For Better For Worse

Daily Devotional – Monday, December 19, 2022
You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?
Job 2:10 (NKJV)

During weddings, the bride and the groom vow to remain together ‘for better, for worse’. until death. Any married, divorced or separated person will tell you it is easier to make this vow than to keep it.

Unfaithful in Adversity

A good example is Biblical Job. When Satan attacked Job’s family and took away the man’s belongings and health, Job devastated. He looked for moral support from his wife but was disappointed.

“Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” Asked Mrs. Job. (Job 2:9). Instead of encouraging her husband, she tried to lead him away from God. In their worst moments, she chose to abandon her spouse.

Shall We not Accept Good and Bad?

Job, however, admonished her. He asked her a question that relates to our relationship with God, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Verse 10).

Here was a man who had been faithful to God for a long time. He had experienced the goodness of God, alongside the woman now urging him to sin against God. God had put a wall around their family and allowed them to thrive.

Experiencing Happiness and Sorrow

Today, though, his life had taken a turn for the worse. His faith in God was under immense trial. When we consider God as a Husband to believers (Isaiah 54:5), Job was now going through the ‘worse’ part of the marriage vow.

Thankfully, the man of God understood that faith, like matrimony, has good and bad times. In his time of adversity, Job chose to remain faithful to God. Unlike in good times, this was the opportunity to prove his fidelity to God.

For Better for Worse

Christianity is not a good weather religion. Jesus taught that His disciples would undergo tribulations (John 16:33). In John 17:5, He tells the Father not to take believers out the world, but to protect them from Satan.

Will you remain faithful to your heavenly Husband for better for worse? When the evil one persecutes you, will you desert God or accept adversity, like Job? In which ways are you guilty of unfaithfulness in the ‘worse’ times?

Prayer
Lord Jesus, strengthen my faith and teach me to be faithful to You for better for worse.