Whatever I Receive
Then Job arose and tore his robe, shaved his head and fell to the ground and worshiped and and he said . . . “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job. 1:20-21
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take [the thorn in my flesh] away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Cor. 12:8-10.
Isn’t it amazing to see how Paul and Job responded to the trials and blessings of life? To take everything with the attitude that the Lord’s will is working everything together for our good? To be able to rejoice in suffering and worship in the face of hardship and say, it’s not in this hour that I’m experiencing right now that I place my hope, but in the hour that I know is yet to come when Christ returns to bring me home. That is our hope for this life. That the Kingdom would come and the will of the Father be done in our lives, whether through hardship or blessing. Our Sovereign Lord has all of our best interests at heart and in mind in every decision He makes. That best interest is namely, to see His glory and be transformed to be like Christ through our situations. So whether it comes by trial or by blessing, stand fast and say with Job and Paul that the grace of our God is all you need!
*** Side note: I wrote this song as I watched my good friend and pastor, Matt Carter, go through a battle of cancer. He had been growing a church that could very well change the planet and having just had his 3rd child, it seemed like such horrible timing (but is there really a good time to get cancer?). His unwavering hope in Christ Jesus’s sovereign power amazed me as I watched him valiantly fight and overcome what could have been the end to his ministry and life here on Earth. To see how God used it to make him the most Christ-centered pastor I’ve ever met amazed me to the point of these words just pouring out in a matter of seconds. I wrote it for him as an encouragement to remember that God is always on our side and if He is, who can be against us?***
Lyrics:
You are the Lord, so Lord do as You please
As long as your glory is still shining on me
And on that last day, Your song I will sing
So it’s not in this hour I hope
I hope in a promise that I know You will keep
That one day in glory your face I will see
With no sin to blind me from all Your beauty
And unending hours to praise
Your love has rescued me
Your truth has set me free
So whatever I receive
Your grace is all I need
My Heart quickens as my thoughts start to leap
To the faithfulness You’ve shown me in the years that I’ve seen
And I can’t believe after all that You’d leave
So it’s only in You that I’ll hope