Slaughter, Fire, & Tornadoes

Whine much? Complain about your day to anyone who will listen? Tell you what, if you ever have a year that matches Job’s day, I’ll let you get on this blog and complain all you want.
Job was a morally wholesome person (Job 1:1). I won’t say he was faultless, but we can conclude that he was an example for all of us, even before the events that made him famous. He was a family man (Job 1:2), prosperous (Job 1:3-4), and a man of considerable spiritual maturity (Job 1:5). He is a fine enough role model that when when Satan arrives to stir up trouble, God picks Job out as an example of a model person (Job 1:6-8)
Satan, who lives to accuse, says that Job is only a good man because of his numerous blessings and that in their absence, he would disappoint (Job 1:9-12).
The result is the worst day – the worst hour!! – of Job’s life. His servants are slaughtered and his property stolen (Job 1:13-15). Next, other servants and livestock are consumed by an inexplicable “fire from heaven” (Job 1:16). More slaughtering of his servants follows quickly on the heels of the last disaster (Job 1:17), until the final blow is dealt when a tornado crushes the home where all his children were feasting, killing them all (Job 1:18-19).
How can a person respond to such tragedy? Job grieved, as would any of us (Job 1:20). What Job didn’t do was accuse God of injustice or malice.
Job 1:21-22 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. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
Could we have survived so much adversity with such a patient disposition?
The story continues in chapter two as we find that Satan is not satisfied with the results of the trial. This time, Job’s misery is to be compounded by boils that covered his entire body, bringing him to the brink of despair (Job 2:1-8). As always, when a person reaches the bitter edge of hopelessness, there is someone waiting to nudge you right over! Job’s own wife tells him to curse God and die (Job 2:9-10). When she leaves, she is replaced by Job’s “friends,” who spend the next 31 chapters trying to get Job to admit whatever sin he had committed to deserve all this! The combined force of all of this misery pushes Job dangerously close to blaming God over the next several chapters, to the point that God responds to a despondent Job out of a whirlwind in chapter 38. Even in this, God will give Job no explanation of the events that have transpired, only a forceful reminder to Job that he is the creature, not the Creator.
How can a person spiritually survive such a series of tragedies and miseries? Job does.
Job 42:1-6 Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Job’s patience was a rock to which he could return even after his faith wavered. He remembered that God is good and always wise. He remembered that it is good to wait on the Lord, even when it seems that life has taken Him far from us. Endure your trials, like Job, and you will find in the end that God has not forsaken you.
James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

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