Lessons I Learned from Job

 

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Have you ever identified with a character from the Bible? Or maybe you could see yourself doing exactly what they did given the circumstance. For me it can be in a good way, other times I cringe. When the cringe comes and I want to look away, only I know there is a lesson that I need to learn. As I studied through the book of Job, I came across a situation where I could identify with the enemy. Yeah, Ouch! Right to the heart. And I know there is a lesson I don’t want to forget. Here I am sharing 5 lessons learned from Job. And yes, I will share where I found that I can identify with Satan.

If you are not familiar with the story of Job, here is a brief summary, well as brief as I could manage. If you are familiar with the story, you can skip down to Lessons to Learn

 

 

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Summary of Job

 

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The book of Job starts out by introducing Job himself. He is a righteous man who fears the Lord. He is very wealthy and has seven sons and three daughters. Then the story turns to heaven saying that “the sons of God came to present themselves to the Lord.” And God directs this statement to Satan,

“Have you considered my servant Job. That there is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns from evil?” Job 1:8

 

High praise indeed, and let us not forget that God knows us and He judges our heart.

Now let’s look at how Satan relied,

“…Does Job fear God for no reason? …”  Job 1:9

“But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” Job 1:11

 

Here God gives Satan permission to do what he would with all that Job has, but he is not to touch Job himself.

Poor Job In one day he losses everything, all his wealth, and every single one of his children. Can you image? To give Job credit he takes all the news as each messenger tells of another loss, with grace. That is until the message of the death of his children, here he morns. Then he comes to this as his ultimate response,

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. Th Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” Job 1:21-22

 

Again, we see God and Satan discussing Job. Satan gives God another ‘yeah but’ response. He says that if God would touch his flesh and bone Job would curse Him. Once again God grants Satan permission to cause physical harm but he is not allowed to kill Job.

Satan gives Job painful sores that cover his entire body. Leaving Job sitting in ashes scratching himself with pieces of broken pottery.

 

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Job’s Friends

 

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Here Job has three friends come to comfort him. To their credit they sit with him in silence for seven days, and then the comfort goes south, as they start to give Job advise. Basically, they tell Job that he has committed some sin that has brought all this calamity to his door. His friends insist that he repent and turn back to God and all will be well again.

Job stands firm in his integrity and innocence. And this conversation goes back and forth through many chapters, with both sided becoming increasingly set in their way. It is a polite argument, for lack of a better word to describe this discourse. At one point Job states that he wants to plead his case before God, to prove his innocence.

 

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God Speaks

 

 

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In time God speaks. First God reminds them of who He is. If you need a good place to read of God’s sovereignty Job chapters 38-41 is a great place to start. As God gives Job space to plead his case, Job is stunned silent unable to answer God. In time Job confesses and repents for speaking about things he didn’t understand. And God turns to Job’s friends with a rebuke saying,

“My anger burns against you for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” Job 42:7

 

God instructs them to offer seven bulls and seven rams as a burnt offering and states that then Job will pray for them, and He will accept Job’s prayer.

In the end God restores Job with double the wealth he had before and another seven sons and three daughters. Job lives 140 years, long enough to see his grandchildren to the fourth generation.

 

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Lessons Learned from Job

 

 

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I am sure you can see there are many lessons to learn from the book of Job. Here I want to look at a few not so obvious lessons learned from Job that God brought to my attention as I studied trough the book. I believe it is good to look a little deeper. It is amazing what can be found in the simplest things. So, here we go.

 

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Lessons Learned #1- What Happens is Not All About this Life

 

 

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All the suffering that Job endured had nothing to do with what Job did or didn’t do. It wasn’t’ because he had sinned, or that someone else’s sin affected him. It wasn’t because his faith was lacking. He was an upright and honest man who feared God. Clearly there were things going on in heaven that Job and his friends had no knowledge of. And God gave Job an opportunity to give Him glory in a difficult situation. He also showed a truth to Satan, not that I think Satan learned anything. How often when we cry out “WHY” to God are we just blind to something else going on. Only God can see the full big picture. What we need to do is to trust God and remain faithful, knowing that He will care for us.

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12

 

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Lessons Learned #2 – How to Comfort a Friend in Need

 

 

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This may seem obvious however, I know that I often behave in a very similar way as Job’s friends. My tendency is to try to fix it for my friend. To say the one thing that will bring them real comfort, solve the problem. When the truth is the seven days without a word was more comfort to Job than all their words combined.

We can’t fix or take away someone else sorrow so it is best we don’t try. Less words and more time are a better way to go when giving comfort.

 

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Lessons Learned #3 – We Can’t Full Understand Who God Is

 

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Job’s friends get into the most trouble when they dug in their heels as to who God was and how He operated. You sin, you will be punished, you live a righteous life your will be rewarded. They were unwilling to even consider, “maybe Job didn’t sin, how would that change my understanding of who God is” I believe Job was probably trying to work through that very question. As he was the only one who knew that he wasn’t to blame for his situation. Yet through it all never questioned God’s goodness and faithfulness.

When we find ourselves in times of suffering and can’t understand why the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer, we need to know that God is still God. Our circumstances don’t dictate God’s goodness or grace, His holiness or His faithfulness. God is just. Plus, we have the bonus of knowing this promise from Romans

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.” Romans 8:28

 

This may seem hard to believe but I have experienced this truth, if you would like you can read about it here “Let’s Turn CANCER into cancer”

 

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Lessons Learned #4 –Too Many Words Bring Trouble

 

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In the book of Proverbs, we find these wise words,

“When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.” Proverbs 10:19

 

We see the truth of this in both Job and his friends. For Job’s part he grew frustrated and impatient with his friend’s insistence on his guilt. Then, Job became a bit arrogant in his innocence and spoke rashly, trying to prove his innocence to his friends. Sometimes, we need to just let people believe what they are going to believe and leave it at that. Besides we should be more concerned with what God thinks than what people think. And you never know, God is better at defending us than we can ever hope to be. You may just find that God will stand up for you, just as He did here for Job.

 

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Lessons Learned #5 – The Blessings of Forgiveness

 

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God told Job’s friends to offer a sacrifice and that Job would pray for them. What is not said is that Job’s heart, mind and Spirit would need to be in the right place with both God and his friends in order for his prayer to be acceptable to God.

Job had to forgive his friends first. We often overlook that forgiveness is a command not a felling. And we are to forgive just as we have been forgiven, this is a “cost of forgiveness.”

I believe it is safe to say that Job was willing to forgive without hesitation, simply because God said “Job will pray for you” He didn’t say “if Job will to pray for you” Again God judges the heart and He knew Job would forgive his friends.

 

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In Closing

 

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I Love the book of Job. I find comfort in its pages. Did you know that it is believed that Job was the first book of the Bible ever written? I always have to wonder why people still feel that when you are suffering it has to be your fault in some why or another, at least a little bit. I guess some don’t learn these lessons.  Even the disciples had that attitude when they asked Jesus if the man was born blind because of his sin or the sin of his parents.  If you would like to read more of my thought on this you can read “Is Suffering a Punishment from God”

So now, you may be wondering where I can see myself in Satan. When he is faced with a truth he doesn’t like (that Job is a righteous man) he responds with a solid “yeah but” attitude. And I also adopt this attitude especially if I feel that push in something where I don’t want to give (or admit I could be wrong). I have to be able to identify that this is the working of the Holy Spirit, and make a point to be sensitive to this work because I want to grow in the Spirit. My desire is to allow the Holy Spirit to guide me in my walk. I want the lessons learned to stick.

This time through the book of Job God showed me even more than I’ve seen before. And the best thing about God’s Word is that the next time I read this book I will learn something totally new and different. This is why we say that God’s Word is living.

 

I hope you experience the living Word of God often.

 

Grace and Peace

 

Debra Jean