Learning from Job
(NIV) Job 1:4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
(NIV) Job:1:18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you! ”20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Of all of the Sunday School lessons I’ve taught, and all of the sermons I’ve preached, and the many devotionals I’ve written, I don’t think I’ve ever tackled Job. Truthfully, Job has always intimidated me. What can I possibly bring to the story of a godly man who lost everything due to no fault of his own?
In Job we see that he was a man of great wealth and many possessions. God Himself said Job was blameless and upright. But Satan suggested Job was a godly man solely because of what God gave him. When tragedy came, Job responds with the well-known phrase, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”
Most of us can not imagine such an attitude in the midst of losing everything. Yet we saw repeatedly the victims of Hurricane Helene responding in much the same way. One mother whose young son was ripped from her arms said she heard him calling out to Jesus as the floods swept him away. Still, the mother was able to say she was thankful that her son was with Jesus.
Suffering did not begin with Job, and it will not end until Jesus returns and establishes His Millennial Kingdom. The root of our suffering lies with the original sin that entered the world through Adam and Eve. It was their disobedience that brought sickness and death. For those who have been afflicted with chronic pain, or what seems to be an onslaught of sickness and other tragedies, remember Job and his response to suffering.
And, learn to pray the Psalms. You will find comfort in the songs of David, who went through everything we have. And just as we love to hear our children speak our words back to us (they were listening after all) I believe our Heavenly Father loves to hear His words spoken back to Him.
Psalm 34:1 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
May we make a habit of praising God in good times and bad, so that if suffering comes our way our immediate response will be to glorify God. And if you are too ill to do anything else, just say Jesus
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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