Curse God and Die!

I've heard a couple of pastors talk about Job's wife and her exclamation to her husband to "Curse God and Die!" The entire story of Job has always been fascinating to me, it makes me wonder how someone can stay true to God even in the face of adversity. I remember thinking that I was in a place of adversity once when I was in high school.

As I look back on the situation, it was probably scarier than I even thought it was at the time. I remember my mom meeting me at home before she was supposed to and she told me that the growth in my neck was abnormal, and not only was it abnormal, it was a tumor.

Now, to anyone who has lived long enough to get to know a dozen people, the word tumor has probably entered into the discussion at one point or another, and if the word tumor hasn't then the word cancer has.

To this day, nothing hurts me more than finding out that someone has cancer. It literally makes me cry when I find out about someone having cancer.

I remember her telling me that I had a tumor, she cried for hours after telling me this.

As her and I look back at the entire situation she continues to remind me that she would never have made it through that ordeal if I hadn't clung so hard to my faith. Where she was weak, God gave me the power to be strong.

But it wasn't easy. All along I knew that this was unfair. Why should a senior in high school have to have a tumor and possibly have to have cancer!? It wasn't fair.

There were so many times where I was tempted to curse God for placing this burden on me. It's so easy sometimes to try and cop-out, isn't it?

I really thought I had faced adversity. As I look back at my life I begin to realize that God continues to bless me. I've never really had to face God knowing that something I loved so much might be slipping away from me.

This week at church a guy who has been continuing to ask for prayer for his wife was the focus of our morning prayer. We annointed him for his wife and prayed over him, and we prayed hard.

You see, she's faced with the very real possibility of death. While my prayers are very much with her, I sobbed for him. I literally sobbed for him. His first wife had died of breast cancer and now he was faced with the possibility of losing his current wife.

As I prayed, I said "It's not fair."

And it isn't. It's not fair. But I watched him as we prayed for him, through my own tears I could see him crying and one thing completely struck me. He was at a place where he could have cursed God. He could've said that it wasn't fair and he didn't want to deal with God anymore because of the pain God was bringing to him.

But I watched him as he cried and clutched his Bible at the altar and I realized that he is living for something greater than himself. While he is broken hearted about his wife, he knows that God is still good.

He is a testimony to us all.

God is good. I know, it's a cliche, but God is good. Praise God for the gifts that he brings to us, even if we only get to experience them for a short while. And, when the time comes that the gift is taken from us, praise God for allowing us to have it in the first place.

Job answers his wife, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?"

I agree with Job. I accept whatever God brings my way, and I pray that I'm strong enough to accept it when God takes something away from me. Please keep the Mast family in your prayers.