Job 3:1-7

The joy of a child being born. In circumstances where the child is wanted and much awaited, it is a very joyful time. The delight of that miracle of birth and that blessing of a child. This is what Job’s parents experienced at the time of his birth. Now Job is an adult and has been subjected to the loss of his family and a great affliction of the skin. His suffering is intense. He curses the day he was born and asks for that moment of his birth to be barren. For no shouts of joy to have been uttered by his ecstatic parents. Job was going through a terrible time. The joy he had experienced in God had fled and he was left struggling to cope with life. If that happened today, there would probably be some well-meaning Christian come and tell him to praise God in all circumstances. He would be encouraged to praise and praise and praise. It is doubtful that would have helped. Sometimes our Joy in life departs. All we can do is endure. That is what Job did here.
Job was miserable. He was in pain. He felt great turmoil. He could not understand how God, who had been so present in his life, could suddenly leave. He was hurt and confused. Not great condition s to feel joy. He put a lot of time into his relationship with God but it was not at this moment bringing him Joy. In my previous blog I mentioned that continuing to acknowledge and honour God would lead to us experiencing Joy. That is true. But there are exceptions.
I have spoken previously about Joy being a fruit of the Spirit, something God gives to us. In Job God allowed him to be afflicted and departed from him to demonstrate Job’s faith in God. Job was not receiving Joy. This was not because he was doing something wrong. It was what was happening. I am not saying that every time we feel despair and do not feel Joy it is because God is allowing us to feel that. But there are times when we will find ourselves in that situation. At other times, we will be able to feel some Joy, no matter what our circumstances.
The message here is to acknowledge God and trust Him. Sometimes that knowledge will bring us Joy, and sometimes it will give us the strength to hold on until we experience Joy.
 

Esther 9

This is the end of the story of Esther. The enemies of the Jews had tricked the King into signing an edict that on a particular day the Jews were to be slaughtered and their possessions taken. In the previous blog Esther had intervened and had a second edict written to counter the first. It was not possible to reverse an edict once that King had signed it. The second edict was that the Jews were to attack their enemies on that day and were to take the plunder of their enemies. This second edict frightened the enemies of the Jews so they were too frightened to take arms against the Jews. The Jews however, knew who their enemies were. On the day, they took up arms and killed their enemies. This was the genesis of the Jewish festival of Purim. It is a time of rejoicing for God’s action in saving the Jews in exile. Purim is preceded by three days of fasting and prayer. Purim itself is a time of great joy.
The emphasis in this section is that Joy is a result of our relationship with God. The more time we put into our relationship with God, the more Joy He will give us. There is a call to acknowledge God and honour Him for all that He does. It is important to do this, even when we don’t feel happy or glad. We need to honour God and remember all that He has done and continues to do for us. We may not feel happy, but we will experience joy.