Police Devotion 9-30-2018
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:” (Job 13:15)
As a cop, you see awful things on the job. Ever want to ask God why? Why does a drunk kill or maim an innocent motorist and walk away unhurt? Why do rival gang members shoot at each other and none of them is hurt, but a kid is shot and killed? Why does God let things like that happen?
If anyone had the right to ask God “why,” Job did. God allowed some horrible disasters to happen in Job’s life. His animals were stolen and destroyed, his servants murdered, his seven sons died in a house collapse, and he was covered with boils. Even his wife told him to give up, “curse God, and die” (Job 2:9). Yet Job said this about God in the midst of his trials: “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”
How in the world could Job feel that way? How could he not shake his fist at God and curse Him? Actually Job chapter 1 tells us that’s what Satan wanted Job to do. He watched how Job served the Lord and asked God for permission to torment him. God let Satan do his dirty work. Yet God wasn’t sitting up in heaven with his fingers crossed. He gave Job the grace he needed to get through this trial.
We can’t begin to think on God’s level: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). Yet the Bible doesn’t say we can’t ask God why. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh to get the Israelites released and Pharaoh refused and made things worse for them, Moses asked God, “Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me?” (Exodus 5:22). When Jeremiah warned of God’s judgment upon Judah for sin, he saw people who still enjoyed their sin, and he asked God, “Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?” (Jeremiah 12:1b).
If you want to ask God why, the Bible tells us to do two things. One, seek answers in His Word: “Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read” (Isaiah 34:16). God speaks to people’s hearts through “the voice of his word” (Psalm 103:20). Two, recognize that God is righteous but tell Him what’s on your mind. Before Jeremiah asked God why wicked people prospered, he said, “Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments” (Jeremiah 12:1a).
Job may not have learned why God let him go through those trials, but because there was a Job, there is a book of Job in the Bible. Only God knows how many people throughout history have been helped by this book. It tells us that in tough times, the devil may tempt us to sin, to stop trusting God. Yet God gave Job grace to endure his trials, and He’ll do the same for us. As a cop, you’ve probably had tough times, and you’ll probably have more. Yet you have God’s Word that He’ll help you just as He helped Job.
We may not see in this life why God allows us go through tough times, but we can trust in Him, as Job did. We can be sure that God is righteous, “The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works” (Psalm 145:17). We can also be sure that He loves us: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The best proof of God’s love for you is the fact that God the Son, Jesus Christ, died for your sins on the cross, was buried, and rose again. If you want to see how to receive Jesus as your personal Saviour, please click “Helpful Links” and then “How Do I Go to Heaven?” on the main menu.
Brian Miller
9/30/2018
Cleveland Baptist Church | 4431 Tiedeman Road, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144 | 216.671.2822