Dear weary heart, you may not benefit the results of your harvest now, but don’t worry child of God, your reward is in Heaven, not on this earth.

Do you find yourself questioning why you seem to be putting forth your all, yet the fruit of your labor is not evident? In fact, it seems to be nowhere in sight. You wake every morning and tend to your duties as you should. You care for your child, your husband, your home. You make time to pray and attend church. You don’t partake in worldly affairs. You’re genuinely a good person, a good Christian. But why does there seem to be no reward for your actions? Why does it seem that God is silent just when you need to hear from Him most?

A righteous man named Job experienced something very similar, and through his story, I find assurance.

Job was a wealthy man who served God wholeheartedly. He was blessed with “a very great household,” the “greatest of all the men of the east.” God labeled Job a righteous man and entrusted upon him much confidence. However, his shining resume and utter affection for God didn’t exempt him from life’s hardships.

Because Job was a child of God, the devil sought to destroy him. He insisted that Job only served God because of his fortune. Little did he know, however, Job’s faith would prove to stand the test of time. Through the heartache, destruction, and physical pain, Job refused to turn his back on God.

Why did God allow such tragedy to fall upon such an upright man though? The book of Job is a good example of a Christian suffering for no obvious, or even apparent, reason.

As Christian’s, we sometimes think because we are saved; because we follow Christ, that trouble will not find us. We expect a bounty for our servitude. While being a Christian certainly comes with great reward, we are not promised painless lives here on this earth. Unfortunately, man’s sin resulted in a life unfair. Too often we witness the bad going unpunished and the good being forgotten. While we as humans can not comprehend this injustice, our confidence in God and His ultimate purpose must outweigh our need for answers.

Satan was not wrong for assuming that Job only served God because of all he had given him. Although this was not an accurate assumption for Job, unfortunately, it is for many Christians. Too often people only serve God when everything is going right in their lives. As long as they are happy and prosperous, to God be the glory. But what happens when adversity hits? Their faith crumbles. For Job, however, adversity only strengthened his faith. True faith in God can withstand any storm.