Today’s devotional comes from Alistair Begg’s Suffering Knows No Strangers.

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Praise in the Darkness

Job is perhaps the greatest biblical example of endurance in hardship. Despite being a blameless and upright man, in just one day he experienced the death of his children and the loss of nearly all his possessions. Yet one of his first reactions was to acknowledge God’s sovereignty both in plenty and in poverty, in bringing joyful circumstances and in bringing grievous ones. As chaos, disappointment, and pain descended upon him, he shaved his head, put on his torn robe, and fell to the ground, not only in anguish but also in worship.

Remarkably, in the darkness of this pain “Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” Instead, in his tears, he trusted in God’s providence. In other words, he recognized that God knows what He is doing in every circumstance. God is worthy of our praise even in the hardest situations. Job knew that his times were in God’s hands (Psalm 31:15).

Most of us have lived through cries of anguish and pools of tears. We know how hard it can be to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and goodness in the middle of a storm. We wonder where He is. In our human response to pain, we’re inclined to find statements about God’s providence stale or clichéd—but they aren’t. In fact, with the passing of time or the changing of circumstances, we can look over our shoulders and recognize that there is no tragic situation that God has not sovereignly permitted. He allows all things to pass through His hands, and they do not take Him by surprise.

We must not make light of each other’s pain or offer easy answers. Instead, we are called to spur each other on to Christlikeness during times of hardship, reminding one another that God has granted us eternal life and steadfast love and that His care has preserved our spirits (Job 10:12). And, of course, we can look back in history and see that our God has entered the darkness of this world and plumbed the depths of suffering. He is a God who knows what it is like to be us. He is a God who has set before us a future where there is no pain or crying.

Even in the difficulties of life and the depths of pain, the fatherly providence of God permits all things for our good and His glory. He has proved that He knows what He is doing. For that, we can still praise Him in the darkness.

Today’s Updates:

Today was one of Zach’s best days in a long time. He had an ok night last night, which we are happy about. The doctor’s goal for today was to decrease the amount of propofol (his main sedating drug) that Zach is receiving. They increased some of Zach’s other medications to help him stay calm and were able to completely take Zach off of propofol. His heart rate gradually increased throughout the day, but it is still lower than the other times they have trialled taking him off propofol this week, so we are glad to see this progress.

Zach moved around more today than yesterday, but with minimal grimacing, so we are happy to see this. Zach’s eyes were open and focused today, but he is still not tracking. Please pray that God will heal Zach’s brain so that he can wake up one day.

Zach’s sodium levels are improving but still high, so they’re giving same amounts of fluids today as yesterday. His magnesium levels are a little low, so he received some extra magnesium this morning.

Zach has been off the ventilator for three days with minimal trach mask settings, so they decided to do a “cuff down” trial today. This means that they deflated the little cuff, or balloon, on the the trach tube in Zach’s throat. The cuff’s purpose is to protect his lungs from secretions and saliva from his mouth, and deflating the cuff means that Zach is breathing more on his own (closer to normal breathing). He coughed a lot this morning to clear out some extra secretions, which the respiratory therapist said is expected, and he did very well throughout the rest of the day. The respiratory therapist says that they will re-inflate his cuff tonight to give Zach a break from the breathing trial.

Zach’s CT scan results showed that his chest tubes need to remain on suction for at least another day to drain some more air and fluid around his lungs. The CT also showed a potential clot in Zach’s arm by his PICC line, so Zach had an ultrasound this evening to investigate this. Hopefully we will find out the results of the ultrasound tomorrow. Please pray that if Zach has a clot, they will be able to resolve it soon.

We ask that you thank the Lord for Zach’s progress in getting off sedation and breathing on his own, and that you pray that Zach’s brain may fully heal. Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:20-22)