Job was speaking of the time before he faced the trials that deeply changed his relationship with God. He was a man of righteousness and even during the hardest times, though he questioned God, he never doubted that God was there.
It's easy to smile during the good times but a smile takes a lot of work when you are happy and even more during the bad times that life throws our way. It's been said that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile and after just now reading a study on that, a case can be made that this is true. Unless you limit a smile and a frown to a very minimal movement of the lips there are more muscles involved in a true full faced smile versus a true face pulling down frown. Now don't judge my science here, I'm just summarizing an article to make a point. The thing about a smile versus a frown is that the mere movement of muscles can truly affect your whole attitude and demeanor. When we smile we feel it all the way to our hearts and it can spill that over to someone else. When we frown it can overwhelm us and keep us locked in sorrow.
When I was in the fifth grade we lived in the house that had belonged to my grandparents. A farm house in the country with an old water spigot in the back yard that stood about three feet high. It was a great place to play and one evening playing with siblings and cousins a game called ghost in the graveyard, which was similar to tag, I ran into that water spigot. I hit it full on with my mouth and busted one of my front teeth completely in half. Needless to say it was quite painful. The thing that I remember most is not the pain - although the dentist sends fear through my heart to this day. No, what I remember most is that I was afraid of how it would make me look. I was a young girl about to hit puberty and face boys and a future that I now knew would be without my natural teeth and I didn't want to be ugly.
It's sad but we are so wrapped up in how we look and what people see that it becomes where we find out acceptance. I hate to say it but I've spent too much of my life more worried about what people will think or say about me and not nearly enough time wondering what God is thinking about me. Recently when I looked back at some old pictures I realized that my smile changed after that accident. Oh, I had the tooth crowned and my teeth didn't change much - but my smile changed. It didn't come as easily and was seldom big enough that you could see my teeth. Why? Because I was afraid. Afraid people would notice and say something.
Now when I look in the mirror that crown has shifted some and my dentist wants to replace it. I haven't been able to make it a priority so it still taunts me but lately I've started paying more attention to what God thinks about me than what the mirror says. Smiling a toothy smile still doesn't happen often but I'm not afraid to leave my house without makeup or see people without being perfect. Don't get me wrong, I think there is nothing wrong with looking nice and being presentable. But that isn't my priority anymore. I would much rather the world see my heart is focused on God and be sure that I'm prayed up and ready for battle with the spiritual realm than worry about trying to hide my flaws. We do a disservice to people when we put on our happy mask with the perfect teeth and try to tell them about a God who heals. People need to see our heart, our hurts, our broken teeth and know that God heals all the cracks and pours through them.
So put your smile on - the Joy of the Lord and go out and show Jesus more than you show the right clothes or face. We all are broken and we all have issues, just be who God made you and keep striving to be more like Him and then others will see the truth in you and what's on the outside will fade behind the glow of what's on the inside.
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