This month, our meditation has been excerpted from the book entitled, Bound to Be Free compiled by Jan Pit. In the following short quotation from Joseph Ton (Romanian Christian writer), there is fodder for reflection and perhaps application:
Does Job fear God for nothing? (Job 1:9)
In Romania, there was a Christian poet named Traian Darz. He spent more than 16 years in prison because of his faith in Jesus Christ. One day, he was sentenced to another two years in prison because of a book he had written, a collection of Christian poems for children. He was 70 years old at the time! In prison, he wrote another poem, in which he says:
‘Lord, help me to love You,
even if none of my prayers are heard.
Help me to trust You,
even if there will be
no reward in eternity.’
Of course there will be a reward for this saint in heaven, but what he wanted to make clear, was that he loved God not because He answered all his prayers, not even because he was hoping for a reward, but because God is worthy to be served. He served God for Who He is, not for what He does.
God’s answer to Satan’s question: ‘Does Job fear God for nothing?’ is ‘Yes!’
God was faithful to Job and Job was faithful to God, in spite of all the ‘why’s’.
A moment of introspection: As intercessors, we have learned many answers from the heart of persecuted Christian family members around the world. Indeed, they have so much to teach--and we have so much to learn. Today, we explore what it means to build our house on the Rock (Matthew 7:24-27). Traian Darz understood this concept in light of our service to God, and Joseph Ton’s question to us, today, might be: “Do we serve God for nothing?” Do we persevere in responding to God’s call on our lives, serving Him and His own, to obtain a reward? Do we intercede for suffering Christians with a goal of answered prayer? Do we trust God with hope for eternity with Him? If we are honest in our self-appraisal, we might answer “yes, to a point” to these questions. And that would be natural. I would like to propose a new way of thinking—one that builds on the strong foundation of God and our walk with Him.
Let us first admit that we love God. That’s always a good first step--for without loving Him, our intercession would be hollow and vain. A further step would be found in Mr. Darz’s poem, though—whereby we love God even if none of our prayers would have been or are heard. In this type of prayer, we fear/honor/respect/love/serve God “for nothing.” We pray and praise and intercede “because God is worthy to be served.” We, too, may serve God “for Who He is, not for what He does.” In our lives, we may serve God for Who He is, not because He answers prayer. This brings us to a second admission: God is worthy to be served. Sometime, click here and check this resource. The list on this page allows one to focus on Who God is--not on what He does for us.
There are many ways to serve God. We have chosen intercession on behalf of the persecuted church as our response to God for Who He is—our means of glorifying Him and Him alone. We count the cost to us—our time, our research, our intercessory effort, our schedule, our hearts--and find them in line with these projections. We offer these “expense” items to our Lord for His use and, then, serve God for nothing. We sacrifice our time, etc., to serve Him. We seek no reward; we count the cost and we intercede. Knowing that our interests are sacrificed, we know that service to God costs us. Yet we persevere “in spite of all the ‘why’s.” For we are Christians, and we’ve been called to intercede.