First, I have to say that I have
read the book of Job many times in my life and I have learned different things
each time that build upon each other. The understanding I'm getting this time
around is helping me to see the importance of getting to know God. It's not
about living a pious life and I can say that because I know that God has used
many people in the bible who were murderers, or who denied Him. Now I'm not
saying go ahead and commit murder or turn your back on God; but what I am
saying is trying to live a perfect life, just following all the rules, is not
necessarily what God wants of us. He wants us to know Him, to be in communion
with Him to the point that no matter what losses we experience in our life, we
can hold onto God, asking Him for the right perspective to get through it.
There is something very important
to understand about the trials that we face in life. God wants us to run to Him
instead of cursing Him and running away from Him. He gives us something very
important when we hold onto Him through the trial. We learn something that
brings us closer to God. Every time we have a trial, there is something that is
meant to be learned if we are willing to see it that way and often the trial
ends sooner once we learn whatever God desires to teach us. I believe Job
learned a powerful lesson from God that led Him to say in Job 42:1-6:
Then Job replied to the Lord:
I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop
you. You ask, 'Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?' It is
I. And I was talking about things I did not understand, things far to wonderful
for me.
You said, 'Listen and I will speak! I have some
questions for you, and you must answer me.'
I had heard about you before, bit now I have seen you
with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to
show my repentance.
He gets the perspective that no one
can prevent God from acting in whatever way He chooses because He's God and we
are not. Job recognized that he saw God in the wrong light, because he said he
spoke about things he did not understand. He believed that if he lived a
righteous life that that would be enough, that God would not touch him and he
would continue to be blessed. Now at first it seemed that Job understood by
saying to his wife, "should we not accept hardship from the Lord and only
good"(my paraphrase). However as time went on and his friends accused him
of wrongdoing Job felt pressed to defend himself and lost sight of what he knew
at first. We must allow God to be God and don't get bent out of shape when
something awful happens that we struggle to process.
You may ask what was the lesson
that Job learned other than the fact that God's ways are far beyond man's and
we must not question them? Well if you remember from the beginning of Job,
after losing all his children, he says 'that which I feared has come upon me'.
Furthermore, the beginning of Job talks about how Job feared for his kids when
they would have parties, thinking that they may have sinned in some way;
so he went to offer sacrifices to God on their behalf. Job's fear was that he
would lose his kids because of their sin and in the end he lost his kids. How
painful!
I believe that Job's ah ha moment
came when He could say to God, 'I was talking about things I did not
understand, things far too wonderful for me.' So Job let go of what he did not
understand about losing his kids and he said 'I had heard about you
before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.' Job came to discover a
completely new facet of God and that healed him. He said he spoke about 'things
far too wonderful for me', things that mortals can't even begin to understand
because they are not supposed to. Job understood that he was talking out of turn.
Whatever God and the devil do, whatever their interaction, is not our business,
because we do not have God's perspective.
From our viewpoint it would look like
God was unfair in what He allowed to happen to Job, but we don't understand the
relationship that God has with the devil and how the enemy is always trying to
accuse God's followers of something. We do not understand because God's ways
are not our ways. But in the end, after having discovered more about God, he
understood his wrong thoughts and repented. And after Job's repentance, God
restored him and gave back more than he had before and gave him 10 more kids.
And this time, he had no reason to fear for his kids spiritual safety because
of the perspective he gained about God. That perspective put his mind at ease.
So what can we learn from this
story, because I was reminded as I've been reading this book "The
Book of Job: When bad things happened to a Good Person" (Harold S. Kushner) that I must come
through reading this book differently then before I read it. So our lessons
that we can take away from this book are that:
1.
God's ways are
not our ways, and how God works on a spiritual level that is far beyond our
comprehension, should help us to see that we must trust God, even when it
hurts because He is still good and He is still on the throne.
2.
Even when
it looks like God is not in control we must choose to believe that He is the
I AM. So any time something happens to us that we are aware is a trial and we
want to question Him about it, God's response to us is I AM. I AM good, I AM
in control, I AM just, I AM your Father, I AM the KING, I AM your friend that
sticks closer than a brother, I AM, I AM, I AM.
3.
Another thing we
need to understand is that every trial comes with a lesson to be learned. The
sooner we learn that lesson, the better off we will be and the sooner the
trial will end. Granted some lessons take time to learn and may not end as
soon as we would like them to, but we can always ask God for grace and trust
in the Holy Spirit's guidance and be grateful for the prayers the Holy Spirit
makes on our behalf.
4.
Job also teaches
us an important lesson about how to be with those friends who accuse us
instead of support us, and the friends and family who get as far away from us
as possible. Job handles it well and does as God instructs and prays for his
friends. Then it says "all his brothers, sisters, and former friends
came and feasted with him in his home. And they consoled him and comforted
him because of all the trials the Lord had brought against him." So Job
did not hold any grudges, he allowed himself to be comforted by those who left
him when he needed them most. So, another thing I wanted to point out
is that Job didn't just get over losing his kids like that, he mourned and
was consoled. And that is important for us to see, because the pain is
real and it doesn't go away overnight.
5.
So, we can love
God and trust Him while we are in pain and may struggle with the trial. One
of the things God's was speaking to me was this, "let me use you to
teach the devil something. And believe me, my love for you is strong and I
will restore you in the end." And I don't know about you, but I am okay
with letting the Lord use me to beat up the devil and send him packing
straight to hell where he will live for all eternity. I trust God. I know
that when pain comes, He gives me grace. I have the Holy Spirit to help me. I
have godly friends to encourage me. And I have worship, which I can do at
anytime I want because I know God loves my praise and it's especially sweet
when it comes from a trial, because it's pure and it drives the devil crazy
mad because we are reminding him that we took his place. He was the worship
angel and when he fell he lost that place. Instead God gave us the ability to
worship Him and it's a privilege. I know that God loves it when I worship Him
and the devil hates it, so it's a win-win in my book. No matter what, I will
choose to worship! AMEN!
Maybe reading Job leaves you the questions and you want to talk about it. Post your questions here and let's have a discussion, because God wants you to be free and have a perspective about Him that is healthy, so that when trials come you can say 'I believe God is still good".
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