Mercy Road Daily Prayer & Bible Reading ~ Tuesday, January 10, 2012


~ Read Job 1-2 Text, Audio

Lord God,

Why do you feel so far away from me when I suffer? Why don’t you seem to care about my struggles? I know that nothing can separate me from your love for me through Jesus Christ, yet I don’t understand why you allow me to be tested when I am clearly so weak and frail. Though I realize my troubles pale in comparison to those faced by others, that doesn’t lessen the pain they cause, or the anxiety I feel when they arise.

When I struggle financially, my health does not make the struggle any easier. Likewise, when my relationships are strained to the point of breaking, that fact that I have a job doesn’t heal the brokenness I’m experiencing. Just because my troubles aren’t as bad as Job’s, doesn’t mean that they are any less difficult. They are what they are, Lord God, and I need your help to walk through them.

I need you to guide me, Lord. I need your wall of protection always around me. Without it, I will certainly be crushed by the stress, anxiety, and fear of what tomorrow may bring. I simply cannot stand without you, Lord; for though I project an air for confidence to those around me, you know my true self. You see what is on the inside. You know I am frail, weary, and afraid. You know how Satan uses my insecurities to rattle my faith. You understand how my fears of the worst, make me worry endlessly.

Though I want to stop being so unreasonable Lord, I just can’t to do it. I can’t seem to shake the fear that eventually, something bad could happen to someone I love, just as it did to those Job loved. I can’t stop worrying that I might lose my job and be unable to pay my bills. I can’t get past the thought that I could lose everything, and I fear what might happen if I did.

Would I still love you Lord? I’d like to believe that I would. Indeed, I pray that my faith would not waver, even amid the worst of troubles. Nevertheless, I can’t know for sure, because I’ve never been tested in that way, and I pray that I never will.

Lord, keep my faith strong and make my salvation secure. Give me the certainty that I need to face today’s difficulties knowing that nothing will separate me from your love for me through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, in whose name I pray, Amen.