How Would I Respond?

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes - I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
Job 19:25-27

This passage is the gem that jumped off the pages of my Bible and into my heart today. (The fact that I underlined it sometime over the past seventeen years may have helped...)
I am amazed at Job's words, and his faith expressed through them, here. At this point in Job's story he has lost so much that is dear to him, he thinks God has His hand against him, Job's friends are not being much help at all, his wife - even less, and he is completely forlorn. So, when I read about him saying he knows his Redeemer lives and that Job himself will see Him with his own eyes, I thought, Whoa! Where did that come from???
Really! At the beginning of my reading today he was saying, "Where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?" (17:15) and here he is gushing words of faith, just a couple chapters later.
Whew! Made my head spin.

This journey through Job has really got me thinking, and wondering how I would respond if I were in his position. Each day I have been reading in Job I have thought, If I were going through something like Job did, would I continue trusting God? Would I still think He is good? Would I believe God is with me? Would I be steadfast in my confidence He loves me and is for me?

I sure hope I would!

Incidentally, I am presently reading through Job as part of a one year Bible reading plan. I know there are a lot of great resources out there in cyberspace but I wanted to tell you about the one I have found. It's called BibleYear.com and I love it. You pick how you want to read the Bible (beginning to end, historically, chronologically...) and they'll give you a plan. You can even make your reading plan the homepage for your web browser so it's easy to keep track of your progress.
(By the way, nobody asked me to promote BibleYear.com. I just think it is a fabulous resource and wanted to tell you about it!)

So, back to my thoughts about Job...

As I have prayed about these thoughts (And I have been really clear I am not asking God to test me in this way!!!) I have been reminded about a quote I read in Jerry Bridges' book, Growing Your Faith. Mr. Bridges said, in essence, (I'm too lazy to get up and find the book to quote it exactly...) If God never does another good thing for me, He is still good and worthy of praise.
I know that statement is true. God is God, and He is good - regardless of what happens in my life. I just pray my love for and faith in God will be as strong in the dreadfully hard times as it is when things are fairly calm.
Lord, be glorified in me and my faith in You!