December 26, 2012 Seeing God in the Book of Job

Seeing God in Job Job 1:20-22 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; 5 the name of the LORD be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. & Job 2:10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” I KNOW. Job’s (Jobes) story is nasty. It’s awful, heart-rending, sad, frustrating, weird and scary—to name a few. Someone said, “Do we have to read Job? I like to read through it as fast as I can.” Well, yes, if you want to get to know God much better, you do have to read Job. What other reason is there to read the Bible? And instead of racing through it, try spending some time in Job’s agony. Then you will more fully celebrate Job’s victory. The verses above are, I think, the foundation of Job’s story. From the Garden of Eden when Eve and Adam decided they deserved more than God had given them in the perfect Eden, humanity has been asking God for more. We blame God for the bad things. We accuse God of not loving or caring for us when life is tough. We turn from him to pursue other things because we think God has too little to offer. Worshiping God is often far from our minds—even if (and especially if) things are going well. But look. See Job’s heart. See Job’s submission. He knows that EVERYTHING is from God. He knows God has the power and the right and the privilege to do with our lives as he pleases. Hard lessons come to us reluctantly. We want to reject them. Most of us never do get it right. Job eventually did. He has some learning to do. Stay with me, and let’s learn with him. It’s True! Great lessons come with great awareness.