(I brought this one out of the archives from August 28, 2014. Presently the old Couch Potato has a bad case of writer's block. I hope that you will enjoy this article from the past. It encouraged me today and I hope it encourage you.)
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; but I will maintain my own ways before Him.” I do not want to leave the impression that Job went through all that Satan put him through with no complaining at all. He was a good man, but, like all men, he was not perfect. But one thing is clear in the Book of Job, and that is that Job did not deny God, nor did He waver in his faith. If we put ourselves in Job’s place, we can’t even imagine how we would react. Of course, Job was not happy during his trial. He did not face it, always smiling, always positive, but he did face his trial in faith and trust in God. He teaches us to trust. What do I mean? Job trusted God in spite of personal loss. Think of all Job lost. He lost possessions. He lost all of his children. He had been proud of his children and was concerned that they live good lives. Now they were all dead. He lost the respect of his wife who told him to “curse God and die.” That was hardly a statement that showed that she supported Job in his predicament. What would be worse than losing the respect of the person with whom you had ten children and a seemingly happy home– until tragedy struck? Job lost the respect of his community. He had been a leader among the people, and the people had great respect for him and hung on his words. Now even the youth were making fun of him. Worst of all, Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, lost respect for him because they thought that he had committed some great sin and was being punished by God. They were never told that Satan was doing all of the nasty work. But through it all, Job held on to his trust in God. Job 23:10 is a good example: “But (God) knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job trusted God in spite of personal afflictions. Today we would say that Job had lost his health. I guess one of the most painful things that can happen to us is to lose our health. When we are afflicted we will react either positively or negatively. An old cliché reminds us that when we lose our health “we will become bitter or we will become better.” In the final analysis, Job became better. If we will put ourselves in Job’s place, thinking of all that he lost and of the pain and misery that he went through, we will say that we do not know exactly how we would react. Either one of the things that happened to Job would be traumatic, and that’s putting it mildly. We can’t put ourselves in Job’s place, but we can stay close to the Lord, pray and read His word, etc. in order to prepare ourselves to face the contingencies of life. Job trusted God in spite of the fact that God was silent. Throughout most of the book of Job, God did not intervene in Job’s difficulties. In fact, God never explained to Job what had occurred between He and Satan. Through it all, Job had to hear the false accusations of his great sins. God did not come to Job’s defense. He did in the end, and his friends had to pay for their cynical advice, but not until Job had come through the worst and had “come forth as pure gold.” We need to learn from Job that though God is silent, He is not absent. He has promised to go with us through all of the things that we go through in life. He will not shout, but He will be present and He will do what we need for Him to do. Rejoice! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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