A Bag, A Bottle and a Book

We’d be hard pressed to find anyone in the bible who suffered loss more than Job, and at one time or another, each of us have probably felt kin to this unfortunate man of the Old Testament. In the midst of his trials, he rebuked his own wife after she suggested he curse God and die. Job said that if we accept good from God, we must also endure the trouble. He asked God to bag up his offenses, to cover his sin. Ps. 103:12 says “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Once those sins are covered and bagged up, don’t tote the bag around with you as a reminder, give it to God and be done with it. Job 16:20 tells us that Job not only cried out to God, he cried countless tears to God. David says in Ps. 56:8 “Put my tears into Your bottle.” I think the bottling of tears represents God’s remembrance of our tears as we suffer through loss or difficult times. It signifies to me that He is sad when we’re sad, hurt when we’re hurt, and that He’s not going to forget about us while we’re down.

Pastor once told of a farmer who was planting seeds, while his son walked behind him crying that he was hungry. Sometimes, the hardest thing for a Father to do is watch his children go hungry while the harvest is being prepared. Ps. 125:5 “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” Job understood relationship with God and the importance of keeping it alive, to preserve a coveted spot in God’s book. Rev. 21:27 “Nothing impure will ever enter it [Heaven] nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” To the religious Pharisees, sin was the breaking of rules. To Jesus, sin is the breaking of relationship. Though Job likely suffered his trials for quite a while, he persevered and was finally rewarded. Whatever you’re going through today, remember…there’s a bag for your offenses, a bottle for your tears and a book for your name.