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Where is your confidence? // Onde está sua confiança?

Romanos 8:39

It is easy to serve and fear God when everything is going smoothly. There was a man on earth that God was very proud of him. “He was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” Job 1:1; but Satan thought that Job was like that only because God has blessed him with everything. Satan said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1: 9 – 11).

Satan challenge God saying that if this man loses everything, he will turn away from you. And there is so true for many people; people who couldn’t bear losing a parent, or a child, people with a heartbroken or people who lost their career. They automatically will blame God.  They will start thinking that there is no God, only because something went wrong with their lives. They start attacking God because they think of themselves as “good people who haven’t done anything wrong”. Or because the child was innocent and didn’t deserve to die.

But without realizing that what is in check is their faith, not the character of the deceased ones. What is in check is your love for God, your confidence in God that, despite everything that happened He is in control. Too bad, you don’t like it. I bet Job didn’t like either.

Humans love to play the victim card or the abandoned one. I just started reading Job’s story this year, and I remember hearing about Job’s patience. I don’t think this book is only about his patience. Maybe it is about faith and confidence. Job had a clear conscience about himself, not a faked one, a self-righteous one, but a true self-vision. He knew who he was and more important who he served.

How do you respond when adversities come in your way? It is easy to blame God’s “lack of love”, being He the love. It is quite absurd to think that. We are creatures, we don’t get to know or understand everything.

Bad things happen all the time to anyone. You are not less special to God because your child died, or you got cancer or lost your job. You gotta learn to look beyond, to look up to Him. He is the Master of the Universe. While you and me? We are only creatures bounded by the time with a short existence. God has no beginning nor end. He is timeless.

Job knew His God; Job didn’t turn away from God. Job kept trusting in God, despite what has happened.

We need this kind of confidence, this kind of peace in mind. We don’t need to fear the hardships, we fear being separated from God, but “nothing can separate us from His love” (Romans 8:35-39). The only ones who can separate us from God are ourselves. We decide to leave. It is our choice to doubt. But as long as we believe and trust in God, the devil won’t touch our lives.

After hearing that he had lost everything and everyone who he cared about, “Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped” (v.20). How many of us on the blink of destruction and despair we would worship God? Job did. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave. And the LORD has taken away: blessed be the name of the LORD”. (v.21)
É fácil servir e temer a Deus quando tudo está indo bem. Havia um homem na terra que Deus estava muito orgulhoso dele. “Ele era irrepreensível e reto, temente a Deus e desviado do mal” Jó 1: 1; mas Satanás achava que Jó era assim apenas porque Deus o abençoou com tudo. Satanás disse: “Jó teme a Deus sem motivo? Você não colocou uma sebe ao redor dele e de sua casa e tudo o que ele tem, de todos os lados? Você abençoou o trabalho de suas mãos e suas posses aumentaram na terra. Estende a mão e toca tudo o que ele tem, e ele te amaldiçoará na tua face”(Jó 1: 9-11).

Satanás desafia Deus dizendo que se este homem perder tudo, ele se afastará de você. E isso é verdade para muitas pessoas; pessoas que não suportavam perder um pai ou uma criança, pessoas com o coração partido ou pessoas que perderam a carreira. Eles automaticamente culparão a Deus. Eles vão começar a pensar que não há Deus, só porque algo deu errado com suas vidas. Eles começam a atacar a Deus porque pensam em si mesmos como "boas pessoas que não fizeram nada de errado". Ou porque a criança era inocente e não merecia morrer.

Mas sem perceber que o que está em cheque é sua fé, não o caráter dos falecidos. O que está em cheque é seu amor por Deus, sua confiança em Deus que, apesar de tudo o que aconteceu, Ele está no controle. Que pena, você não gosta disso. Aposto que o Jó também não gostou.

Os humanos amam jogar a carta da vítima ou do abandonado. Eu comecei a ler a história de Jó este ano e lembro-me de ouvir sobre a paciência de Jó. Eu não acho que este livro é apenas sobre sua paciência. Talvez seja sobre fé e confiança. Jó tinha uma consciência limpa sobre si mesmo, não um falso, um farisaico, mas uma verdadeira autovisão. Ele sabia quem ele era e mais importante a quem ele servia.

Como você responde quando as adversidades aparecem no seu caminho? É fácil culpar a falta de amor de Deus, sendo Ele o amor. É absolutamente absurdo pensar isso. Somos criaturas, não conhecemos nem entendemos tudo.

Coisas ruins acontecem o tempo todo para qualquer um. Você não é menos especial para Deus porque seu filho morreu, ou você teve câncer ou perdeu seu emprego. Você tem que aprender a olhar além, a olhar para ele. Ele é o mestre do universo. Enquanto você e eu? Somos apenas criaturas limitadas pelo tempo com uma curta existência. Deus não tem começo nem fim. Ele é atemporal.

Jó conhecia o seu Deus; Jó não se afastou de Deus. Jó continuou confiando em Deus apesar do que aconteceu.

Precisamos desse tipo de confiança, esse tipo de paz em mente. Nós não precisamos temer as dificuldades, tememos estar separados de Deus, mas "nada pode nos separar do Seu amor" (Romanos 8:35 - 39). Os únicos que podem nos separar de Deus são nós mesmos. Nós decidimos sair. É nossa escolha duvidar. Mas enquanto acreditarmos e confiarmos em Deus, o diabo não tocará nossas vidas.

Depois de ouvir que ele havia perdido tudo e todos que ele se importava, “Jó levantou-se e rasgou seu manto e raspou a cabeça e caiu no chão e adorou” (v.20). Quantos de nós, num piscar de destruição e desespero, adoraríamos a Deus? Jó fez. E ele disse: “Nu saí do ventre de minha mãe e nu voltarei. O SENHOR deu. E o SENHOR tirou: bendito seja o nome do SENHOR ”. (v.21)

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