Have I ever mentioned that I have been a Christian for sixty years?  Yep, six decades of serving God!  And, in that amount of time you would think that I would have learned a thing or two about being a Christian.  Well, GOOD NEWS – – I have!  And, I’m going to share one of those things with you right now!

Down through the years, I have seen people react to things that happen in their lives in a myriad of ways.  As the title indicates, they often become angry, afraid, frustrated, or discouraged.  And, typically, one or more of these emotions are directed at God.  In fact, I’ve seen people get so angry that they walk away from God; so afraid that they become completely withdrawn; so frustrated that they do something impulsive and ill-advised, and so discouraged that they lose all hope.  And, what have I learned regarding all of this during my 720 months of being a Christian?  Well, if we believe, and accept, Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose, then we need to understand that regardless of what happens to us, it will work together for good.

Now, the thing of the thing is, it doesn’t say that it will be for our good!  By human nature, we assume that everything that happens in our lives is all about us.  However, when we became Christians it became all about Christ, and His Kingdom. That’s why when things seem to be going awry what we should be is intrigued – – intrigued as to how God is going to use us in His greater scheme of things.

Believe me, I understand that some of the things that are thrown our way can be more than a little devastating.  For example, my wife and I lost a little girl at the age of three days.  During those three days we prayed vehemently, as well can be imagined.  Our prayer, however, was, “Lord, we ask for the Test of Abraham, but we will accept the Test of Job.”  As you may remember, Isaac was spared, but Job lost all of his children.  We were, of course, disappointed by the fact that God chose us to experience the Test of Job, but we accepted it.

After the initial shock and grief were over, I asked God why we had to suffer the Test of Job.  His reply was to ask me why Job had to suffer the Test of Job.  The answer is found in

Job 1:6-12, ⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.

⁷ And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it ⁸ And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? ⁹ Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? ¹⁰ Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. ¹¹ But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. ¹² And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. and again in Job 2:1-6, Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. ² And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

³ And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.  ⁴ And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. ⁵ But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. ⁶ And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

After I looked up and read these scriptures, God spoke softly to me and said, “You see, Floyd, sometimes people have so much Faith in Me that I, in turn, have Faith in them.”  A few years after all this occurred I wrote an article entitled, TEST OF ABRAHAM, TEST OF JOB and marketed it.  In fact, this article has been published in more publications than any other I have ever written.  There is no telling how many young couples were blessed and able to face losses of their own because we had experienced our loss.

You see, when things happen to us that we don’t understand, we need to be Intrigued as to how God is going to use those things to Bless us, or, perhaps more importantly, to Bless others.