The Book of Job
Many of us have read the book of Job and have seen the trials God put him through,we can all agree Job was hard done buy and whilst we feel sorry for Job, we cant help but think about our ourselves and if ever we found ourselves being in that situation wondering how we would react,or what we will do, at the end of the day it is a scary thought to have your whole life ripped away from you without explanation and in Jobs case being a righteous man made it all the more confusing.
What once was one of my most feared books to read in the Bible was the book of Job,like myself and many others we have what we value most to us and that is in the form of family,our jobs,children,possesions and so on,to suddenly have these things taken away from us would cause all types of grief in our lives
Now what was once the Bible story that I feared most has now become the Story that gives me the most peace and assurace,that is because their is a greater message in the Book of Job one that offers peace and guidance on how we can build and maintain a relationship with God.
We as humans tend to look at and react to what we can relate to and whether or not a situation like Jobs can become our reality,we become hyperfixated on the what ifs of life and sometimes don't see the greater picture or message.but what God has revealed to me I plan to reveal to you.
Now one day the angels came to present themselves to God and Satan came along with them,Satan on face value seems like he's trying to manipulate God into striking down Job because He Thinks Job is righteous only because God has blessed him in many ways,but before that God says to Satan,have you ever considered my servant Job? Their is none like him on earth,God being all knowing and all powerful knew what tactics Satan was up to but beat him before he could get a word out, When God gave permission to Satan to destroy Jobs life Satan thought he got his way and would prove his point.
Now at this point Job had his family taken away all his land, his animals,his wealth, everything that belonged to him except his life,after more heckling from Satan God gave permission to Him to inflict wounds on Job and make him ill, that was the final straw for job, job at this point was at his wits end he finally snapped,he went through a barage of emotions he went from crying out to God screaming why me,wondering what he did wrong, pleading his case with his three friends explaining to them he had did nothing wrong to deserve this affliction that came upon him,he went as far as cursing his own life and cursing the day he had been born, he asked God to take his life because their was no point of living anymore,he even went as far to say if God was before him he could honestly say he has done nothing wrong enough to deserve this,his three friends rebuke job they go back and forth for days deliberating amongst themselves trying to work with job to find out what Job had did wrong, they were defending God to Job saying that Jobs reaction is over the top almost to dramatic and that he needs to look deeper in himself because a righteous God doesn't pay back evil with good, they kept coming up with reasons all whilst Job kept hitting back with Raw emotion and defence for his case.
After many days of deliberation God shows up in a whirlwind and rebukes Job he opens Jobs eyes to the reality that Gods wisdom and reasoning surpasses all human emotion and interlect,he asks Job a simple question, Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundation? God went through a series of Questioning to Job challenging him on who knows what,and on who knows best,He shows Job that Gods reasoning for what he does is beyond human comprehension at times,God doesn't even justify himself to Job and give him the reason why this all happened to him instead he overwhelms job with questions about creation, nature, the seas, the stars,and the animals itself,He shows Job that he does not have the knowlege required to accuse God of injustice,Jobs suffering is real but does not have God like understanding and that it is better to Trust the wisdom of God who sees what he cannot. After the lamenting and lessons taught God gave back to Job two times more than what he lost.
Now this part here is what myself and what I think everyone misses this part is what should give us believers peace and clarity that yes their is a great lesson here to trust in God's wisdom and that we should humble ourselves to God and trust his understanding and reasoning even when it doesn't make sense and even when it is so hard. But when God was done with Job he turned his attention to his friends specifically Eliphaz,God said I am angry with you and your two friends,because you have not spoken the truth about me,as my servant Job has.
Hang on a minute? Job was the one with his first clentched to the air accusing God for what he had done, he was the one cursing his life and everything in it, he was the one back chatting to his friends when they would defend the case of God to him, yet instead God turned around and rebuked Eliphaz and his friends for speaking wrongly about him? You would think it would of been the other way around.
But through this sequence God has shown us what is acceptable to him,he has shown us a way to pray, to draw near to him,he has taught us how to build and maintain a relationship, and that is through one word, HONESTY, right through the book of Job, Job maintained his position he would not stray away from the fact that he was hard done by and he let God know all about it through his raw emotion but ultimately he was honest. And although God still rebuked him and put him back in his place, God still had him ahead of Jobs friends who were their offering up shallow excuses as to Why God did what he did,mainting their own self rightousnes, leaning on their own wisdom and understading as to why God does what he does..God ultimately said you guys are worse, Job was in the wrong but at least he poured out his heart and was willing to wrestle with God to gain understanding but you guys sat their claiming that you know me and my ways when in fact you have no idea.
The greatest thing we can take out of this is that Yes Jobs story is sad and it is a scary position to think about let alone be in, but the hidden message in all this, the assurances of knowing that God has called us into a honest relationship with him gives us so much peace and hope,to know that when we are going through tough times we can lean on God and sit their and lament with our hearts, we can pour out our hearts and know that he is right their,this type of Honesty goes beyond just when life gets hard,it is a blueprint for how we ought to approach God and the relationship we seek to have with him, whether we have done wrong or wrong has been done to us,whether its small details in our lives,whether it unconfessed sin,or the daily fleshly battles we face everyday,a honest relationship with God is what matters most. The fact we can be so honest with a all knowing all powerful God is such a luxury and I truly believe, that gives freedom, knowing that we've poured out our hearts and given it to someone who is so much more capable than we are is what should give us rest,
So yes Jobs story is sad and so are many of our own, but knowing that Gods wisdom and understading goes beyond ours gives us hope, knowing that we are called into a honest relationship with God,that gives us Rest.
Many of us have read the book of Job and have seen the trials God put him through,we can all agree Job was hard done buy and whilst we feel sorry for Job, we cant help but think about our ourselves and if ever we found ourselves being in that situation wondering how we would react,or what we will do, at the end of the day it is a scary thought to have your whole life ripped away from you without explanation and in Jobs case being a righteous man made it all the more confusing.
What once was one of my most feared books to read in the Bible was the book of Job,like myself and many others we have what we value most to us and that is in the form of family,our jobs,children,possesions and so on,to suddenly have these things taken away from us would cause all types of grief in our lives
Now what was once the Bible story that I feared most has now become the Story that gives me the most peace and assurace,that is because their is a greater message in the Book of Job one that offers peace and guidance on how we can build and maintain a relationship with God.
We as humans tend to look at and react to what we can relate to and whether or not a situation like Jobs can become our reality,we become hyperfixated on the what ifs of life and sometimes don't see the greater picture or message.but what God has revealed to me I plan to reveal to you.
Now one day the angels came to present themselves to God and Satan came along with them,Satan on face value seems like he's trying to manipulate God into striking down Job because He Thinks Job is righteous only because God has blessed him in many ways,but before that God says to Satan,have you ever considered my servant Job? Their is none like him on earth,God being all knowing and all powerful knew what tactics Satan was up to but beat him before he could get a word out, When God gave permission to Satan to destroy Jobs life Satan thought he got his way and would prove his point.
Now at this point Job had his family taken away all his land, his animals,his wealth, everything that belonged to him except his life,after more heckling from Satan God gave permission to Him to inflict wounds on Job and make him ill, that was the final straw for job, job at this point was at his wits end he finally snapped,he went through a barage of emotions he went from crying out to God screaming why me,wondering what he did wrong, pleading his case with his three friends explaining to them he had did nothing wrong to deserve this affliction that came upon him,he went as far as cursing his own life and cursing the day he had been born, he asked God to take his life because their was no point of living anymore,he even went as far to say if God was before him he could honestly say he has done nothing wrong enough to deserve this,his three friends rebuke job they go back and forth for days deliberating amongst themselves trying to work with job to find out what Job had did wrong, they were defending God to Job saying that Jobs reaction is over the top almost to dramatic and that he needs to look deeper in himself because a righteous God doesn't pay back evil with good, they kept coming up with reasons all whilst Job kept hitting back with Raw emotion and defence for his case.
After many days of deliberation God shows up in a whirlwind and rebukes Job he opens Jobs eyes to the reality that Gods wisdom and reasoning surpasses all human emotion and interlect,he asks Job a simple question, Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundation? God went through a series of Questioning to Job challenging him on who knows what,and on who knows best,He shows Job that Gods reasoning for what he does is beyond human comprehension at times,God doesn't even justify himself to Job and give him the reason why this all happened to him instead he overwhelms job with questions about creation, nature, the seas, the stars,and the animals itself,He shows Job that he does not have the knowlege required to accuse God of injustice,Jobs suffering is real but does not have God like understanding and that it is better to Trust the wisdom of God who sees what he cannot. After the lamenting and lessons taught God gave back to Job two times more than what he lost.
Now this part here is what myself and what I think everyone misses this part is what should give us believers peace and clarity that yes their is a great lesson here to trust in God's wisdom and that we should humble ourselves to God and trust his understanding and reasoning even when it doesn't make sense and even when it is so hard. But when God was done with Job he turned his attention to his friends specifically Eliphaz,God said I am angry with you and your two friends,because you have not spoken the truth about me,as my servant Job has.
Hang on a minute? Job was the one with his first clentched to the air accusing God for what he had done, he was the one cursing his life and everything in it, he was the one back chatting to his friends when they would defend the case of God to him, yet instead God turned around and rebuked Eliphaz and his friends for speaking wrongly about him? You would think it would of been the other way around.
But through this sequence God has shown us what is acceptable to him,he has shown us a way to pray, to draw near to him,he has taught us how to build and maintain a relationship, and that is through one word, HONESTY, right through the book of Job, Job maintained his position he would not stray away from the fact that he was hard done by and he let God know all about it through his raw emotion but ultimately he was honest. And although God still rebuked him and put him back in his place, God still had him ahead of Jobs friends who were their offering up shallow excuses as to Why God did what he did,mainting their own self rightousnes, leaning on their own wisdom and understading as to why God does what he does..God ultimately said you guys are worse, Job was in the wrong but at least he poured out his heart and was willing to wrestle with God to gain understanding but you guys sat their claiming that you know me and my ways when in fact you have no idea.
The greatest thing we can take out of this is that Yes Jobs story is sad and it is a scary position to think about let alone be in, but the hidden message in all this, the assurances of knowing that God has called us into a honest relationship with him gives us so much peace and hope,to know that when we are going through tough times we can lean on God and sit their and lament with our hearts, we can pour out our hearts and know that he is right their,this type of Honesty goes beyond just when life gets hard,it is a blueprint for how we ought to approach God and the relationship we seek to have with him, whether we have done wrong or wrong has been done to us,whether its small details in our lives,whether it unconfessed sin,or the daily fleshly battles we face everyday,a honest relationship with God is what matters most. The fact we can be so honest with a all knowing all powerful God is such a luxury and I truly believe, that gives freedom, knowing that we've poured out our hearts and given it to someone who is so much more capable than we are is what should give us rest,
So yes Jobs story is sad and so are many of our own, but knowing that Gods wisdom and understading goes beyond ours gives us hope, knowing that we are called into a honest relationship with God,that gives us Rest.
