Learning From Job... Worst. Day. Ever!

Besides Genesis, my favorite book of the bible is Job. When we were first going through our valley season, this was the book I found most comforting. Here is a man that lost literally everything except his trust and hope in God. One of the wonderful things about reading Job and the bible in general, is that it is always new and fresh. Every time you read God’s word you can find something new that you missed or get a deeper understand of what you thought you once knew. For me rereading Job, has done that very thing. Looking at just the first chapter there’s a wealth of concepts and truths. I’m going to look at a few of them.

God was the one who mentioned Job to satan.

Job 1:6-8 says “One day the members of the heavenly court came to present themselves before the Lord , and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked Satan. Satan answered the Lord , “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.” Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”

Satan is the ultimate narcissist. He fell as an angel because he wanted to be like God and was prideful. (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:17). God knowing this, knew by “bragging” on Job, satan would react to this. On the surface that sounds like God has wrong motives. How can He love us, but dangle us in front of satan? I would say because of God’s omnipotence, He knows the outcome before the beginning. He knew that even though satan would come after Job, Job could have victory. From Job’s victory, others would come to know God and satan again would be defeated. The bible tells us we have victory over satan, but until we are put in a situation where we go up against him, do we really believe it? Trials boosts our confidence and trust in God. Trials show us we can fight and win. Satan can not keep us down because we are more than conquerors. (Romans 8:31-39)

Moreover, our trials are never a waste. Romans 5:3-5 says “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Trials build the godly qualities we need to get through this life.

God does not value things like we do.

In Job 1:3 it explains that Job was the richest man in the area. Yet, God allowed everything he had to be taken. Why? We go through life desperately trying to hold onto “stuff”. We work countless hours to get stuff. We go into debt to get more stuff, but at the end of our lives we can’t take any of that stuff with us. (Psalm 49:17, 1 Tim 6:7) We have a “mine” mentality, but the bible disputes this attitude. Psalm 24:1-2 says “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. For He laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths.” The reality is God owns everything. He is the only one that can really say “mine”, but in His goodness He blesses us with things and the ability to get things. God knew that as quickly as Job lost everything, He could restore everything. If we could shift our focus to God is the source, then we could have peace that the loss of something isn’t the end of us. The loss of something doesn’t mean we won’t have something better restored.

God tests us, but never tempts us.

God responds to satan saying Job only serves God because He’s blessed him. In Job 1:12 He says “All right, you may test him,”. God also put parameters on the testing. God allows testing to build up our character, to bring forth our integrity or expose our lack of it. Testing shows us what’s really on the inside and if the inside needs refining. Satan tempts us with the motive to destroy us. Remember the bible says satan goes around like a lion to devour us. (1 Peter 5:8). A lion roams about quietly. A lion trails his prey looking for a weakness and an opportune time to pounce. Satan does that to us. He is constantly looking for our weaknesses and a time we might let our guard down. Satan approached Jesus in the wilderness while He was fasting, at a time His body was weak. (Matthew 4) Jesus’ physical body may have been weak, but not His spirit. We can’t let our spiritual body take a nap. We have to constantly strengthen our spirit man through prayer, reading the bible, worshipping and praising God.

The bible is always fresh and always new. We can always find something relevant in God’s word. This is because all the authors of the bible may be dead but, the word of God is still living. (Hebrews 4:12) Looking at the book of Job we can see some unique revelations to apply to our lives. In all of these points we can draw a huge conclusion. God is always for us and never against us. Everything God does is for our benefit us personally and for the benefit of others. It may not look like it initially. However if we can view from different angles, we can see the bigger picture. God is always on our side. He strengthens us, gives us victory over satan, and gives us a testimony to draw others to Him.

Additionally, remember there is a war we can’t always see with our natural eyes. A war of good versus evil. A war of godly versus ungodly. There is a constant battle because sin is present in this world and satan is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4) Adding to the first point, God let's us go through things because they prepare us for battle. Trials and testings, help train us for victory in this war. A soldier can go through simulations, boot camps, etc to train, but where do they really get victory and advancement of skills? Through fighting. Through going through a battle. They learn about their enemy and find weaknesses to gain the advantage. God knows there's a battle and as a loving Father, wants His children equipped.