Feb

I’m reading a great book called Beyond Suffering: Discovering the Message of Job by Layton Talbert.

In the preface he says,

“Here is the core of comfort in the message of Job: beyond suffering, past our pain and loss, is a God Who is not only all-knowing and omnipotent, sovereign and free to do as He chooses but also always good and just, loving and wise, purposeful and perfect in all that He chooses to do or to allow–and intimately aware of all its effects on us. In a word, God is always sovereign, God is always benevolent and ultimately God always rewards (both evil and good). But He is the center of all life, not we.” (xi-xii)

When I was a little girl, my behavior prompted my mom to remind me that I was not the center of the universe. A reminder like that seems unnecessary, even silly at first glance. Of course we’re not the center of the universe. What kind of delusional person would think that?

Yet, when I walk around thinking only of myself, what pleases me, and how the events of the universe relate to me, I am acting as though I think I’m the center, whether I give intellectual assent to that idea or not. Instead, I should be thinking about how I can align myself with the true Center (i.e., how can I obey God today?).