Job 9:27-28

New International Version

If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
    I will change my expression, and smile,’
I still dread all my sufferings,
    for I know you will not hold me innocent.

For Encouragement

Just try Him, Job. 

God is not uncaring or unjust as it seems to you. Just stop complaining, and you will get to know His other side—the part of Him that cares and bears you through your pain. Your complaining will bring no relief to you. Neither will it lighten your suffering. Rather, it worsens it. 

Do you think God does not know your situation or cares for you? If only you knew how proud He is of you—how much pleasure God takes in your life. Hear His commendation before His throne to the adversary, and you will worship Him in songs, though you suffer. Peek into the realm of His throne and see the twinkle in His eyes when He mentions your name.

“Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8).

Let go of your complaint, my friend. Change your facial expression and feel the joy that floods your soul. Just trust Him in your suffering. He will vindicate you.

And God did!

After He had worked His purposes in Job through His sufferings, God blessed him with a double portion of everything he lost at the beginning (42:12). 

You also have suffered relentlessly throughout 2022. Yours has been one trouble after the other, and you don’t know what to do. You have searched your heart for a reason—a probable cause for your woes. 

Where did you go wrong with your child? What went wrong with the pure love and joy you shared in your marriage? Could you have done better at your job? Have you been careless with your health? Why did your best friend betray you?

You will not find any answers to your question if you have not found them since January. The good news is that God, who is working something better with your pain, knows the ‘why.’ He is the Almighty and has better things for you in 2023 when He will have finished with you in your trials.

James expresses this so well.

 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith [by God] produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (Jas. 1:2-4).

God has been proving the genuineness of your faith through your troubles (1 Peter 1:7). Forget your complaints then and smile. Change your disposition and look forward to a fruitful 2023. 

Let 2022 go with all its disappointments, that you will have room to receive new things from Christ Jesus, who is smiling because of you.