Those of us that are married or have been married are very familiar with those words. They were part of a vow we made before God and all of our friends and family. We said that we would love each other in good times and in bad times, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the day's of our lives. I think it's safe to say that most of us miss the mark on some of these and it's time we start working on fixing the areas that we come up short in. Do those of you that are married, have patience with one another when financial troubles arise? Do you treat each other the same during bad times as you do in the good times? (This one is for the MEN) Do you give your wife the support and help she needs when she is fighting illness in the same way she cares for you without complaining? Do you have the patience with her and take care of the kids as she would, again without complaining?
See, I found a parallel between our love for each other and Gods love for us. He does love us in both good times and in bad. He does love us in sickness and in health. He does love us for richer and for poorer. However there are some people that only love Him when things are going great. As soon as trouble hits the first one they complain about or to is God. Why this God? Why that God? It is so easy to love when things are going well, but it's an effort to love when things aren't going so well. This is when you have to push through. This is the test that must be passed. In the book of Job, we find a man that went through many tests for the purpose of seeing if he would turn away from God when everything went horribly wrong.
Job 2:3-10 Then the LORD asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth--a man of complete integrity. He fears God and will have nothing to do with evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you persuaded me to harm him without cause." Satan replied to the LORD, "Skin for skin--he blesses you only because you bless him. A man will give up everything he has to save his life. But take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!" "All right, do with him as you please," the LORD said to Satan. "But spare his life." So Satan left the LORD's presence, and he struck Job with a terrible case of boils from head to foot. Then Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die." But Job replied, "You talk like a godless woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.
Job cursed the day he was born, because life as it was, just didn’t seem to be worth living. Then Eliphaz the Temanite spoke to Job. Job 4:3-7 "In the past you have encouraged many a troubled soul to trust in God; you have supported those who were weak. Your words have strengthened the fallen; you steadied those who wavered. But now when trouble strikes, you faint and are broken. Does your reverence for God give you no confidence? Shouldn't you believe that God will care for those who are upright? Stop and think! Does the innocent person perish? When has the upright person been destroyed? They were trying to say that Job must have done something terribly wrong for this to have happened to him. They were wrong.
Job had so many things done to him and he could not understand why these things were being allowed to happen. We can all relate to that very feeling. When things aren't going right and we have a few days where everything seems to go wrong, we don't just complain, often times we'll go as far as to use the Lords name in vain. Job, complained to God but he never blamed God for anything that was happening to him. He was a man looking for answers because he didn't understand. None of us ever understand why things happen to us that are bad yet we never question why something good happened. We never understand why people that are bad were put in our lives, but we never question what we did to deserve a good person that was put in our paths. Rest assured that our Heavenly Father knows the reasons. It's not for us to understand everything that happens to us for the good or the bad.
The Lord finally spoke to Job after long suffering and having Job complaining and questioning while defending his innocence. He asked Job many questions and insisted that job answer them. They had to do with things only the Lord knew to show Job that he did not know as much as he thought he did. Then Job replied to the LORD: Job 42:2-3 "I know that you can do anything and no one can stop you. You ask, `Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I. And I was talking about things I did not understand, things far too wonderful for me.
Like Job, we say and do things against God because we don’t understand. We need to be very careful to not ever get to the point where we blame God for something bad that has happened in our lives. Give him praise throughout the good times and the bad. Through your sickness and your health, when you are rich and when you are poor. Blessings come through being true to God. He will not bless someone that is not standing on his promises and has a wavering trust in Him. Let us never make that mistake.
Please pray this with me
Father God, first we thank you for your grace. In the book of Job we learn that we don't have hardly any of the answers let alone all of them. Father, I pray for wisdom that would enable us to never confuse the fact that you are the one with all the answers and for us to even second guess your way is a big mistake. You want us to prove worthy of your blessings and that means at all times, not just when things are going well. Lord I pray that you would bless all who read this and that you would shroud them all with your Holy Spirit to be the comforter when times are tough, and to guide our thoughts at all times, so that we never forget that you are God and we are your people. We bless you and we thank you for all that your doing in our lives.
In Jesus Name
Amen
God Bless You All 
“The Sharpshooter”
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