Matthew 28:19-20 "…19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”"
God commanded us as born again believers to teach ALL nations to obey Him.
What are God's commands? All that He wrote in the Bible are commands. Even though all things were not written to us they were written for us, to know the heart of God and recognize the power of Christ in us to be able to obey.
2 Timothy 4:2
"2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction."
Jesus Christ has all truth for all time, He does not change nor do His commands change. They are for our own good, to protect us from evil, to instruct us in righteousness. Because His righteousness works for a better existence.
When we trust in Christ we are also trusting that He knows best for us, what works well, what glorifies Him and what leads to heaven.
Those who see God's blessings of instruction as burdens do not understand that His blessings are His teachings, they spare us from making terrible decisions that harm us and others.
The man or woman of God who seeks God for all matters will know the amazing blessings, the strength, and provision that comes from obeying His principles.
God never made rules to oppress us, they are all there to help us. Sadly too many people don't understand what "help" looks like. They think help is encouragement in whatever they want. God's help is for our spiritual and emotional strength through all the nuances of life that come our way. There is great strength in being able to go through tough things with joy still trusting in Christ.
Did you know you can have great joy even in the midst of the pain, not happiness, but the joy that we know God has a purpose even if we cannot see that purpose? We can have that joy in the middle of our tears and agony. I know this is impossible to believe for those who are not born again.
The joy is there even if our feelings tell us it is gone. We know because as soon as there is relief we are grateful to God and rejoice for the moments of relief.
Job is our example, He never denied God all through His trial. He did question Him but never once did He accuse God of anything or turn His back on God.
Job 2:7-10 "7 Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8 And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips."
Notice in the following verses Job's friends wanted to encourage him but they made false accusations that Job must have sinned because of his infirmities. They sat with him for a long time before doing this but wearied of the sitting and began attempting to evaluate falsely God's purpose in all of it. This is common in Pentecostal circles too, a typical human reaction to the problems of others is to try to guess why illness befalls someone.
No one can guess why people fall into illness unless it was caused specifically by sinful activities that are clear. It is always risky and sinful to attempt to guess why someone has fallen ill when no sin is blatantly apparent.
Job 2:11-13 "11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him.
12 When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.
13 Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great."
His friends deeply cared about Job but misunderstood the purposes of God and the heart of Job.
Reading the rest of Job we see God assuring him that God knows his plight, He created the world and has control over this. We also see Job reproving his friends for wrongly judging him.
There is so much more to the book of Job that remind us that God is in control, even our illness and trials are seen by Him and have a purpose for us as well as to glorify God.
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