LOOK BEYOND THE PRESENT

What is happening to you now may not look good. Look beyond it. However hurtful it may be, look beyond it. If you are a child of God, your future is bright. Your present condition is not the conclusion of your life. Something greater and better lies ahead of you.

Job is a classic example of suffering who many would rather prefer to hear of, than experience what he experienced. Some have even assigned him a mythical figure. In the loss of possession, family, health and dignity, Job could say:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold and not another, though my reins be consumed within me – Job 19: 25 – 27

Job built a future on God rather than on material things. He confessed he came naked from his mother’s womb and would return naked at death to the dust. Though he had much possession and was the greatest man among the people of the East (Job 1: 2 – 3), his security in life did not depend on those things. He was upright and feared God. He was respected in the land. So while adversity took away wealth and social honour from him, it could not touch his integrity. God could attest to that (Job 2: 3). At the end of the test, Job was rewarded with double of what he had at the beginning (Job 42: 12 – 13). His end was better than his beginning. So shall it be with you in the Name of Jesus!

God does not approve of dishonest gain. He does not approve of success or riches through cheating, kidnapping, stealing or defrauding others or the government. He does not approve of occultism or ritual killing as means of success or riches.  The Bible says:

A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapour and a deadly snare – Pro. 21: 6

Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself . . . will lead only to loss – Pro. 22: 16

Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice – Jer. 22: 13  

Do not measure your worth by the earthly things you possess, for a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of their possessions (Luke 12: 15). People commit suicide at the loss of material things because their life was built around those things. Job did not. You shall not.

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How did Job and others make it? The Scripture says Job was an upright man, one who feared God and eschewed evil (Job 1: 1). From the beginning, Job had a reverence for God. Then Job practised godliness (Job 1: 5). His prayer for his friends who maligned him in the days of his trial led to his restoration (Job 42: 10). Job made it through closeness to God and diligence in life. Abraham was called the friend of God, emphasizing his close relationship with God. He is the father of the Hebrew race. Through his endurance of twenty five years barrenness in his wife Sarah and the eventual miraculous birth of Isaac, he became the father of all who would trust God. Not only did Abraham make it spiritually; he made it materially too. He refused the gifts of a king who thought to compliment him for a successful military campaign to rescue his nephew Lot and others, lest the king should boast that he made Abraham rich (Gen. 14). Isaac also made it the way of his father, Abraham. He endured twenty years barrenness in his wife Rebecca and endured the hostility of envious neighbours, while maintaining his faith in God and working diligently on the land (Gen. 25: 21 – 26; 26: 1 – 25). Someone has made a good observation about creation. He said when God wanted to create herbs and trees, God spoke to the earth to bring them forth. When He wanted to create fish and other aquatic animals, he spoke to the sea to bring them forth. But when He wanted to create humans, He spoke to Himself. He said; Let us make man in our image (Gen. 1: 26). The implication is that each creature thrives in where it came from. Man can only thrive in God from whom he came. That is why true success as seen in Job, Abraham and Isaac can only be in God. Let your success be of God.

Finally, let us hear what the Scripture says of our perfect example, Christ in this matter:

Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God – Hebrews 12: 2

Imagine the social ridicule and injustice, the humiliation, the physical pain of torture, the excruciating pain of crucifixion and the agony of death our Lord Jesus Christ went through. He could have given up. But He looked beyond them to the joy and glory that awaited Him at the end. He doubtless felt the pain, but He saw the glory that overshadowed it. He would not shrink from His vision, painful though the path may be, because He saw the coming glory. When faced with death threat over your faith, look beyond the sword and see the glory that awaits you. Look beyond the gun and see the glory. Look beyond the hate and see the glory. Look beyond whatever is unpleasant and see the glory. You will experience peace.

This tract is published and distributed free by ETERNAL TREASURE BOOKS

You can look beyond your present condition to a better tomorrow. We say it again: your present state is not the conclusion of the matter. A better tomorrow awaits you. Only trust in God, and work on anything required of you without compromising your faith. The faithfulness of God guarantees your success and security. May the God of all grace strengthen you and cause you to triumph always in Christ who died for you and rose again, AMEN.