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| Somewhere between Colorado & Virginia |
Job was a very wealthy man who was a very prosperous farmer who had cultivated many things from hard work. He was titled "The Greatest Man in the East." Job was a man of God who was seen as such and everyone who knew him saw his desire to honor God. He was blessed by God and his possessions were many. He had Faith, wealth, family, and all of them experienced a very full and giving life. All ten of his children were enjoying their splendor in joy and needed for nothing, Job had taught them all well. Go back to my previous posts in Ecclesiastes in reference to Solomon's possessions and wealth, both of these men had everything they could possess, but Job had a soul-to-soul connection with his wife and loved one woman dearly, this gave Job an even bigger stake in life here on earth. He also had a God-fearing family and had been blessed with 10 children.
Satan came before God and was asked if he had considered Job and His blamelessness and uprightness before the Lord. Satan responded by insinuating Job was only faithful because God had blessed him beyond comprehension. Satan predicts that Job will curse God's name if he loses his possessions. God placed parameters on what Satan could do to Job, he wasn't allowed to harm his body. This is a very intriguing set of verses because we see a couple of important things. Satan, the ruler of hell and the doer of all evil, is restricted by God. Without God's permission, Satan is very much powerless. This is a comforting and unsettling thing at the same time. God is perfect in all things, He is love, He is truth, He is all that ever was, is, and will ever be, He is omnipresent. Yet, He allows Satan to tempt us? If our Father is allowing Satan to tempt us, does He have our best interest in mind? Ironically, coming from a mindset of thinking all things that are good should be easy, He allows us to be hurt because it will draw us closer to Him, in some circumstances. The mission isn't that we will live a life that is easy, the mission is to make disciples of men. We are told that we are not meant for this world and all of it groans for the new world because of the sin we brought into the world. We corrupted the earth and we deserve the consequences, enter Jesus Christ, who was sent by God to save us from our ultimate consequence of eternal damnation from God. He is the only way we can experience life. Otherwise, we are doomed to a life that is meaningless in the grand scheme of time. Yes, you can have meaning outside of Christ, but it has a sandglass attached to it because it will end in time. God's love is never-ending and we will live in Heaven for the rest of eternity enjoying the fruits of Christ's sacrifice for us and experience life much like the Garden of Eden in Genesis.
Job has the worst day anybody has ever had in the history of humanity. The dominoes begin to fall: all 500 of his oxen and 500 donkeys were killed by the Sabeans along with his servants, the fire of God fell upon all 7,000 of his sheep and killed them as well as his shepherds, the Chaldeans raided and killed all 3,000 of his camels as well as his servants, lastly, all 10 of your children were killed in the house of your oldest son because a great wind brought the house down upon them. What would you do if this was all announced to you by your servants within a few minutes of time? No one experiences grief like this in such a short period of time, most people never experience this much tragedy in our entire lifetimes, or even in multiple generations throughout our family. It isn't imaginable, just picture the greatest tragedy you have experienced (if you have experienced something terrible) and take an honest approach to how you felt in that moment. I presume, if you are anything like myself, you can learn from Job's response and attempt to have the perspective he has. Job immediately tore his robes, shaved his head, and begins to praise God and bless His name. What? How? Because Job had a perspective of understanding everything he has was a gift from God and it is all His, Job knew he was a caretaker of the things he had been given. Job 1:22 - "In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."
Dear Lord, I pray that you will comfort me in my times of stress. Draw me closer to you and enable me to react like Job when I am going through awful things. There are many things I believe I need in life, comfort, health, money, a spouse, children, career, etc. yet in my heart of hearts I know I only need you, create in me that foundation on a daily basis. Remind me of your grace. Amen.
All images © 2015 - 2018 Jordan Tackett
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