Job 1:8 Have you considered My servant….

So, I want to give you a bit of back story to help catch you up to my present day journey with God. Approximately 2 years ago today. Sometime in November or December of 2010, God made it very clear to me He wanted me to read the book of Job and to know it well. I was pregnant with my son, Caleb, who will be 2 in February of 2013.

Jason and I were in a challenging place learning to adjust to life back at my parents house. We had moved back from California at the leading of God to have our son in Canada and having sold our house to move to California were grateful when my parents welcomed us into their home. Which now I see was God’s design all along, but I’ll get to that in future posts. So, here I am, reading Job and wondering why in the world God wants me to know this book so well. For those of you who are not familiar with Job or with the bible at all, this book basically starts off with the story of a man who is faithful and devoted to God. It actually describes him as blameless and upright before God! And while I am definitely not blameless, a study of the actual word blameless reveals to me that it means – “an ordinary person who has integrity”, and I would describe myself like that.

So, I begin to relate to this great man of God. And then Satan actually approaches God and challenges why Job is so dedicated to God. Here is a quote from Job 1:8-12 of the NKJV (New King James Version)

8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” 9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”

And without typing out the whole book, the gist is that Satan does his handy work and does his very best to ruin Job’s life. He arranges it that a storm kills his children. He has all his flocks stolen or killed. The only thing he doesn’t do is harm Job at all. Or his wife for that matter. Job is still dedicated to God. Faithful and trusting.

22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

And so in Chapter 2, Satan asks God for permission to do even more as obviously it wasn’t enough to change Job’s attitude. He wanted to make Job sick.

6 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”

Okay, this is getting interesting now. Satan has utterly abused Job and yet Job is still loving to the Lord. He never once blamed God.

(Spoiler alert)I recommend that everyone read Job as it has the happiest and most exciting ending to me, but for those who want the Coles Notes version, after a long time of being sick God finally reveals Himself to Job and his friends and proves that He is the great Redeemer. Chapter 42 has this to say:

12 Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. 15 In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

Praise God for allowing us to go through challenges to improve our character and increase our faith and His ever present faithfulness to redeem us from our challenges. Oh, wait… does that mean I am about to go through some challenges? Well folks, keep reading my posts to find out just what amazing faith building stuff my family has been through these past 2 years And counting.