O n D i s p l a y

Sunday I listened to a sermon by a former pastor in Louisiana. It really hit me where I needed it. So much so, I listened to it twice in a row. Trying to make sure I “got it”. Though filled to overflowing with “nutrients” for my “hungry” soul, more than I could consume at one time, I did come away with a “snack”. I wanted to share it with you. It has been on my heart for several days.
The sermon text was about Job. And the focus was about Job being on “DISPLAY” for all the world to see God’s Glory displayed in the hardest of circumstances. To his family, friends, his heigbors, to other fellow citizens near and far, to the angels, even to us today. He did not need this major trial in his life to determine his Spiritual Condition, but it revealed it.
Display…….Have you ever been on display for all the world to see how you would respond when things didn’t “pan out right”. When it seems everyone has deserted you. OR maybe when tragedy strikes, and a dear loved one dies suddenly. Perhaps, it is loosing a job. Or it may be the misery of staying in a situation that is very painful. It could be divorce, abuse, infidelity.
You fill in the “blank”, whatever trial you are in………….
Job lost everything, his animals, treasures, even his children. He landed with a nagging wife, traitor friends, and horrendous heath issues. What? All in a VERY short amount of time. If anybody had the “right” by “circumstances” to curse God and die, it was Job!
I will tell you the reason he didn’t! Because he was on “Display” for God! Job’s love and devotion to God was not based on “returned blessings”. But on Faith in the Faithfulness of God! That is what got Job through the hard times of this “Display”! He praised God not matter what the day brought before this horrific trial, he praised God through it and in the end ~ praised God!

In this sermon the picture was presented about “waves crashing” over you, and you may think you are going to “drown” (not get through this trial), but even though the strength of the wave may overpower you, and send you crashing down, it ALSO pushes you further to the shore!! So the preacher passionately described that in the mist of all this that the “Job’s” don’t cry to be taken from the trial, but to be pushed closer and closer to the “shore” God!! It forces us to cling harder, and seek His face more deeply than ever. Job said, “I will praise you in this storm!” As it pushes me with great force to my knees!
I listened to a song this morning that again emphasized what I had been meditating on: Being on Display for the Lord’s Glory. I guess it was heavy on my heart as I and my family had been and still are in a “difficult storm”. It has had much suffering and pain. But as I was walking this song came on, “I will Praise You in this Storm” It spoke about not being taken out of it, but God sustaining you while in the “storm”. A few lines: I will praise You in this storm, I will lift my hands for You are who You are, no matter where I am………though my heart is torn, I will praise You in this storm” It talked about several times of just about giving up but then God was there to help you carry on.
I was encouraged again, that God is always near to me, and He has a plan for this “____” in my life for His “Display of Glory”. It is not in the good times that the “world” will recognize a “displayed” Christian so much as in the trials of life!
Every situation puts us on “Display”
The question is, for Whose glory will it be?
In our most grievous times, the “waves” of grief wash us closer to our God!