Endurance + “What Job Tells Us”
What Job Tells Us.
Woooooow ! with a capital W !
I just read Job 38-42. Litterally just WOOOOOOW !
The book opens up telling us exactly how much stuff he had. (v. 1-3). It tells that he is a godly man, and it tells us that God BRAGS on Job TO SATAN. (Job 1:8). God asks Satan if he’s “considered” or noticed him. Satan, of course, has noticed Job, and as the Accuser has been known to do, accuses Job of only serving God because of God’s protection, favor, & blessings. (1:9-10). He says, ‘If you take away all his stuff, all his human comforts, all the things he loves and sees value in, he will curse you to your face.’ (v. 10-11). God responds, “Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thine hand.” (1:12). Essentially, God gives Satan permission to do anything he wants to Job’s stuff…this included his children, undoubtedly some of the greatest sources of joy and satisfaction in Job’s pleasant, protected world.
Satan systematically destroys all of Job’s living, livelihood, and his family, leaving him with mere shreds. At the end of this devastating afternoon, Job has only 4 servants, who each escaped as a “bearer of bad news,” and a wife who doesn’t seem to be all that helpful. Job’s stuff is gone; all his symbols of success and security have been stripped from him in a single day. All his children, suddenly taken from the landscape of his life with no warning. Job has no idea of the heavenly conversation…no idea of the accolades from God or the Accusations of Satan. And in the wake of this devastating, debilitating loss, Job does what God knew he would do: HE WORSHIPS.
(v.21) “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return thither: the LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away:
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.”
Chapter 2 of the book of Job opens up by telling us about another conversation in the heavenlies. God is still bragging about Job (2:3) and Satan is still accusing (v.4). He tells God that Job can still worship because he has his health. He says, “touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (v.5) Again, God gives Satan permission to do anything to Job except take his life. (2:6). Satan goes out and “afflicts Job” with sore boils from his head to his feet.
The scene and emotional pain worsens as Job sits in the ashes scraping himself with a shard of his former life and his wife speaks the only words she speaks in 42 chapters: “Why do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die.” No comfort. No hope. No encouragement from the one who should’ve been there for him. If Job wasn’t battling suicidal thoughts before, her words may well have made him question if going on was worth it. I’m sure that, in the moment, the future looked very hopeless…very bleak. Likely voices of despair spoke. Likely they were believable. Yet, in spite of the voices of his wife, his flesh, and the Accuser, he speaks words of TRUST: “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (2:10). He is incredulous at her question and command. He states trust in God to the point that if He’s “dishing up evil,” he will accept it. More than that, he will receive it.
The saga of trial continues to unfold and carries on through the majority of the book, as Job’s 3 friends assume all the calamity was brought on because of Job’s sinfulness. (CHAPTERS 3-37). These chapters are dotted with a range of emotions from Job: everything from
“let the day perish wherein I was born…”(3:2)
to “for the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me…” (3:25)
to “I was at ease, but He has broken me assunder…” (16”12)
to “my friends scorn me, but mine eye poureth out tears unto God”
to essentially saying, ‘I can’t see or find God in any of this.’ “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!” (23:3) “He hideth himself…I cannot see him:” (23:9). And then overrides His perception with truth: “But He knows the WAY that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (23:10)
to “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” (19:25)
to “He has cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.” (30:19)
Throughout the book, we see that Job is dealing with deep loss and grief…his faith wavers, but it does not collapse. His character is called into question, his heart is broken, yet he endures through all of it. He carries on through the 34 chapters of painful dialogue, until finally “the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind” in chapter 38 (38:1)
God does not take it easy on Job. He starts off with His first question: “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?” (38:2-NLT). Ok. Ouch. No comfort…just questions. God asks Job 84* hard-hitting questions, such as, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” God strips Job of any pride or self-reliance that’s left in him with this volley of divine inquires.
When God is finally done, Job’s response to Him is: “I know that you can do anything, and that no plan of yours can be thwarted.” (42:2-CSB). “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” (42:5). “I repent.” (42:6)
We see a BETTER Job walking out on this side of trial. God KNEW HIM before the trial, but now HE KNOWS God. He has a clear and right view of God and his majesty; and he has a humble and right view of himself, and a repentant ♥️heart. He has none of his stuff on this side of trial, but God used those brutal circumstances to make him into gold. He was changed to his core by the crucible of the previous 41 chapters of TRIAL.
And then the book comes full circle. God remakes Job through loss & grief…tragedy and calamity.
And then He gives him all his stuff back. Actually, exactly 2X as many of his sheep, camels, oxen, & donkeys. And exactly the same # of children: 7 sons and 3 daughters. God has proven to Satan and to Job himself that Job wasn’t serving or worshipping for stuff or for protection or for a pain-free existence. Job was serving God FOR God. He was worshipping God FOR God. God had proven what He already knew.
The book of Job tells us a lot. It tells us that there are things going on behind the scenes that we don’t get to know about. It tells us that no God-allowed trial can destroy us but will rather refine & remake us. It tells us that worship and trust and song are possible in the darkest of times. It tells us that God gives and takes away and gives again as He knows is good. It tells us that God is a restorer. It tells us that God is the One running the show…the One in control of all things.
And it tells that if God said Satan can’t touch something he CAN’T touch something. God had told him he could not take Job’s life, and the book closes by telling us one final thing: “After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his sons and his son’s sons, even four generations. SO, JOB DIED BEING OLD and FULL OF DAYS.” God had the last word; the final say! and Job died FULL!
The book of Job tells us that loss of stuff can’t empty our days. Even loss of loved ones. There is no trial that has the power to strip us of praise…of trust…of faith…or of worship. Oh, to die old and to die FULL.
Thank you, Job, for the things your life & trial so plainly tell us.
Thank you for joining me for this journey! Go grab your Bible and your journal!