God’s Faithfulness: In Job Loss
This past month I decided to finally pick up and read Desiring God by John Piper and it changed my life. It's a great book because of the magnifying glass it brings to Scripture; it's life-changing because of when God put it in my life.
The book summed up in a sentence is this: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. The pursuit of joy in God is an absolute must in a Christian's life, but so often we exchange true, boundless joy in God's promises for paper-thin, fading pleasures of the here and now. I couldn't see how much I was doing this until my wife lost her job.
Paij was bringing home a substantial paycheck before her company dissolved. We lived comfortably, tithed comfortably, and worshipped comfortably. Though we lived against the "American Dream," we still enjoyed the "Christian American Dream." God graciously decided that we needed to be fixed.
Though we lost the job race, we were absolutely victorious in the pursuit of joy. God used his people through prayer to bless us, to help us, take care of us, literally and spiritually feed us, and show love to us in ways that we have never experienced. We have less shiny material things now, but the shiny invaluable gems that it birthed in our souls will render us eternally thankful to God for his mercy and kindness, and to his people for obeying his command to weep with those who weep.
I'm telling you of this victory to remind you of God's promises. I want you to see that joy isn't found in the things that fade away, but that "at [his] right hand are pleasures forevermore," (Ps. 16:11). I like the way that C.S. Lewis puts it:
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
Give up the slums for eternal joy in the presence of the Master, it's quite the victory indeed.
- Joel