#DailyDevotion Life with God isn’t Always Easy
February 5th
Read Job 2:1—3:10
Job 2:3-10 And 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, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” (4) Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. (5) But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” (6) And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” (7) So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. (8) And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. (9) Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” (10) But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Really God? You’re going to let Satan treat your faithful servant Job as he pleases? How on earth can you do that? Sure, God comes back later and tells Job if he can answer His questions then He will answer Job’s and our questions. And well, we can’t answer God’s questions. But still we ask. Still, we complain. But in doing so, do we sin against the Lord. Job in all this did not sin with his lips. We do not know if he sinned in his heart.
Job’s attitude is probably the best we can hope for when we are in similar circumstances. What is that attitude? It is found in his answer to his wife: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In truth we deserve nothing good from the Lord and pain, trials and tribulations is what we deserve even when we’ve done our best to be only good and faithful servants because we still fail in that endeavor. So we receive the good with bad from the Lord in our daily lives. But why? What purpose does it serve? Does God get his jollies from watching all this?
Paul tells us, Rom 5:3 “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, (4) and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (5) and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Again Paul tells us, Rom 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” We who are Christians who are undergoing suffering, particularly suffering to which we can point to no cause in us have these words from God as to the purpose of suffering for the Christian and to a possible outcome. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of our sufferings is conforming us to his image and likeness. He is going to bring about good from the evil we undergo. What that good is we cannot always see or will discover in this lifetime. But we have this promise that he is going to work it for our and others good. Trusting in Christ’ promises we are able to endure like Job. But it isn’t going to be fun or pretty going through it.
Lord Jesus Christ, you allow all sorts of evil to come our way for our good and according to your purpose to conform us to your image and likeness. Grant us faith in the midst of suffering that we may endure and be examples of faith to those who follow after us. Amen.