Job 2:9–10: “Then [Job’s] wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

November 27th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Everything Job had, livestock, servants, children, his own health, were taken from him. Yet through all of it his faith remained strong. He must have been overwhelmed and a little bewildered by all that had happened, but no one, including his wife, could accuse him of hypocrisy. Someone suggested that it’s no wonder Satan left Job’s wife alive as she was adding temptation to affliction, advising him to curse God so God would kill him for blaspheming. She was suggesting that death would be preferable to living through his trial. But Job’s words and actions demonstrated his confidence in God and his belief that God should be worshiped whether He was giving good gifts or allowing difficult trials.

As parents we try to keep our children from experiencing suffering, giving them everything we can afford to make their lives as pleasant as possible. We might be wrong in doing this, and as a result we are raising them to be a spoiled generation that believes being truly loved by someone, God included, means getting everything they want and never experiencing anything painful or difficult. This popular notion of God in America today is not the God of the Bible, and the story of Job reminds us that life is just not that way. No one could love us more truly than our heavenly Father and He doesn’t always give us what we request, but He does always give us what we need. The Book of Job reminds us of the dangers of believing in a God who rewards virtue with prosperity and success.

There’s a story of a little girl who was riding along on her bike and bumped her head on a low-hanging tree branch. She ran into the house hollering, “Mom! Mom, Joey hurt me!” Her mom looked up from what she was doing and said, “Joey didn’t hurt you. Joey’s not even here. He went to the grocery store with your daddy.” Startled and bewildered, the little girl replied, “Whoa! You mean bad stuff like this can happen all on its own? Bummer!”

“LORD, even in the face of difficulties today help us to hold onto our integrity and accept adversity.”