I pray that I never have the attention of the devil like Job did. Can you imagine? We get a peek at pure evil caused by satan in the life of one righteous man, Job. He loses all his children (Job 1: 18-19) and his property (Job 1: 13-17). His wife is bitter and tells him to curse God and die (Job 2:9) . His friends are full of bad advise and if that wasn’t enough, he’s struck with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head (Job: 2: 7-8). It’s no wonder that Job cursed his birth. (Job 3: 1). He was suicidal (Job 3:5). Job is living the worst case scenario, have you been there?
When life gets filled with pain and misery, we long for an escape, just like Job. I’m amazed at Job’s faith. He gets depressed, he gets angry, he cries out to God and yet, he believes. He continues his conversation with God through it all. How many times have we blown off God when we’re suffering? We stop praying. We stop going to church. We walk away from our Christian friends. Essentially, we divorce ourselves from God when we need Him the most.
Sometimes we believe that if we knew why things were happening, then it would be better. I get that, but look at Job. Job didn’t know about the devil. He didn’t know that satan was hunting him, bringing all of the destruction. Just think, we can read in the bible and see the devil’s plot, but Job was clueless. It wasn’t information that helped Job, it was faith in God. Pursuing information didn’t get Job anywhere. Despite everything he’d lost and all of his pain, he still trusted God’s sovereignty and he knew his position.
Job submitted to God’s authority and he trusted in his Redeemer. Let’s not skip the significance of this. Jesus hadn’t been born of Mary. The cross hadn’t yet happened. The resurrection was thousands of years away. Here’s what Job says, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that my flesh shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19: 25-27)
I have no idea how Job knew about Jesus. Job even knew that after he died, he would be resurrected and look at God with his own eyes. This level of trust amidst extreme suffering is rare and precious. I believe that Job’s ongoing conversation with God, regardless of his circumstances, strengthened him and gave him this wisdom. In the end, Job is victorious and the devil is defeated. The bible says, “the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42: 12) Let’s not forgot, Job started wealthy, lost everything, and was restored by God with more than he’d ever had. What can we learn from Job?
- Suffering happens to everyone, even the righteous.
- Pain is not always self inflicted, sometimes it’s evil.
- God makes The Way out of pain, don’t leave Him.
- Always pray, talking to God transforms us.
- You can’t always trust the advice of friends and family.
- Faith in God trumps google every time, more information isn’t always helpful.
- Don’t pine over the past and never quit in the middle. God has abundant victory at the end.
I pray this message encourages you. If it has, share it with someone who needs some good news from the Old Testament!
