Stripped to Flourish: Discovering God in Our Rawest State
Job 19:9, 25-26
9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
God truly has a way of stripping us down to nothing but HIM! Why does He do this? I believe the answer is found in v.9: “He hath stripped me of MY glory, and taken the crown from MY head.” As the story of Job continues to unfold, we shall discover that eventually Job will stop talking so much about himself and start talking more about God! You see, man’s glory is faded at best! At the end of the day, we have nothing to boast of! Paul said, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...” Gal 6:14a.
God is simply growing us to a point, not only to where He’s all we have, but also to where He’s all we need! When we’re finally dead to self, and when we finally have no one to look to but Christ, then and only then shall we get a clear, vivid picture of who our Heavenly Father really is, because all the distractions have been removed! In the midst of all of this gloom and despair, Job begins (after being reduced to nothing) to see the Glory of God in His resurrection power! “I know that my redeemer liveth....yet in my flesh, I shall see God!”
What a glorious day it is when we change our focus from, “God, change my circumstances!” to, “God, change ME!” Oh, the double-portion that awaits us, when at last our fleshy eyes have been anointed, and we finally “see God!” Make haste, dear reader, to die to self, so that you too can genuinely see God with clarity in your life more so than ever before! It’s not until we get a good look at Him that we are truly changed by His power to effectively portray Him to a lost and dying world! As found in John 12:21, may THIS be our desire today, “We would see Jesus!”
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
God truly has a way of stripping us down to nothing but HIM! Why does He do this? I believe the answer is found in v.9: “He hath stripped me of MY glory, and taken the crown from MY head.” As the story of Job continues to unfold, we shall discover that eventually Job will stop talking so much about himself and start talking more about God! You see, man’s glory is faded at best! At the end of the day, we have nothing to boast of! Paul said, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ...” Gal 6:14a.
God is simply growing us to a point, not only to where He’s all we have, but also to where He’s all we need! When we’re finally dead to self, and when we finally have no one to look to but Christ, then and only then shall we get a clear, vivid picture of who our Heavenly Father really is, because all the distractions have been removed! In the midst of all of this gloom and despair, Job begins (after being reduced to nothing) to see the Glory of God in His resurrection power! “I know that my redeemer liveth....yet in my flesh, I shall see God!”
What a glorious day it is when we change our focus from, “God, change my circumstances!” to, “God, change ME!” Oh, the double-portion that awaits us, when at last our fleshy eyes have been anointed, and we finally “see God!” Make haste, dear reader, to die to self, so that you too can genuinely see God with clarity in your life more so than ever before! It’s not until we get a good look at Him that we are truly changed by His power to effectively portray Him to a lost and dying world! As found in John 12:21, may THIS be our desire today, “We would see Jesus!”
~ Pastor Gary Caudill