This is part of a sentence written by James, who humbly does not even presume to call himself Jesus’s earthly brother, in a letter he sends to “the twelve tribes dispersed abroad.” The main topics include perseverance during hard times and faith producing works. Towards the end he mentions Job. “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.
It is key to understand precipitating heavenly events that lead to Job’s trouble. Satan had been looking around. GOD asked Satan if he had noticed his faithful servant Job, in the tone of ‘look at one of my beloved and faithful.’ Satan indicated he wasn’t impressed and God allowed him to prove Job’s deep love and commitment to God. There is no record of God adding, ” It’ll be great because I’ve been looking for a chance to teach Job a few things!” No, rather, the context is that God was very satisfied with and confident in how Job would handle things. He knew Job would come out shining and glorifying Him.
Certainly Job learned something along the way. God weaves a beautiful tapestry. People seem to have a very limited understanding of Him really being the only One putting everything together and being able to use it all perfectly. Job ended up with a fuller comprehension of God’s greatness and sovereignty. God IS great and he IS sovereign. When God had provided ample opportunity for Job’s friends to come to the correct conclusions and give wise counsel He spoke up saying, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Those men had been trying their hardest to make Job see what he had ‘done wrong.’ God had had enough of that foolishness. He also wanted Job to understand that He “can do all things, and that no purpose of (His) can be thwarted,” which Job states in the beginning of chapter 42.
Along the same lines, picture the Pharisees and Sadducees constantly telling Jesus, “God says… ” as they try to trick him in His words. My daughter recently said she pictures a possibly exasperated Jesus nearly rolling his eyes and thinking, “YES! I KNOW what God says! … and your point is?” Like Job’s friends, they thought they had God figured out on their human terms. They lacked perspective of His absolute greatness. They weren’t really in awe.
Job was blessed tangibly on this earth, but he wasn’t looking for blessing. He was simply glorifying God with his faith. Others have done the same thing through the most difficult sufferings and death. It is said that the angels are watching us. The goal is to be so fulfilled in serving God that it doesn’t matter what He asks of us. We trust in Him and delight in knowing Him. Maybe some day we’ll get to know the whole story. Maybe we won’t care by then. It would be fun to hear from the angels’ point of view, but for now just know:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”
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To be fair, none of us as human beings has the ability to truly comprehend the greatness and awesomeness of God and unfortunately, we have a tendency to anthropormorphize God. Even the Bible speaks of God’s “face” and “right arm” and such, and people tend to forget that God is so much more.
I like the message of the Book of Job very much. Despite the fact that God didn’t allow Job to be tested in order to “teach him something’, the fact is, Job did learn a few things. Chiefly, he learned what many of us need to learn; that God is God and that, regardless of our circumstances, we don’t have the right to question God’s judgement or His decisions. That’s something difficult for us to understand about a God who loves us, but His ways really are as far above us as the heavens are above the earth.
I also remember when Peter was saying that he’d never abandon Jesus, even to the point of dying with him, Jesus warned Peter that the Adversary had asked to “sift Peter like wheat”. Peter also learned something from that experience and ultimately was able to demonstrate a greater courage, devotion and humility both to God and to his fellow.
It’s hard to bounce back from a disappointment or a failure, must less a disaster or catastrophe in life. Thanks for the reminder of God’s goodness and greatness in all things.
Amen.
It’s very hard to let go of this notion that we should be able to understand God, that his actions should make sense to us. There’s always this sense of, wait, that wasn’t fair, if you told me more would I understand it? Or would I still see only a man who was ‘unfairly’ condemned to suffer without deserving it?
Job is a very valuable lesson – but I don’t know if it can be completely learned in this lifetime. All we can do is trust God.
To be fair, none of us as human beings has the ability to truly comprehend the greatness and awesomeness of God and unfortunately, we have a tendency to anthropormorphize God. Even the Bible speaks of God’s “face” and “right arm” and such, and people tend to forget that God is so much more.
I like the message of the Book of Job very much. Despite the fact that God didn’t allow Job to be tested in order to “teach him something’, the fact is, Job did learn a few things. Chiefly, he learned what many of us need to learn; that God is God and that, regardless of our circumstances, we don’t have the right to question God’s judgement or His decisions. That’s something difficult for us to understand about a God who loves us, but His ways really are as far above us as the heavens are above the earth.
I also remember when Peter was saying that he’d never abandon Jesus, even to the point of dying with him, Jesus warned Peter that the Adversary had asked to “sift Peter like wheat”. Peter also learned something from that experience and ultimately was able to demonstrate a greater courage, devotion and humility both to God and to his fellow.
It’s hard to bounce back from a disappointment or a failure, must less a disaster or catastrophe in life. Thanks for the reminder of God’s goodness and greatness in all things.
Amen.
It’s very hard to let go of this notion that we should be able to understand God, that his actions should make sense to us. There’s always this sense of, wait, that wasn’t fair, if you told me more would I understand it? Or would I still see only a man who was ‘unfairly’ condemned to suffer without deserving it?
Job is a very valuable lesson – but I don’t know if it can be completely learned in this lifetime. All we can do is trust God.