June 29, 2015

alone-480474_1280Happy Monday.

A statement said to me recently made me sad. It was, “I feel so alone, especially in a particular, large gathering.”

Have you been there? Feeling isolated, oblivious to people around you?

Job had an experience like that. What did he do?

Remember his great losses when Satan set out to prove Job would “give up” on God in testing time?

During his grieving process (and it is a process) he had the company of three friends who sat with him, conversed with him. 

But as far as receiving comfort, they might as well have not been there.

Sometimes human contact isn’t enough.

Recorded are Job’s thoughts, “Oh that I knew where I might find him…I go forward, he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him…On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him.”

But in his pain of body and soul, he looked back and remembered God is good.

And by faith declared, “…He knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

Good for Job–not an easy attitude to take when life hurts.

The enemy might have been whispering, “You’re known as a good man–why would God treat you this way?”

Recognize that argument? Maybe you have heard it in your time of pain.

I’m glad we know the end of Job’s story. He was given twice as much as he had at the beginning, but he didn’t know the conclusion!

Job made an A+ in his test.

Some things we can learn from him:

1. We will be tested, but only to the degree that God allows.

2. When we don’t see or feel God, He is there–always, as promised.

3. We can anticipate the end of our test as Job did, that when it’s over we shall be more like Christ, if we keep faith and hope alive.

As the old song says–

“No never alone, no never alone.
He promised never to leave me
Never to leave me alone.”

9 thoughts on “June 29, 2015

  1. Thank you Mrs. Hyles for writing, glad you’re back and able again! Been there many a time where so many surround you yet feeling no one quite gets you…just alone….but at every instance of these feelings…God uses this time always to reveal Himself in new ways not seen before. Thanks for this reminder in the life of Job! It makes me think of Bro. Hyles sermon “He visiteth in the night”…when we feel alone in our trials..He will lovingly visit us and help us-He is there!! 🙂 Take care this week!
    Patty

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  2. Good morning, Mrs. Hyles! Thank you for this uplifting thought today. It has been rough to get through each day since the Lord took my husband home in March. I struggle with feeling alone, and trying to figure out what God wants me to do with the rest of my life, now that I am no longer a pastor’s wife. But every time I feel like I just want to give up, I feel God’s hand on me and hear His voice in unexpected places. Just yesterday, He gave me a verse from Isaiah 26:4, “Trust us in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord is everlasting strength.” This reminded me that I don’t need to try to be strong on my own; God is with me and will give me the strength I need – ALWAYS – because His strength is never ending. Thanks for always having an encouraging word.
    April Hernandez

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