Job 1:22: “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”

November 26th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The Book of Job addresses the difficult question of why sometimes affliction after affliction comes on a believer’s life; why God’s children seem to have suffered so intensely from the beginning of the ages down to these modern times. God is ultimately sovereign over everything, including the trials and temptations that we experience. That doesn’t mean He causes bad things to happen to good people, but rather that the difficult things of our lives are “Father-filtered.” This distinction may seem small, but it is not trivial.

Job teaches us that the suffering of the righteous is not an expression of God’s anger but His love, as He uses the suffering we experience and face to help us grow and mature. Augustine put it this way: “God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.” This obviously means then that a new believer cannot suppose that everything in their life will go smoothly after they have been converted. But they, and we, can trust that our heavenly Father preserves and keeps His children in the midst of all of the temptations and trials of this life.

Many years ago a pastor lost his entire family in a fire. He was walking through his city, Lausanne, Switzerland, discouraged, depressed, and defeated; trying to understand God’s purpose in allowing him to suffer so great a loss. As he walked, he passed a construction site where a great cathedral was being built. He watched as a stonecutter chiseled a small triangle out of stone. Curious, the pastor asked him what he was doing. The stonecutter stopped his work and pointed to a spot near the top of the towering structure and said, “Sir, do you see that tiny opening at the top of the cathedral?” “Yes,” replied the pastor. “Well,” said the stonecutter, “I am cutting out this piece down here so that it will fit in up there.” In an instant, the pastor realized that this was what God was doing in his own life. He received peace and returned to his serving with a renewed trust and zeal for the Lord. When hard times come (and they will), we can respond in one of two ways. We can either move toward God, or we can move away from Him.

“Thank You, LORD, that you are still chiseling away on us down here. Have your way in our lives today.”

=============================================================

Job 1 KJV

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. ² And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. ³ His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.  ⁴ And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. ⁵ And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.  ⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.   ⁷ And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. ⁸ And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?  ⁹ Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? ¹⁰ Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.  ¹¹ But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.  ¹² And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.  ¹³ And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: ¹⁴ And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: ¹⁵ And the Sabeans fell upon them , and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. ¹⁶ While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.  ¹⁷ While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.  ¹⁸ While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: ¹⁹ And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. ²⁰ Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,  ²¹ And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. ²² In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.