Today’s Reading: Job
There once was 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. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area. – Job 1:1-3
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 known to offer burnt offerings for each of his ten children, just in case they had sinned. This shows the heart of a man who desperately wanted God to be pleased with him, as well as with his family.
One day, after patrolling the earth to see everything that was going on, Satan entered into God’s presence. God asked him if he had seen the integrity of his servant, Job. Satan’s response sounds familiar to attitudes often found today (Job 1:9-11) — Of course he serves you when everything is going right, but he would curse you if you took away your protection and blessings!
With God’s permission, everything in Job’s life changed in an instant. A messenger arrived to tell him that raiders had stolen all of his oxen and donkeys, and they had killed his farmhands. Before he had finished speaking, another messenger arrived to say fire had fallen from heaven killing all of his sheep and shepherds. A third messenger arrived to say raiders had stolen his camels, and his servants were dead. A fourth messenger arrived to say that a strong wind had blown down the walls of his oldest son’s home. All of his children were together when the house collapsed, and all ten of his children were now dead.
In his deep grief, Job refused to blame God for his troubles He responded, “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)
Satan, the Accuser, stepped into God’s presence once more to challenge the faith of Job. His accusation was that Job was still worshiping God because his pain had only been emotional and financial. So God allowed Satan to test Job physically, causing him excruciating pain from his head to foot.
Job sat in the ashes and scraped his boils with a piece of broken pottery. What a sad picture of a man who once had everything, but now had nothing. 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). Let’s ask ourselves that same question this morning:
SHOULD WE ACCEPT ONLY GOOD THINGS FROM THE HAND OF GOD AND NEVER ANYTHING BAD?
Job had a difficult time despite his faith in God. He felt the pain and suffered from the loss just like anyone else would. He was surrounded by friends who loved him enough to travel from their homes to be with him. Not only did they watch him grieve, they grieved alongside him. Their friendship was strong enough to be willing to sit in the dirt with him for a week, challenging him when he confessed that he wished he had never been born. Job’s response was — Don’t I have the right to complain to God?
Job developed an attitude of self-pity and defeat. After all, what good does it do to argue with God if He isn’t listening? Why cry out to a God who doesn’t bother to respond? Job went from sorrowfully feeling like God was no longer paying attention to demanding the opportunity to defend himself in front of God. He accused God of turning his back on him. He described himself as a target with God’s archers surrounding him, unfairly piercing him with arrows (16:12-13).
JOB QUESTIONED THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
JOB QUESTIONED THE GREATNESS OF GOD.
JOB QUESTIONED THE HEART OF GOD.
JOB QUESTIONED THE JUSTICE OF GOD.
JOB QUESTIONED THE WISDOM OF GOD.
A young bystander, Elihu, finally stepped into the conversation to remind all of them WHO God is and to caution them when making such grand accusations against God. You remember who God is, right? The Creator of the world, the Almighty, the One more powerful than we can comprehend or imagine?
As many of us have experienced, there is a choice to make in difficult circumstances. We can push God away and decide that He is not the good God we have always believed Him to be, or we can pull closer to Him so that He can comfort us in our darkest hour. I am so thankful to serve a God who welcomes my questions, who understands the pain I am going through, and who willingly comforts me when I am struggling to understand why He has allowed something in my life.
I HANG ONTO THE BELIEF THAT GOD IS GOOD — ALL THE TIME!
But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.
I cried out to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy mountain. – Psalm 3:3-4
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