Back in the 901

Hello there! I just got back to Memphis about an hour or so ago, and am at the church fixing up some things, getting World Changers figures done, and preparing for Bible Study tonight. We have spent several weeks looking at the book of Job dealing with the theme "When Life Doesn't Hand You Lemons." It has been a good series for us to walk through, examining how the life of a disciple is not always a sweet pill to swallow, that suffering of the innocent is very real, and that unfortunately we as Christians are not promised freedom from being wronged or dealt a bad hand, but that through it we see the Providence and Sovereignty of God. It was especially a blessing for me to study for this, and one insight I learned was early in the book God puts the leash on Satan and allows him to have great influence and exact great pain on Job, but God limits Satan in what he can do. That is the great deception of Satan, that he deceives himself into thinking he is all-powerful, when really throughout the book of Job you see the mercy of God displayed even in the worst of circumstances, because the effects of the assault go only as far as the Word of the Lord would allow. It does not ultimately answer the greatest question in Scripture, the Problem of Evil (theodicy), and we are left with only the promise in Romans that whatever happens God works all things for good for those who love Him. We must trust that we have a good God who, even in His wrath or punishment or ordaining the worst to happen (i.e. Katrina, Tsunami, 9/11, etc.) He is still the all-merciful and all-loving Lord. How that blends is a mystery and will remain, but our task is not to answer God but rather to trust and obey and follow.
SDG
Scott