Job 13:15 – Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him; I will surely defend my ways to His face.
Job 42:1-6 – Then Job replied to the Lord: 2 “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. 4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ 5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Who are our heroes? Actually my only true hero is Jesus. He was perfect and no one else has ever been. As a child I always thought that if I were to have a hero it would have to be the one whom I thought was the best, the strongest, the most able, and the one who most wanted, deep in their heart, to protect and save. So my childhood hero was Superman, at least until I moved from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus. Then I began to throw away childish things from my life and began to cling to reality and Truth, that being Jesus and God’s message of salvation found throughout the entire Bible.
A man I have long admired is Job. Not a perfect man, but a man of great faith. As I awoke this morning I was feeling such great love and gratitude to our God. So thankful for His faithfulness to me and all of mine, and to all of us. So grateful for all He did to save all of us. Even now my heart overflows with praises to God and love for Him. Now, as always, He is with me and my heart sings. Praise God! Oh dear Lord, praise You!
Job was a man greatly blessed by God. The richest guy around. He had wealth and family and friends that he greatly loved. There came a day when, for reasons he knew nothing about, in spite of his lived out faithfulness to God, he lost everything. Family and material wealth were gone. Then even his health was gone and he suffered horribly. He was sitting in the street, scratching his open itching wounds with a piece of broken pottery and a dog licking his wounds. He was hurt, suffering, missing his children and lamenting his turn of fortune. Then he had friends, whom I believe meant well, but did know as much as they thought they did. They were trying to convince him that he had obviously committed some heinous sin and so he needed to repent. They were arguing with him. They were wearing him down. Suffering Job then said words that have echoed in my heart ever since the first day I read them “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” Oh how deeply these words found root in my heart and mind. Yes, I will trust God no matter what comes. I was determined, but in my new faith I was determined with a shiver, hoping I would live up to those words.
Then Job said the next words “I will surely defend my ways to His face.” In his saying that he revealed a couple things. The first thing revealed was that he was absolutely certain that he had served God to best of his ability and knowledge. This was not braggadocio, but rather a sure knowledge of his sincere heart. The second thing that was revealed is that he did not have the wisdom, knowledge and perfection of ways that he thought he had. His “friends,” unwittingly being used by the devil, and even his wife had been used against his faith, began to wear him down. He never abandoned his dedication to God, but the sharp edges of his faith were getting rounded. Oh my, how terrifying a statement. Job was a sincere man of faith, but then he spoke foolishly. Just as people today will say things like “Well if God is real, when I see Him, I have a few things to get off my chest to Him!” As if they can scold God! Foolishness in the highest degree.
When God appeared to Job, yes, God scolded him, but really it was an intervention. His heart would have no more of Job’s crushing testing. God was reaching out to Job and restoring Him. In fact He was completing the remaking of Job that made him wiser, more knowledgeable, with more faith, and just a better believer than he had previously had been. God gifted him with more kids and greater wealth. That was only the earthly blessings, the real blessings was the greater awareness of and knowledge of God. Even in God’s correction of Job, God was loving Him. In God’s presence Job realized the foolishness and vanity of questioning or doubting God in any way. It is always wrong, always a sin, to doubt God as Romans 14:23 states that whatever is not of faith is sin. That’s not an opinion, but a stated fact in the Word.
Job, being questioned by God was humbled and repented of questioning God. For the rest of his days (one hundred forty more years) God manifestly displayed His love for Job as He abundantly blessed Job in all his ways. God is truly wonderful!
Now let’s understand that Job’s faith was not tested by God. It was tested by the devil. God had no need to test Job, He knew of Job’s great faith in Him. No, God did not test Job, He proved Job. What was in Job, his great faith in God, was shown, and recorded, for all the world and all generations to see. And what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good. Today, we can be sure that Job is in Heaven. We can also be sure that all his family is in heaven. So the upshot of it all is that Job went through a most horrible trial, but he and his family all ended up in heaven. Family and Friends, that is the most fabulous ending! The moral of the story is to trust God beyond understanding, beyond circumstances, beyond our senses, to always trust God. He is worthy of it. To be able to do that, draw near to Him and know Him more and more every day. The more we trust God the more we know God and the more we know God the more we trust Him. God is our hero! Praise God! Yes, 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.
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”