God Is Watching Over You

The biblical character Job is a classic example of someone who lost everything—his beloved children, financial wealth, health, and everything he treasured. What Job learned in the long reflections and conversations with his Creator was the fact that he was not in charge of his life or anyone else’s. He was not God and was not in a position to second-guess God. He was left with the only confession that one can make when there’s nothing left: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).

How does Job profess trust in God after a life-storm has decimated everything he valued? Through his prior experiences of God’s total sufficiency. God provided this in a life of ups and downs, mountain tops and valleys, joys and sorrows, that prepares one for severe (but temporary) losses.

After Job accepted that our existence is entirely in the hands of our Creator and that we live according to his purpose, God restored what Job had lost many times. Like Job, God brings us the good we need and want when he knows the time is right for us and only if, in the end, it’s his best for us.

In Acts 12, wanting to please the Jewish authorities, King Herod sends four squads of Roman soldiers to arrest Peter for leading people to Christ and places him in prison. Herod adds plenty more security and chains to prevent Peter from escaping.

The night before his trial, Peter sleeps shackled by two chains between two guards, with additional sentries guarding his prison cell.

Suddenly, in the middle of the night, Peter is awoken by a light in his cell and an angel saying, “Get up quickly.” His chains fall off, and the angel instructs him to dress quickly, put on his cloak and sandals, and follow him. Soon, Peter finds himself out of prison and free! Peter realizes that God has delivered him from an impossible situation, much like King David’s slimy pit of no escape (Psalm 40:1-3).

Now, if God can do that for Peter and King David, why can’t he do the same thing for you? We can eagerly expect God’s miraculous power today. What changes despair into joy, darkness into light, and death into everlasting life is what abiding in Christ promises.

In his letter to the church in Philippi, the apostle Paul tells us that he has learned the secret of living with either too much or too little (Philippians 4:10-13). His existence and purpose in life didn’t depend upon the former, nor did the latter threaten them. He could live in either state and be completely content. He knew that God was trustworthy and that this earthly life was only the waiting room, not the main story or the end of everything.

Paul considered life on earth merely the prologue of what was to come. With this fact fixed in his mind, he moved through life with the joy of knowing that nothing bad was permanent and nothing good could ever be truly lost. Paul put into action the divine mystery that Jesus described earlier: If we put God and his kingdom first, everything else we need will be supplied in its time—just as God restored the profound losses of Job.

What grief, loss, or pain are you going through right now?

Wherever you are today, no matter what you face, you serve a God who brings dead things back to life. If you feel your situation is desperate and there is no possible way out, our God is the God of the impossible. In joyful hope, let us expectantly bring our prayers and requests to the one Person who can rescue us from our pain and create an escape from our prison.