My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. -Psalm 62:1-2
When I read the book The Rest of the Gospel by Dan Stone, I came across this sentence: “Often believers don’t see that what they are going through is the way God is going to give them what they really want: Him.” This “Him” hit my heart.
I was reminded the Book of Job. I just remembered that God finally compensated Job by “restoring his fortunes and giving him twice as much as he had before”. I thought God intended to bring Job a great blessing and a historical fame through his suffering. But the “Him” made me realized that I missed the most important part: Him. Job said: “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” Through Job’s suffering, God revealed Himself to Job. God was no longer a myth to Job, but Job knew God personally! Job did not ask for compensation and God did not promise it either. Instead, Job “despised himself and repent in dust and ashes”. I believe Job would have been content by knowing Him alone even if God did not restore everything he lost. But God “blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part”. Job did not see what God intended to give him in the mist of suffering. From our perspective in the aftermath, the hope is great!
Nowadays the whole world is suffering from the plague of COVID-19. What most of us see is that many people get sick and die and that many people quarantine at home with fear. We may not see God acting and even blame him for not acting. But we know for sure that He is acting in this circumstance and intends to bring us to Him. We should trust Him alone and endure patiently in the hope of knowing Him and receiving peace from Him since we know that this is the way God is going to give us what we really want: Him.