Focus: Beyond Past Glory (Pt.1)

Text: Jb.29:2

"Oh that I were as in months past."

Job had a good past, but an ugly present. His present was nothing to be desired. He said, "My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me" (Jb.17:1). His health deteriorated. He developed bad breath and body odor, even to the point where his wife detested him. 

Job said, "My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body" (Jb.19:17). The odor oozing out of his body was nauseating for his wife. Job's present life was miserable, but God was taking him through the crucible of life's experiences in order to get the best out of him. God let him go through His divine anvil to make him experience better life and greater glory.

One of the lessons of Job's life is that lost glory can be recovered. It is the story of failure that makes success exciting. 

Failure is not final. It is a classroom where we gather lessons that help us navigate our way into new worlds and glorious futures!

Job looked back and wished he could get his past glory back into his present life. At a point he cried out, "He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head" (Jb.19:9). He felt God was responsible for his misery and malady. Even the wife said to him, "Curse God and die." What she said in essence is that Job's life was no longer worthy, meaningful or purposeful. His life was no longer worth it, so she thought.

Job looked back and reminisced on his past glory, and said, "My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand" (Jb.29:20). He reflected on the time when his glory was still fresh in him and life was beautiful and wonderful.

Hear me: your glory days are before you, not behind you. Stop looking back; look forward. A greater glory is coming. Your present pain will never last forever. It has expiration date on it. God has not finished with you. There's a greater glory beyond your past glory.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter