On Wednesdays, my reading plan specifies “poetry”, starting with Job.
Today’s thoughts:
Job 1:7-8 (NIV)
7The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”8Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
This passage makes me think on a couple different levels. First, I have a hard time imagining God and Satan having anything to do with each other, but here, we find them talking. I know God is sovereign over all, so Satan really isn’t much more than a dog on a leash in that regard, but still… it just seems a bit odd.
Secondly, the idea that God would recommend to Satan whom he might try to tempt, allowing Job to be tested. On one hand… what an honor to be seen by God as described… blameless, upright, fearing God and shunning evil. On the other? Although works are clearly not the way in which we obtain salvation, what a reward God gives Job here for doing all the right things… allowing Satan to come after him and cause all sorts of trouble.
I don’t know that I’ll ever understand this fully.
Job 1:21 (NASB)
Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
And naked I shall return there
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
This verse is so amazing to me. After just losing everything, all of his possessions and all of his children… we find Job still praising God.
Oh to have that kind of faith… to trust God and continue to praise Him even when the worst of troubles comes our way. I think many of us (me included) would be sitting there pitying ourselves and our circumstance… angry with God for allowing it all.
Matt Redman’s “Blessed be the Name” is based on this verse. If you’ve never heard it, you really ought to. Powerful worship music.
Job 2:7-10 (NIV)
7So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.9 His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
In Job 2:7-10, we find Job being tested further. Not only has everything precious to him been taken away, but now his health has been taken as well. In comes the loving and supportive wife.
“Why don’t you just curse God and die?”
Ouch.
Yet Job responds in faith yet again… “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
Amazing.
Job 2:11-13 (NIV)
11When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Are you heart-broken over the suffering of your friends? Do you mourn with them? Or are you so wrapped up in your own life you don’t even notice when they’re hurting?
Yet another convicting thought. Seems today’s reading is full of ’em.
In reading this I too had the same thought as you, about God even responding to Satan’s request. I guess possibly this is an example of how well God knows our hearts and maybe God was saying “Hey man, you can’t take my people! I’m too big” And look at the example it has laid out for us.
Also, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t sit there with him for a week without saying anything, and just be his friend. I wish I was there! That is where we should be in times like that. But I would like some friends like that! 🙂
I think this story goes on to show us that in the end God always gets the Glory…
Good Stuff!
Just wanted to let you know, that this is a great idea and I will be joining you! I appreciate your example and your heart for the Lord!!!!
I hope you don’t mind me stepping in here, but today we found out that my father-in-law has diabetes. John I did good. I showed my father-in-law that I cared by printing him out some information about diabetes. He was very appreciative. Please keep him in prayer.
I think that Job 2:10 throws the prosperity and word of faith teachers off. They name it and claim and exclude God’s sovereignty out of the picture. They don’t believe in bad circumstances and don’t take into consideration that God could be using them for a greater good. Pretty sad, huh?
Tom, in response to your comment I think this scripture sums it up. “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” John 10:29-30
Jodi,
That’s awesome! My wife is joining in as well, and I plan to announce this and invite people from our church this Sunday. I don’t know why I didn’t think to mention it last week.
Olivia,
Welcome to Toward the Goal!
Sorry to hear about your father-in-law’s condition… diabetes is not a fun thing. I’ll be sure to pray for him today.
You’re spot on about the prosperity gospel… it drives me up a wall to see how it’s preached that if you just follow Jesus, everything will be roses… oh, and moreso, you can be rich just like the preacher teaching it! I don’t know how those folks can live with themselves preaching a message that is so totally contrary to the whole of Scripture. Job 2:10 is but one or many that punches holes in their misguided theology.
The sovereignty of God is such an amazing thing. I can understand it from a conceptual standpoint, but how it plays out? It simply blows my mind. How sin and evil work into that are beyond me… I guess I get hung up in the “if God is really love, how could He…” line of thought sometimes, especially when events that seem totally pointless occur.
Anyway, I hope you’ll come back to join in discussion here. My primary topics for the next year will be daily thoughts in regard to Bible in a year readings (Isaiah 1-6 is coming later today), but I hope to hit on a number of things other than that as thoughts and ideas arise.
John, sorry I haven’t responded to your comment. We all very much appreciate you praying for my father-in-law.