I am always so encouraged by the testimony of those who remain faithful in the midst of suffering. Elisabeth Elliot is a wonderful example. Her first husband was Jim was one of the 'Ecuador Five'- missionaries who were murdered by members of the Auca tribe as they sought to bring the gospel into the jungles of Ecuador. This is an amazing story in itself (Jim Elliot wrote those famous words "It is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose"!).

After this loss, Elisabeth spent thirteen years as a widow, before she married a gracious and wonderful man with whom she was very happy for just a few more years. Then he also died, taken by cancer. She said

"I have spent six-sevenths of my life single, though I have been married twice. I did not choose the gift of widowhood, but I accepted it as the sphere in which I am to live to the glory of God".

This is what Job is gradually learning. God is working out a purpose in and through his life. It is not the way any of us would choose, but Job will learn that God never leaves or forsakes him. Job's experience becomes the sphere where he ultimately lives to the glory of God.

Once again, we are brought to the life of Christ, where he rose victorious over the power of suffering and death.

To quote Elisabeth Elliot again:

“The secret of joy is Christ in me, not me in different circumstances”

That is an amazing sentence! It is an absolute perspective exploder! This is the secret of joy in the midst of the greatest of suffering. Not us being in different circumstances to whatever we may be experiencing, but being in Christ.

"God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col 1:27).