blooming with Brooke

I was having a conversation with my husband a few months ago about studying the Bible. All of a sudden, this wildly embarrassing thought hit me…I have been a Christian for 20 years, and I have NEVER read the Bible through in its entirety. Don’t get me wrong, I have certainly tried. I have probably read Genesis 1 a shocking number of times. I always have good intentions, and I always plan to finish it out, but then life happens, and I just sort of give up…like 2 days in (ouch). This year I have decided to be much more intentional about it. This year, 2025, I want to read my Bible cover-to-cover. I plan to complete this task with a journal, a highlighter, and Tara-Leigh Cobble’s The Bible Recap.

Today I completed my thirty-first day in a row of reading my Bible. I have learned so much already, and I’ve only read 2 books (Genesis & Job)! I have walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. I have suffered with Abel while he was murdered by his brother, Cain. I have built an ark with Noah. I have scattered with the people when God confused their languages. I have struggled through infertility with Sarah. I have lived in sin in Sodom and Gomorrah with Lot. I have suffered with Abraham while he walked in obedience to God and offered Isaac as a sacrifice. I have been cheerful with Rebekah as she married Isaac. I have endured with Esau while he lost his birthright and his blessing. I have sympathized with Jacob while he worked 14 years for the love of his life. I have wept with Rachel while she desired a baby. I mourned with Dinah when she was raped. I celebrated with Joseph when he overcame all of the hurt his brothers caused him, and I have sat in the trenches covered in sackcloth and ashes with Job.

While there are so many things we could dive into from Genesis, today I want to discuss Job. I want to share what I have learned from him down here in the trench. Job was an incredibly righteous man. He seemingly had it all. He had wealth. He had a wife. He had children. He had livestock. He had recognition. He had success. And then suddenly it was all gone. God did not directly take away these things from him, but he allowed Satan to do so. 

But…why?!?

 I’m sure that is the question on our minds, as well as Job’s mind. What did he do to cause this? His friends came along and tried to convince him that he committed some terrible sin which caused God to reign down judgement on him. His wife tried to convince him that he should just curse God and die, surely that would be better than enduring these struggles. But we know from Scripture that Job was not enduring these hardships as a result of sin in his life, and Job knew that too. He didn’t own up to any secret sin because he didn’t have any. He didn’t choose to curse God and die because he trusted in the Lord, and he knew that He had a greater plan in place for his life.

Is it possible that God allowed Satan to tempt his faithful servant Job because he knew that Job could handle it? 

I think yes. I believe that God sometimes allows people to endure things to serve as an example to others. I think God allowed Job to be tested and refined because He knew that he could handle it, and that he would come out better than before. 

We don’t like hard things to happen to us. We don’t want to be under pressure or in distress, it’s not in our human nature to desire the painful phases of life. However, these are often the times that reveal to us who we truly are, or who we can be. 

Hard things make us rely us on God. 

Typically, when things are completely smooth sailing in our lives, we just have this sense that we don’t really need God, so our relationship with him becomes stagnant, and it’s not growing. We no longer pursue Him because we are doing fine on our own. Christians have a tendency to think that this state is an okay one to be in. However, if we are not growing, we are backsliding. There is no way to remain stagnant in the Christian Walk. We either keep battling to climb this hill, or we slide down it rather rapidly. 

Difficult times force us to the feet of our loving and kind Father. We don’t know where else to go when we’re getting beat up by bad circumstances, so we start hiking back through the trench to get to our good Father. And He always takes us back with those big wide-open arms, but how much happier we would be if we would simply learn to stay in those arms.

Sweet friends, Jesus loves you. Jesus desires an intimate relationship with you. Read your Bible. Take up your cross. Follow Him. There is no chance that you will regret it.