Pastor Bob DuPar
August 21, 2008

Journal Entry



Scripture

Job 1:1-3:26; 1 Corinthians 14:1-17; Psalm 37:12-29; Proverbs 21:25-26

Observation

Job was “the greatest man among all the people of the East.” (Job 1:3) That’s quite a statement. Satan’s accusation was that Job only feared and served God because of God’s blessing and protection. I’m assuming that this exchange between God and Satan happened after Satan was cast from heaven. But, I’m confused as to how Satan is allowed in God’s presence along with the other angels (1:6). Are these all the angels, including the ones that fell with Satan? Or, are these the good angels plus Satan? It’s hard to know for sure.

Also, it’s troubling that God allows Satan to torment Job simply to prove his integrity. God Himself admits in 2:3, “You have incited Me against him to ruin him without any reason” though in God’s own words Job is “blameless, upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” Job’s sons and daughters weren’t living godly lives. But, the text repeatedly affirms Job’s righteousness and purity before God. Four messengers come before Job and in very short order basically convey that his whole life has changed. Yet, in Job’s response/reaction and his grieving the Bible says that “Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” (1:22)

Even after Satan gets permission to inflict Job with painful sores from his head to his feet, and Job’s own wife counsels him to “curse God and die” – still Scripture states that “Job did not sin in what he said.” (3:10)

As much as we like to bag on Job’s three friends and their advice, they did sit on the ground in silence with him for seven days and seven nights because “they saw how great his suffering was.” I don’t know how many of us would go to these lengths to identify with our friends in their suffering.

Finally, I liked the whole Proverbs passage,

“The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work. All day long he craves for more, but the righteous give without sparing.”

What a contrast!

Application

I am challenged by Job’s words in 2:10,

“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

My application is to remain true and faithful to God in good times and bad. I pray that I might be able to weather tough times without sinning against God. Also, as I said, as much as I have criticized Job’s friends, I have a lot to learn from them. I have never empathized with any of my friends in pain to the degree that these guys did. And, yet I have still given advice. I need to work on listening more, and demonstrating my love through silence as well as words.

Prayer

“God, I hope and pray that my life never looks anything like Job’s, but help me to love You and be faithful to You despite my circumstances.”