21 and he said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah
22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
I'm amazed at Job's character. He had every right to question God, to get angry because he prayed for all his children every morning offering sacrifices to God just in case they sinned during their "feasts" aka parties, but he didn't, such a show of trust, I cannot even comprehend. Honestly, if that happened to me, I'd go crazy for awhile, maybe even bitter at God for some time. The level of trust that Job has towards God just blows me away, he knew his place in the universe, that nothing really belongs to us, all is God's property.
9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still hold fast thine integrity? renounce God, and die.
10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
Here Job acknowledges the sovereignty of God. This is a difficult concept to grasp, because I think most of us would agree that we see God as someone who only gives good things, but here we see that God is actually allowing evil to happen to someone who is without fault. But this is applicable for us today too, do we accept the circumstances that come our way when it doesn't make sense sometimes, like why God allows a good person to get cancer and a bad person to get rich and squander wealth? I think sometimes we forget that we were made from dust, and the life we have is only possible through the breath of God, in fact, we are of no value without Him. But sadly, sometimes we get so caught up in ourselves, striving to be "somebody" when no amount of striving can change the fact that despite our nothingness, God loves us and our purpose lies with Him.
25 For the thing which I fear cometh upon me, And that which I am afraid of cometh unto me
Honestly, I feel uncomfortable reading this part, because here I can greatly relate to Job and I'm sure most of us too. The problem of fear and worry. What's my greatest fear? I know for certain, God will test me, am I ready to respond as Job did? Will I keep my integrity intact? Will I remain faithful to God? Or will I roll my fist and curse Him? Wooo...it's really something to think about. Maybe that's why so many times, God says to not fear or be afraid, and not to be anxious. Interestingly, the devil was aware of Job's fears, it was like he knew what would break Job.
17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.
Looks like one of Job's friend is failing at comforting Job, sounds more like he is saying Job did something wrong. Shouldn't he know by now what kind of person Job is? Isn't it frustrating sometimes to have friends who misjudge you? Can't they see that he lost everything? What great evil did he do to deserve such correction? le sigh...
Sorry this was long, good reading, made me think a lot...maybe a bit too much though...lol
Just wanted to say that I've been reading all the Bible chapters and posts in this thread. I just haven't had much to say recently. Whenever I give SK's post telling which chapters to read a "like", it means I've read the chapters.
