LISTEN ONLINEAndy moved around when he was a child, from Zimbabwe to Sheffield to Bristol, and struggled with social anxiety and making friends. “I had a lump in my throat every day and I couldn’t speak. I was quiet as a mouse, which wasn’t my personality.” Each day he’d cry, not knowing how to change.
Then one day he opened the Old Testament to Job’s story, and the words felt like a revelation to him: “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). With this, Andy understood that even though he was going through a dark time, yet his character would be formed by it: “I would be a gold person!”
Andy read from Job’s story, the Bible’s famous account of suffering—and of God’s redeeming love. In it, Job shares with his friends about his yearnings for God: “If only I could go to his dwelling!” (v. 3). Although he longs to find Him in the silence, Job trusts that God loves him and is at work in his life; that through the challenges he’ll come forth as gold (v. 10).
So too for Andy. Through God’s love he grew in confidence, slowly making friends and becoming more himself. So too for us—we can trust that God will shape our character by His love as our feet closely follow His steps (v. 11).