Saturday night, I got into bed and thought about Coffee with Cupcake. I decided that from now on, I am going to go to my Bible when I begin thinking about what I am going to write for Monday. I opened my Bible to Job 38.
Job 38 is when God speaks after all the time that Job has gone through everything that he has suffered. God is directly speaking to Job; however, it isn’t what Job thinks God will say. Instead, God asks Job 70 rhetorical questions.
The Lord Speaks
38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
And all the angels[a] shouted for joy?
Job 38 led me to open my eyes, my ears, and my heart to what I needed to know. I mean, wow. Think about it: if you were there and you were in Jobs chair, and God was speaking to you what would you be thinking?
Even though these questions weren’t the answers that Job wanted, they humbled Job, and they gave him what he needed. It isn’t about having the answers to the questions we want; it is about trusting God in every single second and detail in our lives. Job 38 shifted Job to not only having a relationship with God but to WALKING BEFORE GOD.
As I began to research Job 38 I found that there are two parts to being connected to Christ. The first is having a relationship with Him then walking before Christ.
Back in 2009, I began my first true Bible study. Within that first year, I began to form a relationship with Christ that continued to grow. It served me and led me down many different paths I needed to walk. Not only has my relationship with Christ changed, but I have also. I not only have a relationship with Him, but I have now begun to WALK BEFORE GOD.
There are differences in walking in a relationship with God and WALKING BEFORE GOD.
In Genesis 17:1, God spoke to Abram when Abram was 98 years old. He said to Him I am almighty God; walk before me and be blameless.
WALKING BEFORE ME, as stated by God, means walking and looking at God’s face. He is watchful, and we have an account to give Him. If God’s face is truly before us, we will strive to do better and be better Christians.
Walking before God comes after we have walked with God and created a relationship where God has been working to have no survivors left within us. No pride, no self-centeredness, no control, no fear, no guilt, no shame. It is when we have been stripped of everything, things that we shouldn’t carry with us and within us in the first place. Walking before God sifts us in ways that we haven’t been sifted. We are changing our character; we are making a point to live a life of Holiness. We are walking in reverence of the Lord. It is difficult, but it brings us to that which is true. It shows us things that are hurtful but also rewarding. But it leaves us being different, maybe even different from all of those around us.
Both walking with God and walking before God are essential to our walk as a Christian.
In the series, the Chosen Mary Magdalene tells Nicodemus that once Jesus changed her, she was different. Mary had shifted she was walking before God. She was seeing Him every day.
We should strive to be different by walking before God. He challenges us to be different, and by walking before Him, he gives us knowledge and wisdom. God pushes us to do what He has opened the door for us to do.
Over the past several months, I have finished writing two books and started on my third. I’ve created a new head space and become someone that I need to be. Peace has surrounded me and enabled me to WALK BEFORE GOD.
God is preparing the way for each of us. You may just be in the relationship journey with Christ, or you may be in the walking-before-Jesus’ phase, or you may be somewhere in the middle, but no matter where you are, God is with you, carrying you through.
With all of this being said remember to always:
- 1. Show up for JESUS every day – Start your day in the Word.
- 2. Show up for OTHERS – Serve others, whether or not they are like you, whether or not they annoy you, or are difficult to understand. That is what Jesus did; He showed up for everyone.
3. Show up for YOU – Fill your cup before you help fill others’ cups.
WE WILL FIND JOY WHEN WE SHOW UP FOR JESUS, OTHERS, AND OURSELVES.
As Father Mike says, “You pray for me, and I will pray for you.”
As Tara Leigh says: He’s where the joy is.
Have a great week, Cupcake loves you and so does Jesus.
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