“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

I kept coming back to Job this morning. Job had been given a lot. But when God talked about Job, He didn’t point to all the stuff Job had. He pointed to the kind of man Job was. Job was righteous.

That got me thinking about how Job got there. I don’t think it was one big moment. I think it was probably a lifetime of God’s grace and Job giving Him a bunch of small yeses along the way.

Then the Psalm says, “Though you test my heart, searching it in the night, though you try me with fire, you shall find no malice in me.”

I think that is part of what scares me about Job. I have been blessed with a lot, and I don’t want a Job-like moment. But maybe instead of worrying about what could be taken away, I should be paying more attention to what is being built up in my heart right now.

And that brought me back to something that surprised me in my prayer this morning.

There is a prayer I have been praying for well over ten years. Today, for some reason, I noticed one little word I don’t think I had ever really noticed before:

“May I know the continued grace to work with You in all I do, not merely for You.”

Continued grace.

I need God’s grace today. And then I am going to need it again tomorrow. I need it in the big stuff, but probably even more in all the little things where I tend to rely on myself, get busy, and try to handle everything on my own.

Then in the Gospel Jesus says, “Whoever is not against you is for you.” In context, Jesus is talking about someone the disciples wanted to stop, but those words still made me think about something simple this morning.

God is for me.

I don’t know what trials are coming. I don’t need to sit around worrying about whether I will be strong enough when they do. God is with me, and His grace isn’t something He gave me once and then left me to figure everything else out.

It is continued grace.

So my prayer today is simple. Lord, keep giving me the grace to work with You in all I do, not merely for You. And help me keep saying yes to that grace, one little yes at a time.

Where do you need to trust God’s continued grace today?

I pray you get the graces you need today.

Keep up the good fight.

I’m praying for you. Please pray for me.

Scripture: Job 1:6-22 | Psalm 17:1bcd, 2-3, 6-7 | Luke 9:46-50