Job 13:15\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Though He slay me, yet will I hope\u00a0in Him; I will surely\u00a0defend my ways to His face.<\/i><\/p>\n
Job 42:1-6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Then Job replied to the\u00a0Lord: 2\u00a0\u201cI know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.\u00a0\u00a03\u00a0You asked, \u2018Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?\u2019\u00a0\u00a0Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.\u00a0\u00a04\u00a0\u201cYou said, \u2018Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.\u2019\u00a0\u00a05\u00a0My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.\u00a0\u00a06\u00a0Therefore I despise myself and repent\u00a0in dust and ashes.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Who are our heroes?\u00a0\u00a0Actually my only true hero is Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0He was perfect and no one else has ever been.\u00a0\u00a0As 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.\u00a0\u00a0So my childhood hero was Superman, at least until I moved from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Then I began to throw away childish things from my life and began to cling to reality and Truth, that being Jesus and God\u2019s message of salvation found throughout the entire Bible.<\/p>\n
A man I have long admired is Job.\u00a0\u00a0Not a perfect man, but a man of great faith.\u00a0\u00a0As I awoke this morning I was feeling such great love and gratitude to our God.\u00a0\u00a0So thankful for His faithfulness to me and all of mine, and to all of us.\u00a0\u00a0So grateful for all He did to save all of us.\u00a0\u00a0Even now my heart overflows with praises to God and love for Him.\u00a0\u00a0Now, as always, He is with me and my heart sings.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!\u00a0\u00a0Oh dear Lord, praise You!<\/p>\n
Job was a man greatly blessed by God.\u00a0\u00a0The richest guy around.\u00a0\u00a0He had wealth and family and friends that he greatly loved.\u00a0\u00a0There came a day when, for reasons he knew nothing about, in spite of his lived out faithfulness to God, he lost everything.\u00a0\u00a0Family and material wealth were gone. Then even his health was gone and he suffered horribly.\u00a0\u00a0He was sitting in the street, scratching his open itching wounds with a piece of broken pottery and a dog licking his wounds.\u00a0\u00a0He was hurt, suffering, missing his children and lamenting his turn of fortune.\u00a0\u00a0Then he had friends, whom I believe meant well, but did know as much as they thought they did.\u00a0\u00a0They were trying to convince him that he had obviously committed some heinous sin and so he needed to repent.\u00a0\u00a0They were arguing with him.\u00a0\u00a0They were wearing him down.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Suffering Job then said words that have echoed in my heart ever since the first day I read them \u201cThough He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Oh how deeply these words found root in my heart and mind.\u00a0\u00a0Yes, I will trust God no matter what comes.\u00a0\u00a0I was determined, but in my new faith I was determined with a shiver, hoping I would live up to those words.<\/p>\n
Then Job said the next words \u201cI will surely\u00a0defend my ways to His face.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In his saying that he revealed a couple things.\u00a0\u00a0The first thing revealed was that he was absolutely certain that he had served God to best of his ability and knowledge.\u00a0\u00a0This was not braggadocio, but rather a sure knowledge of his sincere heart.\u00a0\u00a0The second thing that was revealed is that he did not have the wisdom, knowledge and perfection of ways that he thought he had.\u00a0\u00a0His \u201cfriends,\u201d unwittingly being used by the devil, and even his wife had been used against his faith, began to wear him down.\u00a0\u00a0He never abandoned his dedication to God, but the sharp edges of his faith were getting rounded.\u00a0\u00a0Oh my, how terrifying a statement.\u00a0\u00a0Job was a sincere man of faith, but then he spoke foolishly.\u00a0\u00a0Just as people today will say things like \u201cWell if God is real, when I see Him, I have a few things to get off my chest to Him!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0As if they can scold God!\u00a0\u00a0Foolishness in the highest degree.<\/p>\n
When God appeared to Job, yes, God scolded him, but really it was an intervention.\u00a0\u00a0His heart would have no more of Job\u2019s crushing testing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God was reaching out to Job and restoring Him.\u00a0\u00a0In 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.\u00a0\u00a0God gifted him with more kids and greater wealth.\u00a0\u00a0That was only the earthly blessings, the real blessings was the greater awareness of and knowledge of God.\u00a0\u00a0Even in God\u2019s correction of Job, God was loving Him.\u00a0\u00a0In God\u2019s presence Job realized the foolishness and vanity of questioning or doubting God in any way.\u00a0\u00a0It is always wrong, always a sin, to doubt God as\u00a0Romans 14:23<\/b>\u00a0states that whatever is not of faith is sin.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s not an opinion, but a stated fact in the Word.<\/p>\n
Job, being questioned by God was humbled and repented of questioning God.\u00a0\u00a0For 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.\u00a0\u00a0God is truly wonderful!<\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s understand that Job\u2019s faith was not tested by God.\u00a0\u00a0It was tested by the devil.\u00a0\u00a0God had no need to test Job, He knew of Job\u2019s great faith in Him.\u00a0\u00a0No, God did not test Job, He proved Job.\u00a0\u00a0What was in Job, his great faith in God, was shown, and recorded, for all the world and all generations to see.\u00a0\u00a0And what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good.\u00a0\u00a0Today, we can be sure that Job is in Heaven.\u00a0\u00a0We can also be sure that all his family is in heaven.\u00a0\u00a0So the upshot of it all is that Job went through a most horrible trial, but he and his family all ended up in heaven.\u00a0\u00a0Family and Friends, that is the most fabulous ending!\u00a0\u00a0The moral of the story is to trust God beyond understanding, beyond circumstances, beyond our senses, to always trust God.\u00a0\u00a0He is worthy of it.\u00a0\u00a0To be able to do that, draw near to Him and know Him more and more every day.\u00a0\u00a0The more we trust God the more we know God and the more we know God the more we trust Him.\u00a0 God is our hero!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!\u00a0\u00a0Yes, praise God!<\/p>\n
Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Job 13:15\u00a0–\u00a0Though He slay me, yet will I hope\u00a0in Him; I will surely\u00a0defend my ways to His face. Job 42:1-6\u00a0–\u00a0Then Job replied to the\u00a0Lord: 2\u00a0\u201cI know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.\u00a0\u00a03\u00a0You asked, \u2018Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?\u2019\u00a0\u00a0Surely I spoke of things I did…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[1849,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-1937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-job","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1937"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1939,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937\/revisions\/1939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}