It is hard to believe the summer is essentially over and we are getting ready to start meeting as a club tomorrow (for my local LOGOS Club in Colorado). There is a lot to do today to get ready, and it didn’t help that I couldn’t log in to either of my sites for monument members or monument publishing. So I spent time with my website guy, and we never really figured it out, but I was able to set up a new Admin for myself and get this going. We love technology until it doesn’t work, don’t we? And out here in Colorado, especially in the Aurora area where I live, we complain a lot about how bad the roads are. They are finally getting worked on, so now we complain about the road work getting in our way. It seems like we, or at least I, can tend toward complaining more than I should.
I am almost done with Job at this point in my reading, which in a way, deals with some complaining. As I was getting to the end of Job’s final discourse, I started wondering, would I want God to say to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Steven?” Have you ever thought about that? How would you respond to this if you knew God was about to say to Satan, “Have you considered my servant (your name here)?” At first glance, I would want to say, ‘absolutely not!’ But then, think about it, God knew that Job was strong enough in his faith to withstand the worst Satan could throw at him. Wouldn’t you want your faith to be that strong? I know I would…or I’m pretty sure I would. I think most of us would love to have that kind of faith, as long as we didn’t have to use it, right? Or at least not in that way.
But James says we are to consider it JOY when we face these trials that stretch our faith. Not for the trial itself, but for the results of the trial. It’s the same with working out your muscles. It isn’t pleasant while you are doing it, but we do tend to like the results. And this works with all character traits. It isn’t ‘fun’ to go through the process of growing the traits, but in the end, it is worth it. And it is just that, part of the process.
Of course, there were also Job’s “friends” he had to deal with. As I was reading through this time, I saw more of the sarcasm Job used. In Chapter 12:2, Job says to his ‘friends,’ “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.” In other words, “you guys are wisdom incarnate, and when you die, what will the world do without you?” I found myself laughing out loud with this. And later, in Chapter 21, he tells them to listen again. “Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.” He realizes that whatever he says isn’t going to change their mind from thinking that he, Job, is a wretched sinner and deserves all of this pain. Again, I almost laughed out loud with this one. And finally, in Chapter 26, Job says,
“How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight you have displayed!
Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?”
I read these with a sarcastic tone in my mind as well, and had to chuckle a bit. Job is certainly frustrated with his friends who did nothing to help him out. And in the end, God was testing him, and He restored all that he had and more. God doesn’t ever really give a reason for the pain caused to Job, but God uses a bit of sarcasm in the end as well when He tells Job to teach Him about all of creation.
Jesus gives a lesson in the New Covenant on this when some people came to Him and told Him that Pilate was mixing the blood of Galileans with sacrifices. Here is what Jesus said,
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5, ESV)
Jesus didn’t focus on the events so much as to use them as a warning that we will all perish in one way or another. The question is, are you ready? Accidents happen, not outside of God’s knowledge, of course, but we will all die eventually unless Jesus comes again before then. Are you ready?
So in that sense, I would want God to know that if He ever said, “Have you considered my servant Steven?”, that this would be the ultimate compliment to Him building my faith through trials. Am I ready for that? While I can’t say that I have the patience and strength of Job, I know that I am ready to go home whenever God calls me. And I know that He will strengthen me for the process should it involve pain and suffering. I know that I can trust God in anything and everything He sends my way though it may be extremely difficult, and I would prefer that anything that intense would happen. But I know that as the Bible says, sufficient are the troubles for each day, and sufficient is the grace to handle those troubles each day. And the more I read God’s Word, the more I know that He will get us all through anything He sends our way, and that there is a purpose and plan for it all, and in the end, we will spend eternity in Heaven with our Lord and Savior because, as Job also said, “I know that my Redeemer lives.”
Amen
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