By Sister Tarpley
“And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” Job 1:21 & 22 (KJV)
Does a bumblebee walk on the ground all the time, never flying? Can a caterpillar fly, or does it crawl all the time? If you said, “No,” to either of those two questions you would be partially correct.
Actually, a beekeeper said that often when a bumblebee’s wings fail to develop, as they should, the bumblebee walks on the ground for his lifetime.
The bumblebee must struggled and fight to get fluid from its body into its wings to get them strong enough to fly.
And a caterpillar can fly, but something must occur first. The caterpillar must struggle and fight its way out of a cocoon in order to become a butterfly.
The butterfly begins life as a caterpillar, a wormlike larva that spins a cocoon for itself. For weeks, the larva remains hidden within the cocoon as it undergoes metamorphosis and in the end the butterfly emerges and flies.
As humans if we witness the struggle and fight of the bumblebee or the caterpillar, we might be tempted to help them both to speedup the process, but that’s the worst thing we could do for either one.
The struggle and fight is what enables both to fly. The bumblebee and the butterfly both need adversity to become what God intended them to be. So do humans.
The book of Job is the story of a wealthy and successful community leader named Job. He was also a righteous businessman with huge holding of livestock and real estate; read his story and see what struggles that he went through before the end of his life.
As I approach my 75th birthday on August 2, 2016, I begin looking back on my life. I became a Christian my senior year at Prairie View A & M University.
Later, after I received my B.S. Degree I married, birthed two children, Jarrell and Sheila and started my serious studying of God’s word for my spiritual growth.
As I would often tell my children, “It’s only what you do for Christ that will last.” Make no mistake about that statement; it is not works that guarantees eternal life, but faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for all mankind at the cross.
Since becoming a believer in Christ, my focus is obeying God, the Bible says, “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:” Exodus 19:5.
Also, “Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.” Deuteronomy 13:4.
Last week I was asked, “What is the greatest accomplishment that I believe I have made in my 75 years of living?” I said, “The fact that my children, their spouses and children are faithfully serving God.
And through the many prayers of their parental grandmother and my seeking to fully have faith in God and obeying His word I am proud of what God is doing in their lives.
The fact that my children had their home built soon after marrage, they have good jobs, they drive fancy cars, etc. and etc. means absolutely nothing to God, what matters is, are they obeying and serving God.
As Christians, we must get beyond the immature notion that God is interested only in making us healthy, wealthy and happy with the status quo.
God’s desire for Christians is to be more and more like Christ. I believe that is what I was born to be.
