I’m currently reading the book of Job. Job has been rejected by some who struggle with its content, even the nature of God expressed in its pages. Some have called Job a man without faith because of what happened to him. Those dismissive comments express the foolish and shallow nature of a person’s understanding of faith. There are great truths in Job that need to be processed or we will interpret its message with our limited understanding of God and what happens to us in this life. It will leave us struggling to understand a deeper reality.
Job lived an honorable life. He was a faithful man and a loving father. After Satan was permitted to test Job, he lost all his wealth and his children in a single day of extreme tragedy. When the news of his overwhelming loss came, “Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. He shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship” (Job 1:20).
Job’s initial response was to worship God at the news of his great loss. The choice to worship the Lord set the course for the rest of what would happen to him. “In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God” (vs. 22).
As Satan patrolled the earth, he looked again at Job to bring further testing. The Lord permitted Satan once again to test Job. A second test came affecting Job’s health. Satan said“A man will give up everything he has to save his life. But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”(2: 4-5).
As boils covered Job’s body, a deep and very personal blow came from his most intimate of relationships. His wife said, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die”(vs. 9). Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad? So, in all this, Job said nothing wrong”(vs. 9).
Job’s most significant choice in his troubles was to worship God when it appeared there was nothing to worship Him about. That choice set the course for the rest of what would happen to Job and kept him from blaming God. The only way to maintain our spiritual integrity is to worship the Lord when our experience of suffering tells us to curse and deny Him. That’s what a mature faith and a life of integrity look like under the pressure of severe testing. It is not a life without questions, but those questions will never lead us to abandon our worship of God and blame Him for our troubles.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Garris Elkins
Featured Image by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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