I heard someone say yesterday that Job was a difficult book to read
It is full of suffering and humility and scorn
The Lord allowed Satan to strip Job of all that he had
His wife told him to stop being a fool and curse God
and Job responded with a rebuke to her:
Then said his wife unto him,
Dost thou still retain thine integrity?
curse God, and die. 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.
Job 2:9-10
Job had these friends/comforters
who looked upon his tragedies with their human eyes
They accused Job of having been unfaithful to God in some way
His comforters’ thoughts reverberate
in some teachings I have heard over the years
Yes, they proclaim, Job opened the door to Satan by his fear,
that which Job feared came upon Him
We must not fear or we will get what we have feared
O that ye would altogether hold your peace!
and it should be your wisdom. Job 13:5
In other words, be quiet, you don’t know what you’re talking about
God was strengthening Job’s faith, Job knew he was being tried
He also was very aware of his own faults, fear being one of them
Job said, But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me,
I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10
This is very similar to Paul who talked of the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death Philippians 3:10
The realization that Job came to about his calamaties
was not quite the same as the accusations of the accusers/comforters
God will allow things to occur to increase our faith,
to cleanse us, purify us, and ultimately bring us closer to Him
Job said, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him
Job knew that his life belonged to God,
this was similarly to the way Jesus responded to Peter
who wanted to fight to keep Jesus from going to the cross
and just before that,
Jesus had told Peter Satan was going to sift him as wheat
Humans like to try to make sense of what happens
Why this happened or that
Sometimes sin does open the door to calamity
Sometimes we are fellowshipping in Jesus’ suffering
through no fault of our own but because we are flesh
God is giving us the ability to put our flesh to death
and is slowly transforming us into perfection in His sight
Remember when the man who was asking Jesus for healing for his son?
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears,
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Mark 9:24
God is not there to slap you down, that is Satan’s style
God is there to give you a hand up, to help you overcome
When God rebuked Job’s comforters and said how right Job was,
I remember that when I’m reading Job:
And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job,
the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee,
and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me
the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Job 42:7
Oftentimes, you will hear or read a quote that they said
and think “what a lovely bunch of words, such a profound sentiment”,
then you find out it was from Job’s comforters and it can be puzzling
This does not mean Job’s comforters were 100% wrong
and Job was 100% right
It means, God looks upon the heart
There are many beautiful truths his friends/comforters said
in amongst their blinded, unkind attitudes of self-righteousness
In Revelation, we see Satan as the accuser of the brethren
The Pharisees were good at that when Jesus was walking on the earth,
they were constantly pointing out the wrongs of Jesus
so they could shine and beam in their own eyes
and in the eyes and ears of anyone who knew what they said
It goes without saying, Jesus saw through their arrogance
That same God who walked on the earth in human form
was the same God who allowed Job to suffer,
who allowed Job to be tempted,
who allowed the comforters to speak self-righteousness and accusations
He is the same God that sees us through trials and purifications that we often cannot see the value in until we have passed through them, with Him
God is always there to offer us a hand up
Scriptural References:
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:
but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
Job 13:15
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,
and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
Job 3:25
And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat:
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not:
and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren
Luke 22:31-32
Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it,
and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear.
The servant’s name was Malchus.
Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath:
the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
John 18:10-11
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation,
and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ:
for the accuser of our brethren is cast down,
which accused them before our God day and night.
Revelation 12:10