On the Ash Heap

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him " Job:13:15a

Pastors experience many things over the years, many of which their respective congregations will never hear about this side of eternity. Sometimes these experiences are their own, other time they pass through these things vicariously through the lives of members who are under their care.
Often the words fail to convey what is learned by the varies experiences that pastors have, at times it defies languages' ability to  capture them  and express to others what has been learned.

Marge

Some years ago there was in one of the congregation that I had served in, a woman her name was Marge, I watched this Christian woman slowly die  through the ravages of cancer, even to this day I can not adequately express all of what I learned by watching Marge as she faded from a  healthy woman of 130 pound down to a frail sickly woman of 89 pounds.

 I would see Marge each week at church , she never stopped attending, but came even in the midst of her illness,  she would not allow even cancer to stop her from worshiping  the Savior that she loved, and whom she knew loved her.

Marge knew many things, she understood that  in spite of all that she faced  there was never a moment when she faced it alone. She believed the words of  Hebrews:13:5 where our Lord tells each and all of us "I will never leave you nor forsake you" . Marge knew that Jesus stood for and with her, that through all of it Jesus was there every moment  of every day through the sickness.

Marge had come to that point in her life where she trusted God, no matter what was or did happen to her. Marge reached a point where in the face of the cancer all she could do was leave it in the hands of God and trust that regardless of the outcome that in the end it would be alright.

Job

Marge's' faith and posture of heart brought to mind the words and situation of the Patriarch Job. Job was a man who had many great blessings in  his life. He had wealth, health ,  position,  a large estate and many children, yet in a short time all that was taken away from him, Job lost it all,  suddenly by no fault of his own it was gone. This emphasizes the temporal nature of the life we live here upon the Earth,  nothing of this life is forever. It all will, at some point , come to an end for us.

Job found that  his life,  after the loss of his Children, his livelihood, his estate, his health and even his ability to stand in his position in life, all this gone reduced down to sitting  on an ash heap, his grieving and mournful wife lashing out at him in her sorrow calling on Job to curse his God and die.

"Then said his wife to him, Do you still retain your integrity? curse God, and die." Job:2:9

I would like to note that often Jobs' wife is some times viewed by some in an unfavorable way, yet , see her life for a moment, she has just lost everything along with her husband. This woman is lashing out of a broken heart and deep seated grief. Job is not the only one who is suffering ; she too is suffering. 

Even as Jobs' friends begin to impute reasons for all of his loss and suggest that there must be a hidden sin that has caused to God  visit this upon Job. Yet here in the midst of all this tragedy, jobs life reduced to an ash heap he asserts his trust and hope in his God.

"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him " Job:13:15a

Job understood that no matter what happened ,God would in the end turn all things to Jobs' good. He trusted God in life and in death.

Trusting God

This is what my friend Marge knew even as she laid in that bed dieing at a hospice facility near Uniontown Pennsylvania. I recall my wife Denise and I  drove there on next to the last day of the year;  it was cold and snow covered the icy roads. We entered her room,  Marge was in that bed , now unable to speak above a faint whisper. She had been reduced to to 89 pounds frail and sick,  and was now beyond the point of feeling pain.I can still remember how profound a moment that was, and still is to me. It is hard to explain but in it all I could see the glory of the Lord, Jesus was here in Marge's suffering and dieing.

  We spent only a little time with her, we anointed her and prayed that in life or death that God would be glorified. The last words that Marge spoke  to me , this side of eternity, was in voice that was weak and spoken in barely a whisper , she said  "I am so  blessed"  . All I could respond was  to say "I will see you after". We left the hospice  knowing that unless God Himself stepped in we would not see her again this side of eternity. The next day Marge died.

I have never forgotten Marges' last words to Denise and I....."I am so blessed"

Marge had a life worth preserving, being lived out. She was kind , gentle, warm,  patient and wise, she was easy to love,  but she died.

The Ash Heap

Her life, like Jobs',  was reduced to an ash heap,  all she could do was to trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. All of us have or will have moments in our lives where everything seems to be coming undone. We may feel that we have been reduced to the ash heap,  our prospect are reduced and limited. We can become forlorn and feel forsaken and  even our friends may insinuate that what we face is the process of  "divine discipline"  for a hidden sin. Our friends and brethren stand a  part from us ,we feel altogether alone. We are perplexed, no easy answers are forthcoming.

So often when challenges of this magnitude befall us it is our natural inclination to turn our eye to the heavens and to  ask "Why?" . But that is really not the right question. The real question is not "why?" but "who?"

Jesus

When hard times come upon us,  as they will, what ever form they take our question should not be  "why?" but "Who?" . The answer  to "who?"  is Jesus. 

All that we face what ever it may be,  regardless  of its origins,  the answer is Jesus. When answers elude us as to "why?" , our answer is always Jesus. Jesus is the one, and always correct , default answer to any and all challenges.

All things that we face are to show us our need   to look to Jesus and to trust Him.That in Jesus everything is already made right. In Jesus, we have in the end,  hope of life , victory, justification, validation and everything else.

Paul the Apostle was no stranger to challenges, he uses his experiences as an Apostle to  address challenges that do  arise in the Christian life and all that is ours  in Jesus in-spite of what we pass though in this  life.

"We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." 2Corinthians:6:3-10

Paul also tells us in the end all things even if it means our deaths God will turn it to our good through Jesus Christ.
  " And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" Romans:8:28

We here this assurance quoted many times, but that is only because it is true.

In the End

Early Christians suffered much, they faced many challenges in life , persecution,loss of freedom, miscarriages of justice, betrayal and much more. Yet to many they understood that all that we face is our sharing in Jesus and they knew that in the end it was going to be all right, because Jesus lives, this was in many ways the whole point of the book of Revelations, John encounters Jesus Christ , and Jesus speaks not just to John or the early church but to Christians down through the ages with the powerful words of comfort that He is alive and we need not fear even death.

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." Revelation:1:17-18

My friend Marge knew this to be true, she knew that Jesus lives and because He lives she could face sickness and even death with out fear. In the end it would be alright because in Jesus it already is alright. Marge could trust Jesus with her life and her death.....she could whisper those words "I am so blessed " through dieing lips because Marge knew "through He slay me I will trust in Him"

Marge knew that like Job , she would rise from the Ash Heap of death and have eternal life with Her Lord Jesus Christ. And so will any and all who trusts in Him ,  my friend Marge did ...."though He slay me I will trust in Him"...Amen

Rev.Todd Crouch, Pastor

The Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion http://www.youtube.com/user/IfItIsNotAboutJesus

Washington, Pennsylvania.   www.gcfountainoflife.org

The Fountain of Life is heard on the RKP Radio Network 1710 and 1670 AM in Washington and North Franklin ,and 1790 AM  in the Arden Fair Grounds area of Washington Pennsylvania, and on 1710 AM in Bentleyville and Monongahela, Pennsylvania. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com