I walked away from Sunday's service feeling empowered; the sermon spoke to my heart. It sprouted in my mind memories of past experiences in which I let envy bubble and brew in my heart, and consequently allowed it to seep into my relationship with the Lord and with others (which is never a pretty sight...). Thanks to the Lord's great love for me, demonstrated through his son Jesus Christ, I thought of these things from a place of grace and growth (which has been the trend of my heart lately- Praise God for that!).

I woke up this morning, watched an episode of "This is Us" (Totally recommend it if you're looking for a non-violent, classy show- it's a feel-good yet emotionally vulnerable drama that is hard to come by, in my opinion!), and sat down to read my bible (which, for me means opening biblica.com and zooming in so God's words dominate my computer screen, because, at 28, my eyes are already straining to read the itsy bitsy letters in my physical bible- yikes!!), specifically, the book of Job.

The Lord has a clever way of making the ins and outs of our days connect, doesn't He? I wasn't very familiar with the story of Job, and so I started to read. Unlike many of the figures preceding Job in the Old Testament, he had it made! A wife and ten thriving children with whom he had a good relationship, thousands of animals, good health...man, Job was blessed...until he was blessed in a different way (bare with me on this one).

Job lost everything: God allowed Satan to meddle with his faithful servant and all of the good fortunes he possessed here on Earth (See Job 1:13-19)...they were gone in an instant.  All of his children? Crushed to death under the house in which they were having a birthday party (seriously...check it out for yourselves.). All of his livestock by which he probably ensured his livelihood? Stolen, and I don't mean a few goats and a few cattle. He had hundreds of thousands...GONE. Even his good health was robbed from him by Satan. In a matter of one day, he lost all ten of his children, his entire livelihood, and his entire body grew painful sores...which must have been so painful and itchy, he used a broken piece of pottery to scratch them with (I don't know which is worse....the fact that he was suddenly afflicted with head to toe sores or the fact that he used a sharp piece of POTTERY to scratch himself.....).

Though at first he was steadfast in his praises through the storm, he quickly found himself despairing, and forgetting that God is a God of purpose.(See Job 3)

"What the what?"

"God, why would you let this happen to him?

"That's not fair. He loved you!"

"He worshipped you and praised you for all of his blessings! That ain't right!"

"HE DIDN'T DESERVE THAT!"

I can imagine these might be some of the thoughts running through any person's mind who has not yet learned the value in this story. I can imagine they might be some of the thoughts we've let run wild in our minds amidst our own, seemingly undeserved trials. But the story didn't end there, of course, and neither does ours when our eyes go green with envy and the fabric of our lives here on earth starts to unravel.

God had a mic-drop moment (as he always does, since he's stinking' amazing). God, stern with his words yet loving in the sovereignty he chooses to demonstrate here, put Job in his place. While Job may not have been dealt the most appealing or most fair hand, he certainly was used by God. God had a purpose in this, just as he does in the pitfalls and trials that plague your life.

So...how do we bring this all back to Sunday's service about envy? If you caught it earlier, you may have noticed that I equated all of the horrible things that happened to Job as a blessing, and I will stick by it!

Not only did God give Job all of the wonderful blessings in the beginning of the story, which Job was faithful in praising God for, but he also gave Job an opportunity to deepen his faith. He made a way for Job to walk nearer to Him and grow deeper in his faith in trusting Him through the trials of this world.

While Job was not quick to realize this opportunity, I challenge you, as believers in Christ and the God who sent him to us in love, to embrace the darkness of this world as an opportunity to reflect God's light for all to see. I challenge you to use the most terrible, to glorify the most good, our Father God, through a spirit of long-suffering, trust, and praise.