January 19 - Job 1:1-4:21

Good morning everyone,

Today we come to the book of Job. Now, the Old Testament is divided into 5 parts; the Pentateuch, History, Poetry or Writings, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets, we will find Job in the third part with poetry. You’re saying what? Poetry? It’s true. The book of Job is the oldest book in the Bible being penned somewhere around 2000 BC, quite possibly making it one of, if not THE, oldest book ever. The author is, though unknown, believed to be an Israelite since the covenant name Yahweh is used for God. 

Job doesn’t seem to be a member of God’s chosen family line but he was a very godly man who  not only knew God but deeply believed in God, not just as a passing statement you might hear someone say today that could sound like “Well sure, I believe in God”. Job truly believed in and had faith in God’s decisions and the ways of God. He knew right from wrong and spent a lot of time burning sacrifices to God on behalf of his children whom he feared may curse God at their family gatherings, his fear being justified as we will see later the heart of his wife.

Often people will say “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Recently I heard a reply to that, that quite honestly I plan to use a lot, it was, “ That’s easy, there are no good people. Romans 3:10 tells us ‘There is no one righteous, not one.’ So the better question would be, why do good things happen to us, we are all sinners?” The answer of course is Jesus, He died His blood covering our sins. We will see that though Job was a righteous man in the end he was a sinner just like you and me and will repent before the Lord and all his riches will be restored.

One thing that I do want to point out here from the first couple of chapters is that Satan, though God tossed him from heaven, he still, along with all the angels living in heaven, has to make an account to God of what he has been up to, and ….  this is a VERY big “AND”, he does not get to do anything to us unless he has God’s permission, 1Corinthians 10:13 tells us “we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear”, why?? because it is all in God’s control. God knows us so well, so very, very well and He “agape”, unconditionally, loves us more than we could ever fathom, so He will allow us to be tempted to strengthen us, to give us not only confidence in ourselves but faith and confidence in the almighty God himself, our Abba Father. Like Job, we too must trust God when we face hard times, bad days, cranky people, financial difficulties, health issues, you name it;  staying strong in our faith even when someone may say to you, like Job’s wife said to him, “are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”  Now in all fairness, maybe she was just wishing him to die to put him out of his misery, I don’t know, but given the fact that Job would make regular sacrifices to God for his kids I am thinking that maybe her faith was not as strong as Jobs. What I do know is God loves me, He loves you very much, and like I’ve said before, He’s got a plan, and His plan is perfect.

Oh gosh, there is so much more I wanted to say today, these first few chapters were incredibly  full of hope and encouragement. I pray you will all just let the wealth of information and wisdom soak into you from this book of Job. Feel the depth of God’s love and let it carry you through each and every moment this week.

I hope you have a really good day.

God bless you all