BOOKENDS OF BLESSINGS, or, THE SMALLNESS OF OUR TRIALS IN LIGHT OF THE GREATNESS OF OUR BLESSINGS

November 07, 2023

When we are in a trial, it seems eternal. Days and nights can be filled with anxiety and fear and endless speculations about where the trial will end and IF it will end. But, in reality, most problems are short-lived. God has made promises about this. Paul records one of those promises.

No temptation (trial) has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted (tried) beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

EXHIBIT A

In the oldest book of the Bible, we read the story of Job, the most righteous man on the face of the earth. God had blessed him with incredible wealth, wonderful children, and an extraordinary life.

But then the trials came, which were intense, beyond what most of us will ever experience. It didn’t help that his wife and even his close friends gave him bad counsel and misrepresented God. But these trials were for a season and a reason. The last chapter records the return of God’s blessings upon Job.

The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold … the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning ... After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. And Job died, an old man and full of days. (Job 42:10-17)

Job lived an incredible life. He was highly blessed. Then, there was a trial that came upon him for several years. But after the trial, he was even more blessed for a final period of 140 years--bookends of blessings around an intense experience designed by God to be recorded in a way that would help and bless the world till the end of time.

At the end of this trial, he was received into heaven—a place of unending blessing. We can be assured that his “momentary light afflictions” became small in the light of eternity.

Are you in a time of trial? It has a beginning, and it will have an end. But don’t forget the bookends of blessings that God has given … and give Him praise. God knows what He’s about.

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