Job's Lesson on Trust

             Recently, my daily bible reading has taken me through the book of Job.  I will readily admit that, for me, Job is one of the most, if not the most, difficult book for me to understand.  During this reading, I think I have come to have a better understanding of at least some parts of it, so over the next couple of posts, I will try to share some of my observations.

            As we are first introduced to Job, we find that he is “blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8 NIV84).  Even so, in a very short period, he loses all his possessions, all his children are killed, and then, he is afflicted with painful boils over his entire body.  In other words, he experienced a lifetime of suffering in just a few short days. It’s no wonder that his wife told him to “curse God and die!” (Job 2:9 NIV84).

            It was then that Job made an astute observation, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10b NIV84).  Do we trust God only when things are great, or do we continue to trust Him when our whole world is collapsing around us? Trouble comes to each of us, often more times than we care to count.  Those are the moments when we must decide, “Do I follow God only for what He can do for me, or do I love Him because He is God?”  That question is like another one, “Are we saved from something or are we saved to something?”

            Being “saved from something” implies that all the troubles of life are behind us, and life will be perfect going forward with Christ.  Being “saved to something” means that we have a God and Father who loves us and walks with us in our darkest hour.  God doesn’t protect us from the “fires” of this world, but He assures us that there will be a Man in the fire with us.  I think that was Job’s point.  As followers of Christ, we must trust Him in all circumstances—both good and bad.

            Times of trouble will come.  I’ve been there.  My constant prayer during one of my darkest struggles was that I would trust Him no matter what the outcome.  The end of that struggle was not pain-free, but I learned to trust God like never before.  I think that might be part of the lesson from Job.  We must learn to trust God, not just in the good times, but in the darkest nights as well.  He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV84).

Job 1:1 – 2:10

Deuteronomy 31:8

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