Jesus Isn't Decaf (By Naomi Meyers)

Years ago, around the time dinosaurs roamed the earth, I spent a couple of years at a small Christian college. One of the classes my course of study required was Wisdom Literature–a study of Job through Song of Solomon. The professor, a stern, normally unsmiling doctor of theology, would stalk into class each day and start off with the words of Psalm 34:1, “I WILL bless the Lord at all times.” He spoke it just as I wrote it. Emphasis on “will”. As I’m certain it was meant to, it lodged in my mind and has yet to depart. I’ve been saying it that way ever since. “I WILL bless the Lord…”

It causes me pause, though, vowing those words. Saying them is easy. Keeping them, not so much. Not every moment of every day fills me with praise. Sometimes it seems not an ounce of blessing can be found in my barren soul. As I peer through the shadowy darkness of my bedraggled life, I often despair. How do you bless the Lord in times like these? In times when everything that can possibly go wrong, does, indeed, go wrong. When life’s waters are choppy. When I’m buried in a pit of despair. When a shroud of despondency settles over my heart. How do I bless the Lord in the middle of adversity, fear, sorrow, disappointment, pain? Is it even possible to bless the Lord at times like this? 

One of the most intriguing Biblical accounts is that of Job. He’s a pillar among men. His life appears flawless. Perfect integrity. God-fearing. Rejecting evil in all its forms. The father of 10 children and owner of an enormous estate, he was considered the greatest man in his region. Job had it all. Local respect and status. The perfect life. A perfect spiritual pedigree. He was the perfect man. Perfect for unimaginable trials. (Job 1:1-3)

At least God thought so. When Satan comes looking for someone to bother, God actually offers Job on a platter! “Have you looked at Job? He’s perfect.” (Job 1:8) Like a pouting child, Satan pokes out his lower lip, folds his arms over his chest, and bemoans the fact that God’s protection surrounds Job, his family, and all he owns. He goes so far as to allege that Job serves God faithfully only because God prospers him. It’s easy, he points out, to follow God when He is raining beautiful circumstances down on you! In an unprecedented and hugely unexpected move, God agrees to withdraw His hand and allows Satan free rein with everything Job owns. Only Job himself is not to be touched. (Job 1:9-12)

Satan has a field day. Chasing on the heels of one another, escaped servants rush to report calamity after calamity crashing down on Job. His large herds of oxen and donkeys were stolen. His 7,000 sheep were struck by lightning. His 3,000 camels were stolen. His servants died–with the exception of those who escaped to report. His children, all 10 of them, were killed when the house they were partying in collapsed. And Job, upon hearing the news, wracked with grief and overwhelmed with disbelief, shredded his clothes. Shaved his head. Fell to his knees. And worshipped. (Job 1:13-21)

My jaw drops with incredulity. How? How could Job possibly find something, anything, to bless the Lord for in those circumstances? How was his grief not all-encompassing? How is it possible that in all of this, through every worsening report, through the loss of everything he owned and loved, how did Job not cry out in anger, grief, disappointment, pain? How did he manage to stare insurmountable adversity in the face and not sin, not lash out at God? How did he find the strength to bless the Lord in that breathtakingly horrible moment? (Job 1:22) 

But Satan wasn’t done. Angry that his plan had failed and wanting another chance, he takes himself back to lodge a complaint with God. Apparently being wrong once wasn’t enough for Satan. He’s a slow learner. Regardless, he presents himself to God and suggests that Job would surely curse God if he were to fall horribly ill. So God, knowing Job far better than anyone else does, grants permission for him to be struck with miserable, painful illness. Satan does a little jig, strikes Job with boils from his soles to his scalp, and rubs his hands together gleefully thinking surely this will do the trick. Job will fall. In an ugly twist that seems composed by Satan himself, Job’s wife turns against him as well.  His helpmeet, his partner, his last remaining family member, comes to gaze on him in evident disgust and say, “Obviously your dedication to God is misplaced. You might as well give up on Him and die!” (Job 2:1-9) 

Enthroned on a pile of ashes, clothed in rags, scraping oozing sores with a piece of a broken jar, Job made a pitiful picture. Bereft of all his earthly possessions and mourning the loss of his children, he is now worthless to his wife. He is completely alone in the world. Yet in the face of all this adversity, the horror, the pain, Job speaks words of truth that echo down through time to reverberate in our hearts today, “Is it fair to think we will only receive good things if we follow God? Shouldn’t we accept, even expect, adversity as well?” (Job 2:10) 

It is easy to do all the religious things, be grateful, bless the Lord, when our lives are full of unicorns and rainbows. When everything is going well. When we get our way. When the test results are negative, the bonus check comes in. When the cupboards are full, the checking account fat, and the family healthy. It’s easy to bless the Lord in the good times. But can we, do we, choose to bless the Lord in the middle of adversity? Is God not still good when situations are bad? Do we resolve to bless the Lord at all times, no matter what, or do we let our trials define our faith? How can it be possible to bless the Lord when everything around us seems bad?

Perhaps the answer to the conundrum is wrapped up in the words of Job. As he kneels there in his ruined clothing, economically broken, grieving extensive familial loss, Job speaks words we all know but don’t truly grasp. “I was born with nothing. I can take nothing with me when I die. Everything is God’s. He can loan it to us and He can call in the loan. Regardless what He chooses to do. I choose to bless the Lord.” (Job 1:21) Everything, from your pennies to your person, belongs to God. If He is allowing you to borrow it for a while, you have reason to bless the Lord. If He decided to take it back, you have reason to bless Him for the time He allowed you to borrow it. Blessing God during the first is easy. Nothing will be more difficult than blessing Him during the second.  

Over the last 18 months, I have watched two friends journeying through cancer diagnoses. I have seen health fail. Vacations desist. Milestones missed. Frustrations and fears abound. Through it all, I have seen faith flourish. I have watched both individuals, though years apart in age and on opposite ends of the prognosis spectrum, choose to bless the Lord in the middle of their adversity. When life as they know it has changed completely and is possibly slipping away entirely, they still find a way, a reason, to bless the Lord. It is beautifully inspiring. 

Their attitudes have made me introspective–and extrospective. At what point did we become so far removed from God that we blatantly refuse to bless Him? Do we really believe the prosperity gospel telling us there will be no adversity in the life of a believer? What if that adversity is the blessing? What if that adversity changes your life, your world for the better? What if you learn a lesson from a tough situation? What if your adversity helped you breach a gap that seemed uncrossable? Did it heal a relationship? Draw you closer to God? Is adversity awful? Undoubtedly. Is God still worth blessing? Yes upon yes upon yes. 

Adversity is the blessing that draws us to God.  When entitlement runs rampant, when we mistakenly believe God owes us something, when we harbor sin in our hearts, God allows adversity to draw us back to Himself. Toward the end of the book of Job, God speaks. As you read the words, you can almost hear His voice roaring through the whirlwind, reminding Job, and us, that everything in every corner of the universe is the result of His hand. The upkeep of the world is managed by His supreme power. The wind, waves, rain, and sun are at God’s command. Indeed, the whole of creation–planets, animals, and man–all survive and thrive by the acts of God. (Job 38-41) There is every reason to bless the Lord at all times because everything exists through Him and for Him. Without Him, we are nothing. (Nehemiah 9:6; Colossians 1:16; John 1:3)

When the world is in chaotic disorder, when horror story after horror story unfolds before you, when adversity dogs your every step, choose to bless the Lord, to worship, to allow that adversity to draw you closer to God. No matter what comes, what happens in your life, what travesty goes on in the world around you. No matter how tempted or taunted you are by circumstances, people, or the evil one himself. When the outlook is so dark you can find nothing to be grateful for, bless the Lord for the adversity that draws you back to His side over and over and over again. You can make no better choice.   (I Thessalonians 5:18; I Peter 1:6-9; James 1:2-4; Psalm 84:4)