Job 1-3
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I have to admit that when I saw that today started the book of Job
I was kind of dreading it. It was
like I had to brace myself. Almost
like when you are coming up on the scene of something -a wreck, a hospital
room, a funeral- somewhere you know there is going to be pain and suffering,
and your heart beats a little faster and your stomach starting knotting
up. It is hard to read about bad
things happening to good people and why God allows it. So before I even jump into the book of
Job I’m praying for open eyes to see what God wants me to see. I’m praying that I will learn something
new each day we’re in this book.
Starting off the book there are things that can be pretty
surprising, such as the fact that God and Satan are conversing. And then God allows Satan to act
against Job. I think the important
thing to see in this is not that God allows Satan to act, but that God limits
Satan’s actions. Satan, although
he has some power, is still under the mighty thumb of the Lord. It is God who remains in control and
who will always have the victory over Satan.
The next surprising thing was Job’s response to four back to back
messages that basically told him everything he owned was destroyed and all his
sons and daughters were killed.
“Then he fell to the ground in worship.” And Jobs says, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
What!? No wonder God used
Job as an example of a man of faith.
Then again later when Job’s physical health was affected, his own wife
tells him to curse God and die.
But Job replies, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Feeling a little weak in my faith today
because I know my response to a series of events such as this would be far different
from Job’s.
Job mourns and is silent for seven days. When he speaks he wishes he had never been born and that he
longs for death. He says something
here that really stood out to me … “What I feared has come upon me; what I
dreaded has happened to me.”
This might sound silly, but if I’m being honest, the dread I had
about reading the book of Job stems a little from fear of something like that
happening to me. Job shows in
saying this that even though he lived a blameless life, he had been anxious and
uncertain about what might happen.
I would definitely consider myself an anxious person, but the lesson God
gave me for today: Do not fear what God might do (or rather what He might allow
Satan to do); Trust Him instead.
Trust that “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (James 5:11). Trust in His love, His power over
Satan, and His plan.
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