FEBRUARY 13, 2024
“Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” (Job 1:20-22)
The book of Job opens with the Holy Spirit’s description of the man Job, describing him as “…perfect and upright…” (Vs. 1). This is like Noah’s description, where he is identified as “…a just man and perfect in his generations…” (Gen. 6:9). All this is to say that Job was a man of impeccable character, much like Noah; one who feared God and turned away from evil. He was a well-off man with his big family who lived a good life.
After introducing the man, the author of this book shows us a conversation between Satan and the Lord. God points to Job as pleasing to Him, and Satan responds by implying that this attitude from Job only comes from the things he has. In turn, God calls his bluff, permitting Satan to take away all that Job has, except for his life, because he’s confident that Job won’t forsake Him.
Following this conversation, Satan gets to work in turning Job’s world upside down. He first has his oxen taken by Sabean raiders who stole his livestock and killed the attending servants (except for the one who gave the report). While this servant told Job all this, another said that a fire had consumed his sheep and all the other servants with them. Again, while he was still talking, a third man came to tell Job that a group of Chaldeans attacked, killing his men and stealing his camels. And the worst news of all was delivered when another servant told Job that his sons and daughters were killed when they were at their eldest brother’s house and the roof collapsed on them.
Everything Job had in this world was ripped away in just one afternoon. He learned that his servants, his sources of income, and even his family were all suddenly gone. Many in a similar situation would immediately fall to their knees and curse the Lord. Think back on your life; how quickly do you hate God when encountering even smaller trials?
Instead, Job tore his clothes and shaved his head, standard modes of expressing great sorrow in the Bible. Those with long hair sometimes regarded it as ornamental and cut it off in mourning. At the same time, others who commonly wore short hair let it grow out. Job was filled with excessive grief, and he expressed that grief in a manner that was common in his day.
So, Job fell to the ground in a time of great calamity and worshipped God, resigning himself to His divine will. Job expresses a most submissive piety. It is not the language of complaint but rather an expression of trust in the Lord. He had nothing when he came into the world, and all that he had obtained had been by the providence of God. And as He gave it, He had a right to remove it. Thus far, Satan had been foiled in his plot, and Job had sustained the shock of losing it all and showed that he did not serve God on account of the benefits that he had received.
All of Job’s statements, on this occasion, are expressions of submission to the Divine will. He sinned not, nor did he blame God. Satan was disappointed because his accusations proved false. Job did not charge God foolishly, and he did not curse Him to His face. When afflicted, we should not vent our wrath against God because He has a right to remove our comforts. He gave them, not to be our permanent inheritance, but to be withdrawn when He pleases. It is proof of His goodness that we have been permitted to tread His earth so long. A temporary gift may be removed at the pleasure of the giver, and we hold all our comforts at the good pleasure of God alone.
The trustworthy source of comfort in trials differs from the belief that things are regulated by chance. We may understand the laws by which all this is done, but this affords no consolation. Only when we perceive that an intelligent Being presiding over these events and see that they result from plan and intention on His part can we find comfort in trial. We have the assurance that it is the result of intelligent design and that this design is connected with a benevolent end.
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