[Load Bearing]

Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:“Who is this that obscures my plans
    with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you,
    and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? (Job 38:1-4)

God blessed Job's later life even more than his earlier life. (Job 42:12)

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:1-3)

I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)

Happy New Year! I can’t believe that I blinked and Christmas Eve turned into the 13th of January. These past three weeks have ushered Christmas in (and out), ushered Jeff out of working and into retirement, and ushered Jeff and I into the active remodeling/construction phase of our transition to life in the country. God’s grace and provision have been wonderful and humbling. Yesterday I was listening to one of the Hallow App’s witness stories from their Advent Pray 25 challenge. Yep, I am still working my way through Advent because in a very real sense we are always called to Advent. This story worked its way into this morning prayer time as the enemy was trying his best to instill fear and doubt. My mind was filled with the vision of support beams, barn support beams to be exact. Last week Monday our contractor kicked off construction which was to include wrapping two supporting barn beams in a wall. Jeff was supervising this process as I worked from Green Bay cleaning up Christmas and doing some packing. I receive a text in the middle of the morning, “beams gone” accompanied by a picture of open space previously defined by these two beams. Cue heart flutter of slight panic. It turns out those beams didn’t line up and our wall would have needed to be twelve inches thick loosing a half foot of usable space. Further inspection revealed to our contractor, who happens to be a structural engineer (yes, this is one of many provisions God set in place), that these beams weren’t even structural. When the original remodel from barn to house was done, a tress system was installed. We now had six more inches of space in three rooms (cue another Godwink moment of provision)! This morning in prayer, even though I myself saw with my own eyes the tress system, I began to envision the collapse of our roof. God interjected into this with the following words, [Load Bearing]. This brought me right back to yesterday’s witness story about how the person’s husband was her support system, how that support prevented her from having a meaningful relationship with God, and how the death of her spouse led her to the truth, God is our central support system. Independent of our faith, our religion, and our relationship with God, God is The One Who holds each and every one of us in existence every moment of our lives. As we grow, age, and walk this journey called life, we introduce different support beams. These support beams might be labeled family, career, hobby, success, etc. I think the problem we each face is that we come to mistake these support beams for THE Central Support Beam (God) and we begin to believe that to lose any one of these beams will result in our collapse. My earthly father often says, “If you get old enough, God takes away the things you value one by one until there is just you and He.” This is in a sense the biblical story of Job revisited across the millenia. God does not do this out of cruelty. God is simply always seeking for our relationship with Him to be one where we recognize Him as the central support system. Looking at the story of Job we can be reassured that once Job encountered God and recognized this truth, his life was blessed in greater ways. I don’t believe that we have to resign ourselves to being Job at some point. I believe God is inviting each of us to continually evaluate our support systems. Is there a support that I am placing too much weight and value on instead of God? He is inviting us to let go of the fear of loss and the fear of collapse. God is inviting us to trust that He will keep us upright if we make Him load bearing

Lord, help me to lean centrally on you. Give me the wisdom to see where in my life I put too much weight. Give me the courage to be faithful like Job and say, “the good Lord giveth and the good Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Give me the faith to know that in all things you will hold me up. Amen.