Job 1:18-22 (22) – While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: 19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
In the book of Job the Lord God tells us the story of a real life man of faith. He was a good man who strove to live a righteous life before God. He both loved and feared God and his life was evidence of that. God allowed this man to be severely tested and he lost everything on earth that was dear to him. In a single day all his possessions were destroyed or stolen. All his beloved servants were killed. Then all his sons and daughters were killed. The Lord allowed the devil to do all this. Job’s response was not doubt, or even anger toward God, but instead he gave a powerful expression of faith as he gave honor to the name of the Lord. A person cannot have such faith unless their faith is truly their great reality. To have such faith as this one must know beyond doubt or reason, that God is good all the time and that He loves us. Without that knowledge, we have no sure faith, and we shall not hold up as Job did.
Then the Lord allowed the devil to strike his health and Job could only sit on the side of the road in pain, scratching his wounds with a piece broken ceramic. The devil made him have pain beyond the flesh clear down to his bones (Job 2). His poor traumatized wife, seeing Job’s continued faithfulness, became frustrated and told him to “Curse God and die.” But Job did not do that, instead he questioned her if we should receive good from the hand of God and then doubt Him when hard times happen? God said that after suffering all that Job had suffered that he did not sin with his words (Job 2:10). Job did not accuse God, but defended God after all that had befallen him. How could that possibly be? A person cannot have such faith unless their faith is truly their great reality. To have such faith as this one must know beyond doubt or reason, that God is good all the time and that He loves us. Without that knowledge, we have no sure faith, and we shall not hold up as Job did.
Family, we all know that good times and hard times come. Surprises of love come as well as let-downs from loved ones and friends. People we love die, often, in our estimation, much too soon. We, and those we love, suffer. How are we sustained to not sin against God? Our only hope is that we have embraced the knowledge of God that He offers to us all through Jesus. 2 Peter 1:3 states “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” Our power over doubt is the true knowledge of God. God Himself has given us Jesus, His Word and the Holy Spirit to bring us closer to Him and to increasingly know Him. Jesus Himself was the Revelation of God to the world (Colossians 1:15). It is the desire of God to reveal Himself to us so that we may be blessed in that knowledge and perhaps, if our hearts are not hard, we will love Him with everything that we are and so be blessed.
It is common in our day to be taught that it is okay to be angry with God. No, that is not biblical, it is what is taught to people who have so erred to make them feel better, and perhaps so the teacher may feel better about his own error. It is sin to lack faith in God (Romans 14:23). Doubting God is forgivable through Jesus, but it not what God desires. God has given us His Son Jesus, He has given us His written Word, and He has given us His tender Holy Spirit to teach us who He is and to keep us in that knowledge. As we read in 2 Peter 1:3 God has given us all that we need for a godly life and that by giving us knowledge of Him. The saying is true “Know God, know peace. No God, no peace.” If we know beyond anything we think we know and beyond anything we can think or imagine, if we know who God is, than we too can have the faith of Job. Did Job hurt, of course he did! Yet, Job knew God and so he was sustained through all his trials. Even later, when God questioned him, it was not punishment, but rescuing that God was doing. That from God’s goodness and love being expressed to Job.
A person cannot have Job-like faith unless their faith is truly their great reality. To have such faith as this one must know beyond doubt or reason, that God is good all the time and that He loves us. Without that knowledge, we have no sure faith, and we shall not hold up as Job did. So let us press in until we know, beyond anything that would push us toward unbelief, from within or without, that God is always good and that He loves us. God has always wanted us to know Him and be blessed by that knowledge. Let us live in it and so let the issues, the flood of love for Him wash through us and keep us. To know Him is to love Him. All that truly know Him know this. Let’s keep pressing in till He brings us home and then we will see and fully know how infinitely great and wonderful is our God. Praise God! Oh, He is so easy to love! Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.