God is More

A Fox News poll released yesterday shows Kamala Harris gaining ground with a lot of voters when asked why she is now more acceptable to them, they reported that it was because they were getting to know her better. They felt like she understood them, cared about them, and connected with them. They did not feel like they knew anything much about her policies, but felt an emotional connection to her. If you listen to her answers to the few questions she has been asked, she tells the same story. She tells of a middle class background, parents worked, she worked at McDonald's, people in her neighborhood were working class people who cared about their yards. She hits about five talking points regardless of the question. The reason for this is clear. People care about their feelings. We live in a very emotionally driven culture. It is actually amazing to witness the shift from facts to feelings in just the last fifty years. You know my theory. Everything changed in the sixties and seventies.

We will continue this week with our focus on God being MORE than enough. Job learned that God is MORE in every possible way than anything this earth, this world, or this life can provide. Job learned this through tremendous loss. He learned, as we all must, that God is MORE than humanity's struggle, suffering, loss, pain, grief, anger, etc.. God's remedy for man's struggle is Himself.

The losses that Job endured were enormous. His character was attacked, his property destroyed, and his family killed. He lost the support of his wife and his friends and, thus, his zeal for life. Job's greatest loss is what we all crave in our core. He lost his own personal validation. Had God not seen? Did God not care? Had Job messed up and didn't know it? Was God failing to acknowledge his holiness and now failing to acknowledge his suffering?

Job was unaware that God acknowledged his blameless character to Satan twice. Job had honored God with his life, so when Satan accused God of having no one that would stand tall in trial, God offered up the one man who would. What an honor!!!

But poor Job didn't know it. One of the greatest lessons of Scripture is the value God's people are to place on patience.

Is your gratification in Him, or in your earthly pleasures, pursuits, and feelings, all of which can be stripped away?

When Job repents in chapter forty-two, he did not do so for some overt sin he had committed that had brought all this suffering upon him. Job repented for his poor inner attitude, his lack of trust and, in short, for allowing his feelings to trump his faith.

Satan's challenge to God that led to Job being offered up struck at the heart of Job's motivation for all his good works. Had he been blameless to please God and to earn His favor, or had he been blameless for God because he loved Him so?

A question you might ask yourself:

Is God enough for you?

What if He never did another good thing for you? Would you still worship Him, serve Him, love Him, tell others about Him, or would you just quit?