“My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and they are consumed without hope.” Job 7:6
Growing up in Texas I am keenly aware of cutting horses. A cutting horse’s job is to “cut” out specific cattle from a larger herd. Maybe it’s a calf that has lost its nursing mother, a sick heifer that needs care, or for one unlucky cow, it might have a date with the butcher. Watching a cowboy and his cutting horse work is quite amazing, the single goal behind rider and steed is one-fold…to separate. To single out. And for the cattle in the herd, they could not be more oblivious as to the pair’s purpose. Why is that horse and rider singling me out? What about the others all around me? But folks, in this life, this is exactly how satan works. Singling out and isolating lives until the promised hope of the Father vanishes over the horizon like a vaporous cloud upon the wind.
Job is a difficult book to read. As I study through it, I pray that no one else on this planet will ever endure what Job endured. But I know that it’s happening even as I type in these very letters. And as people suffer through intense personal trials and tribulations, the cutting process begins. Job has been “cut”; he has been isolated. His children were taken, leaving him without the love of 7 sons and 3 daughters. His wife, seeing Job in his suffering, urged him to shed his integrity and simply curse God and die. A loving marriage and a loving wife were taken from Job, leaving him further isolated. And as his best friends arrive and offer their advice, instead of it drawing him back into a loving fold, we see just the opposite happen as cold, accusatory advice drives Job further into solitude. Soon we see the evil one’s cutting process complete and successful, Job sits in the city dump, completely alone in his anguish. And folks, when a person attempts to live in solitude and handle the problems of life alone, hope can be as fleeting as recalling a foggy dream in the morning. No longer the vivid picture it was, but a vague recollection of the goodness that once lied in the grip of the mind.
Life can deal harshly as the evil one attempts to separate and isolate. It is a test. Peter talks about the trials of life, James talks about suffering tribulation joyfully, Paul says to rejoice in the testing. And yes, even Jesus mentions the suffering, persecution, and tribulation that will certainly befall those that call on and serve His name. But the closing of the messages is always the same. Trials bring endurance, endurance builds character, and that character is built upon one mighty stone…hope and faith in Christ. Winston Churchill was quoted on hope, “if you’re going through hell, keep going.” Today if you are in the crosshairs of being cut out of the herd, don’t give up. If you have called upon Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have all you need, the hope of Heaven. But if you have never asked Christ to be the Lord of your life, you are fighting a one-sided battle. For without the protection of God’s Holy Spirit, one is cut from the herd ever so easily. Call upon the name of Jesus Christ today and find the well-spring of hope that will never cease to flow…salvation through Christ’s work on the Cross.
“Not only so, but we even glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces endurance; endurance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5
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