Isaiah 66:19. "[A]nd I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations ... to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations."

As we go through the trials of life, especially severe trials, we can wonder why? What is the point? Like Job, sometimes our suffering seems so intense and so unfair. We can sometimes feel like giving up, like it would be easier to just die. Life itself can become so arduous that death seems preferable. This is the thinking behind assisted suicide, and seems to be a way of thinking our culture is turning towards, rather than counseling against. It is yet another sign of our "culture of death." Yet we know, in our hearts, that life is precious no matter how difficult, and it is not up to us when we or anyone else is to die. One thing Job's misguided friends did not suggest to him was that he consider taking his own life; even they knew that Job's life was entirely in God's hands.

So what are we to make of the intense suffering many are enduring, and how do we resist the temptation, in a culture that promotes escape from suffering, to think "God wouldn't want me to suffer this way, and I have the means of my own escape at hand?" In other words, what is the point of survival? I know this does not seem related to the verse for today, but God tells us one reason we go through these trials here - He wants "survivors." He wants to send those survivors out to far off nations to tell of His glory. This is how the "new heavens and new earth" will come about. (See New Heaven and New Earth). We don't fully appreciate the glory until we go through the suffering, so we will not be inspired to preach of it unless we endure the trials. Ask any recovering addict or hardened sinner who has hit bottom and found God - they will not stop singing His praises! Think about how the glory of the Resurrection had to be preceded by the suffering of Good Friday.

This is where God needs His survivors to be; this is why He is keeping us here; this is the point of survival. The "coastlands afar off" may just be our neighborhoods - people can be very far away spiritually while being very close physically. It is our mission to speak of His glory to them, and if we are survivors who fully appreciate, through personal experience, what God will do in the most miserable of lives, we will gladly "declare his glory"  others.