As we pray for the hurting people in the Caribbean Islands and watch as millions leave worldly possessions behind in Florida, I note that the word Irma of #HurricaneIrma means “world.” How negligible materials seem when faced with the loss of life itself. The biblical Job is the epitome of loss. A wealthy man, He lost not only the products of his life’s work, but his children and his wife. Why is not the question, although God is big enough to answer all your questions, but how was he changed through it all? Though he was a man of faith already, the experience deepened his relationship with God. “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you,” he said. What a statement of intensified belief and understanding. Because Job tenaciously clung to his faith, God instructed Job’s friends to ask Job to pray for them. God would accept Job’s prayers, but not theirs because of their doubt. The experience freed Job, who had been held captive by the world and its possessions. What is to be gained by clinging to God through life’s storms? Freedom. Freedom from self and the world’s offerings. Freedom that comes when He is the only one or thing that has control over you.
Job 42:5,8,10
