Today’s Reading: Job 1-10
ONCE UPON A TIME
There was once a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless – a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil (Job 1:1). Most of us know the story. Job was a righteous man who had been blessed abundantly by God. He had a large family, lots of servants and lots of animals. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area (1:3).
Job lost everything when Satan challenged God regarding the faithfulness of Job. God allowed Satan to test Job by taking away his possessions and then by causing him physical pain through terrible boils from his head to foot. Job’s response shows the strength of his faith as he continued to praise God.
“I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave.
The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away.
Praise the name of the Lord!” – Job 1:21
When his wife nagged him, encouraging him to curse God and die, Job’s response was powerful: “Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” – Job 2:10
As we read through his book, we see that Job is having a difficult time. He feels the pain and suffers from the loss just like anyone else would. He is surrounded by friends who are trying to give him advice through this time of suffering but seem to only be saying the wrong things. We have probably all been there— either we have been the one going through a hard time and had well-meaning friends say something that makes the pain worse OR we have been the one who has sincerely tried to comfort a friend only to end up saying the last thing they wanted to hear.
Job’s friends assume that Job is being punished for something and needs to repent in order for the hard times to end. Perhaps Job’s friends are slightly enjoying the fact that Job is not perfect – that something is finally going wrong for him. Jealousy is a powerful thing, even among friends, and it is possible that the words of self-righteousness coming from Job’s friends are a result of past envy or attempts to measure up to Job.
Job’s friend, Bildad, made a mistake commonly made today. He assumed that earthly blessings come to the righteous and the wicked can never prosper here on earth. “But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, and if you are pure and live with integrity, he will surely rise up and restore your happy home. And though you started with little, you will end with much.” – Job 8:5-6
We have all heard the prosperity gospel, and probably believed it to some degree. But the fact remains that there are some godly Christians who live and die “dirt poor” by earthly standards, and there are some very ungodly, unbelieving people who have everything they could possibly ask for in regard to their position and possessions. This is not always easy to understand but our response to what seems unfair in life should be to simply trust God and, as Job did, look forward to our heavenly rewards instead of measuring our earthly possessions.
AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER.
Job’s story has a happy ending. God stepped in, healing Job physically and restoring him with earthly possessions even greater than what he once had. And the great news for us today is that our story has a happy ending also! No matter what our current circumstances are, no matter how much we are suffering today, Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us in heaven where there will be no more sorrow, no more pain, no more loss.
“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.
And after my body has decayed, yet in my body I will see God!
I will see him for myself.
Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
I am overwhelmed at the thought!” – Job 19:25-27