Week of October 19

“Father, teach us all how to wait” (Murray, Waiting on God). Life’s most significant moments are quite often bracketed by periods of waiting before something happens, but many of us find waiting on the Lord to be our greatest challenge. Can I get a witness? One of the hardest things to do is to wait for God’s response to our question “Why?” whenever we suffer. So, what do we do “in the meantime”? That phrase simply refers to the period that occurs while we wait for something to happen. Our passage today teaches us what we may do in such circumstances.

We get the sense that we are waiting for something to happen in the book of Job and indeed we are. Job’s four friends deliver their assessment of the evil that has come to Job, and he eventually responds to them. Eliphaz suggests that Job appeal to God and to lay his case before the Lord. Bildad suggested the same thing (8:5). Job, in fact, did this very thing, but the underlying issue needs to be our focus (23:3-8). 

Job pours out his agony over unjust suffering (chapters 29-31). However, in the meantime, God was waiting patiently for all to unfold before him, and then he spoke (chapters 38-41). I conclude that the “in the meantime” moments are important because they help us to see the grand picture of God’s goodness and mercy shown to us in our human frailty. They also give us an occasion to serve Him, even when things are not going our way. Going our way? Yes, the “in the meantime” moments also provide us with a clearer picture of one key Divine characteristic—His justice.

We live in a broken world. Life is not fair, and we all need to accept the reality that even the righteous encounter trouble and suffer here on earth. Need I raise the issue of hurricanes, flash fires and floods, and random acts of human violence? Job faced similar circumstances (1:13-19). I need not state that millions of really good people have found themselves in really bad circumstances. Some of you reading this devotional have dealt with the savage fury of a life-threatening health crisis or the gut-wrenching agony of abuse. All of us who know the Lord have also faced troubles with God when we rebelled against Him. These things happen as naturally as sparks flying upward (5:7; NAC). These harsh realities do not negate God’s justice in the world. So, in the meantime, we might as well explore the nature of our God in the face of these realities.

God is Lord over His creation. Job 5:8-16 stresses three features of “God’s governance of the universe.” Despite appearances, He is sovereign over nature and the fortunes of humankind (8:10-11). Job’s generation depended upon rain to grow and harvest their crops. We know how unpredictable the weather can be, but to people who depend upon agriculture it can be highly stressful to live this way (cf. “deluge” in Genesis 6-9 and “drizzle” in Ezra 10:9; NAC). Notice that Eliphaz links verse 10 and 11 together to show that the giving or withholding of rain serves the purposes of God’s justice (cf. 37:13). The underlying point is that God honors the humble and saves those who walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

God’s fair judgment will occur. God apprehends and punishes wrongdoers (see again 1:13-19, Chaldeans; cf. 8:12-14). Now, Eliphaz concludes correctly that God will judge, but applies the principle incorrectly to his friend Job. Eliphaz would be a serious candidate for “de-friending” on my Facebook page, but I digress. The point is that God will thwart finally the wicked (8:12), apprehend them (8:13), and punish them (8:14). 

God will deliver the needy and oppressed. Eliphaz uses a phrase that means the charges of the wicked against the righteous are the “swords” from which God saves them (NAC). Our just God will shut the “sword-like” mouth of the wicked (8:16). Add together these principles and we will see that we live in an evil world filled both with natural evil (catastrophes) and human wickedness. God, however, is just and delivers His faithful ones “in the meantime” as we show we trust Him and wait for His deliverance.

The internet is filled with videos of soldiers who have been deployed and return home to surprise their families. The faithful dog who has waited loyally for the return of his master is one of the more heart-tugging varieties of these videos that float around on social media. One such pet paused, it seemed, for a moment until he processed what he saw before his eyes and was experiencing with his other senses of hearing and smelling. All at once, he leaps into his master’s arms. What did the animal do “in the meantime” while waiting for his master? He carried on loyally until he came home. 

Here’s the spiritual application: We do well when we serve the Lord faithfully “in the meantime.”

1. There was a single beachfront home on a stretch of Florida coastline that survived hurricane Michael in 2018. The owner revealed why that home made it through the storm. “In the meantime,” when there was no major storm, he built a house to withstand a “super hurricane” with winds more than 175 mph. We may do the same spiritually. Deepen your walk with the Lord each day, despite the struggles that you are facing (Matthew 7:24-27). He cares for you.

2. For Families: “In the meantime,” we wait, trust, and serve. Our families would do well to adopt these three steps as we go through hard times, and are waiting for God’s answers or deliverance. What does this look like?

When illness comes upon us unexpectedly, or when a family member or dear friend dies, or when tragedy strikes in some way, our families can come together and pray. We take our sorrow and grief and shock to God and ask for His help. Then, we lift our heads, determine to wait on Him, to trust Him, and to serve others in our “meanwhile.”

Invite your kids to memorize these three steps, and to remind the family of them whenever you come up against something hard. Encourage the children to make a sign for the inside of their closet door, so they can run, read, remember, and react faithfully. “Mom? Dad? Is this a time to wait, trust, and serve?” Yes. It is always time to do just that!

May your paths be straight,
Larry C. Ashlock