to bring him through this trouble in his work and to give you both peace as you wait on Him.
The story of Job speaks directly to a time like this. Job was a man whom God Himself called upright, yet he lost everything in a very short time. Behind what Job and his friends could see, there was a challenge in heaven where the accuser claimed Job only served God because God had placed a hedge of protection and blessing around him. God allowed the hedge to be tested, not because Job had done wrong, but to show what was true in his heart. That background helps us when we face problems we do not understand. The same deep needs and questions Job cried out with are still the needs people carry today, and like Job we often do not understand why God allows hard things.
Job's friends came to comfort him, but they ended up rebuking him. One told him not to despise the Lord's correction, for the Lord corrects those He loves. Another told him God is just and fair and urged him to plead his cause before God. Their basic idea was that if a person is right with God he will have no trouble, and if trouble comes it must mean he has sinned. That idea was wrong. A right walk with God does not mean life will be without problems. Trouble at work does not in itself mean your son has failed God or that God is punishing him. And we must also be careful not to take everything Job said in his sorrow as settled truth about God or about life after death. Much of what he spoke was the cry of grief, not the voice of the Holy Spirit teaching doctrine. What his cries do show us is the deep longing in every heart for someone to stand between us and God.
That longing is answered in Jesus Christ, who gave Himself so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. Job longed for a mediator who could lay a hand on both God and man, and Jesus is that mediator. Through Him we can come to God honestly, even when we do not understand our circumstances.
My counsel for your son in this job difficulty is the counsel Job's friend gave in a better moment, to acquaint himself with God and be at peace, to receive the word from God's mouth and lay it up in his heart. Encourage him to seek the Lord earnestly, to ask for wisdom for each decision at work, to do his duties faithfully, and to trust the Lord to open the right door. If there is any correction from the Lord in it, Scripture says not to despise it, for whom the Lord loves He corrects, and He trains every son He receives. If it is simply a trial, God is still able to use it to show His faithfulness.
I have prayed that God will make a way out of this issue for your son, that He will guard his reputation, grant him favor with those over him, give him clear wisdom for what to do each day, and provide for his needs. I have also prayed that God will draw him closer through this, that he would know the peace that comes from knowing Christ as his mediator and resting in God's care, even when answers are not yet clear. May the Lord show Himself faithful to you and to your son and bring this matter to a good resolution in His time and way.
The story of Job speaks directly to a time like this. Job was a man whom God Himself called upright, yet he lost everything in a very short time. Behind what Job and his friends could see, there was a challenge in heaven where the accuser claimed Job only served God because God had placed a hedge of protection and blessing around him. God allowed the hedge to be tested, not because Job had done wrong, but to show what was true in his heart. That background helps us when we face problems we do not understand. The same deep needs and questions Job cried out with are still the needs people carry today, and like Job we often do not understand why God allows hard things.
Job's friends came to comfort him, but they ended up rebuking him. One told him not to despise the Lord's correction, for the Lord corrects those He loves. Another told him God is just and fair and urged him to plead his cause before God. Their basic idea was that if a person is right with God he will have no trouble, and if trouble comes it must mean he has sinned. That idea was wrong. A right walk with God does not mean life will be without problems. Trouble at work does not in itself mean your son has failed God or that God is punishing him. And we must also be careful not to take everything Job said in his sorrow as settled truth about God or about life after death. Much of what he spoke was the cry of grief, not the voice of the Holy Spirit teaching doctrine. What his cries do show us is the deep longing in every heart for someone to stand between us and God.
That longing is answered in Jesus Christ, who gave Himself so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. Job longed for a mediator who could lay a hand on both God and man, and Jesus is that mediator. Through Him we can come to God honestly, even when we do not understand our circumstances.
My counsel for your son in this job difficulty is the counsel Job's friend gave in a better moment, to acquaint himself with God and be at peace, to receive the word from God's mouth and lay it up in his heart. Encourage him to seek the Lord earnestly, to ask for wisdom for each decision at work, to do his duties faithfully, and to trust the Lord to open the right door. If there is any correction from the Lord in it, Scripture says not to despise it, for whom the Lord loves He corrects, and He trains every son He receives. If it is simply a trial, God is still able to use it to show His faithfulness.
I have prayed that God will make a way out of this issue for your son, that He will guard his reputation, grant him favor with those over him, give him clear wisdom for what to do each day, and provide for his needs. I have also prayed that God will draw him closer through this, that he would know the peace that comes from knowing Christ as his mediator and resting in God's care, even when answers are not yet clear. May the Lord show Himself faithful to you and to your son and bring this matter to a good resolution in His time and way.
