Week Four - Observation 2

I'm discovering that in this particular stage of my life, there is no structure!  What I think will work one day as far as a schedule, doesn't work at all the next day.  So, from here on out, this all happens when it happens...that's a little different for me as I tend to like things on some what of a schedule, but I'm finding out that a lot of things that I thought were important, really aren't.  And my ideas of when and how things should happen are certainly becoming less important all the time.

JOB - what a hard lesson from the Bible.  I really don't get it all, and we're going to look at this poor man and his sufferings again today.  I will say, we always hear about "the patience of Job", but when you read through the book there were times when Job really wasn't very patient.  He wanted answers.  But Job did endure, he did persevere, and he kept his faith in His God - even surrounded by people who weren't always very (or at all) encouraging.  

OBSERVATION

Job 1:20-22  "Then Job stood up, tore his robe and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Praise the name of the Lord.  Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything."

Job 6:10  "It would still bring me comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One."

Job 42:10 "After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his prosperity and doubled his [previous] possessions."

James 5:11  " See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome from the Lord: the Lord is very compassionate and merciful."

Remembering yesterday's passages, all of Job's problems came about following God's discussion with satan regarding Job's righteousness and faithfulness to God.  God was bragging on His servant, Job, and satan couldn't stand to think that someone would love God just for who He is, and not for the blessings that He had given them.                                                     

But today we read that Job has lost all of those blessings - his children, his servants, his livestock, his fortune, and ultimately his own health.  Reading the first referenced passage, what do we see as Job's response to his loss?  Worship!  Acknowledgement that everything he had been given had been given to him by the Lord.  Praise!  When God had told satan that Job was a righteous man, God really knew who Job was, didn't he?  This is a truly godly man - and this verse should be one that we all remember - "the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.  Praise the name of the Lord."  Whatever we have in life, it is all from God.  And if He chooses to take it away, He has reason.  We may not ever know that reason this side of heaven, but we know God has purpose in His taking from us.  Job reveals his absolute trust in God by his worship and praise - and he reveals the relationship that he has established with God, never blaming Him for his pain.

The second verse reinforces Job's relationship with God - no matter the pain he was going through, and Job went through unrelenting physical pain - he did not deny God's words to him.  This brought Job comfort in the fact that he realized he was being faithful, no matter what.  We need to remember this source of comfort when we're going through difficult, painful times - we are staying faithful, and that is what God is asking of us.  

Job 6:10 did prompt a question in my mind - Job is considered by most to be the oldest book of the Bible, the writing of it predating the writing of Genesis by Moses.  It is not certain who wrote Job, possibly Job himself.  Studies estimate the writing of Job between 2100 and 1800 B.C., approximately the same time as Abraham lived. That being the case, what are the "words of the Holy One" that Job references?  How did Job receive God's words to him?  Had the stories of the God of creation and of the great flood been passed down through the generations?  Had God spoken to him personally, as He did with Noah and Abraham?  

                                                

And then we know the end of the story - after Job had gone through his period of suffering and pain, after he had acknowledged that God is sovereign and that he was a man of little understanding of the great things of God, God restores and blesses Job - greater than before.  And one of the biggest blessings that I think may get overlooked is in Job 42:5 "I had heard rumors about You, but now my eyes have seen You."  I think this answers the previous question of Job's knowledge of God's Word - this makes it sound like it was all of the God-stories that Job had heard, told from parent to child through the generations.  And Job had believed them and had sought to please God.  But through this experience, through the suffering, through the loss, through the pain, Job had seen God and had come to know Him at a deeper level than ever before possible.  God had revealed Himself to Job through the worst time of his life. 

James tells us that we "count as blessed those who have endured" and cites Job as such an example.  Job was blessed on earth, but Job is being blessed even greater in eternity.  All who endure will receive such wonderful blessing.  Won't it be great to meet Job?  Paul?  Joseph?  Peter?  Jeremiah?  John?  Everyone of these, and so many more, endured to the end - and we will all be home with Jesus - the One who endured the very most for all of us!

In His Amazing Love,

Janice