The Faith of Job

Job 1:8

“Then 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.”

I am reminded of the commercials for a pair of pants that Dockers were making at the time. The pants did not have to be ironed and they repelled stains. In the commercial a man goes to work, normal day. The day progresses and this man’s day turns from bad to worse with all kinds of things happening. His shirt is stained, his shoes are messed up, his socks are even dirty. He comes in a daybreak looking pretty rough but his pants….well they look perfect, still having a crease and looking ironed. Commercial ends, the pants survived looking like new.

I will bet you never had a day like Job.  We all sit around and talk about those days but I believe Job has the crown for the most crappy day ever.  Satan comes to visit God and that is how all this gets started.  God asked Satan if he has considered Job, a blameless and upright man?  Satan replies, “yes but you cover him with favor, no wonder he is blameless and upright.”  Satan goes on to say that if God strikes him down Job will surely curse God.  Well, last time I checked, God always comes out on top in challenges with Satan.   So God says OK and unleashes Satan on Job. 

In one day, everything he had, possessions and family are all dead and gone.  How would you react to this?  A haunting question for sure, one that Job never saw coming.  We always try to steer away from bad things in our lives and try to avoid them.  We often make plans focusing on the what if’s.  Job must have had an understanding of God that we don’t. 

In today’s world, we blame God for everything.  After bad days or bad jobs or bad friends or bad childhoods you often see everyone mad at God.  In verses 21 and 22 in the first chapter, Job says “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.  In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”  In other words, Job did not blame God for any of the wrongdoing. 

All that was taken away from Job might have soured his faith in God but as you can see his faith was grounded in God, not possessions.  We all need to take a step back and thank God for all the blessings we have.  Satan was unleashed for one day and look at what he did to Job.  Can I submit to you that Satan was defeated at the cross. He remains a defeated foe subject to the name of Jesus and power of the Holy Spirit. The new covenant Jesus brought us tells us we have life and death in the tongue. Our words are to be the action side of God’s will. In short, we can unleash Satan in our lives with our own words and we can also rebuke him with our words. Job was under the old covenant, we are under the covenant of grace praise the Lord.

It is time you stop telling God that he did nothing for you and ask for your eyes to be opened up to see the blessing God has provided you already. Job was grounded, blameless and an upright before that horrible day came.  We don’t know tomorrow so today is the time to get right with God.  Maybe you need to pray Job 21 over and over again. 

In those silly commercials, the man’s pants survived the night looking brand new despite what they went through. As Christians our faith should be the same way. We ought to be so grounded in Jesus and the Word that nothing shakes us. Job never lost his faith in God despite his friends and family and circumstances. Your faith should be the last thing standing.

Prayer: Father, I pray that our possessions do not take the place of you in our lives. I pray that we have the faith of Job and lean not on our own understanding but in all things acknowledge you and you make our paths straight no matter what. I pray that we keep our faith in you and not get dismayed by what you clean from our lives. In Jesus name, amen.