Sabbath School Daily Summary August 8 2022

3rd Quarter: In The Crucibles With Christ

Lesson 7: Indestructible Hope

Monday: Who Our Father Is

Text: [[Job 42:3]] BSB
You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

Message
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to see a bright light in your room. Then you hear a voice saying, “My son, sit down and hear what I’m going to do in the next 3yrs.” Then God narrates certain crucibles you’re going to face and the reasons. How will you feel the next day, and days that follow? Life would’ve been easier for the child of God this way. We could’ve endured a lot more than we do now. But Oswald Chambers writes, _“Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. *God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is.”* — My Utmost for His Highest_ Think about this deeply. How true is this?

The reason we fail when tested is not because we don’t know the reason, but because we don’t know our God. Job was met with serious calamities in which he sought for answers. Even his friends stood to prove to Job he was at fault. But God was silent. When God begun to speak, He said, _‘Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?’(Job 38:2)_ He asked Job about 60 critical questions which he was unable to attempt. In all his speech, God never answered directly any of the why questions Job or his friends asked. What he did was to paint a picture of who he is – the creator of the universe and the omnipotent, omniscient God. To God, this was the most important thing they needed.

And what happened after God spoke? Job was satisfied. His desire for answers to “big” questions vanished when he came to know the God who he was dealing with. God didn’t bully Job to shut him up, rather, the magnificence of God swallowed up any “whys”. Job exclaimed, _I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)_ The truth is that, when we come to know God for who he is, then we’ll understand that nothing happens without his knowledge. And at that point, we’ll learn to trust Him. God may not always tell us Why, but He always shows us Who He is, and that should be enough for us.

Reflection
Are things that you just can’t understand happening now? If so, focus on the character of God. How can doing that give you the hope that you need to persevere through what’s, for now, incomprehensible?