No One Wants to be Job, Part 1
Ask any believer – child or adult – which Biblical character they’d like to imitate or whose life they’d like to live, and you may get answers like Abaraham, Daniel, King David, one of the Apostles, Esther, Ruth or Deborah. But I’m pretty sure no one is going to say Job.
Don’t get me wrong, we all admire his faithfulness in such a severe trial. But no reasonable, self-respecting human is going to ask to go through that. In fact, we all probably secretly hope, or maybe some of us even boldly pray, that God will not “Job” us.
I certainly don’t want to be “Jobed” by God. It would be nice to know that the Heavenly Father was as proud of me and my uprightness as He was of Job’s. Looking at my life from the inside out, I don’t envision God saying, “Have you considered My servant, Nancy, that there is none like her on the earth, a blameless and upright woman, who fears God and shuns evil?”. [See Job 1:8] God pulled His hedge of protection away and let (almost) the full force of Satan’s evil access to Job.
While we may hope and pray not to be “Jobed” (or tried as Job was), I believe we all also hope and pray that if it ever comes to that we will show the faith and uprightness that Job showed in spite of a horrific trial. If I ever lose everything in one fell swoop, as Job did, I want to face it with the kind of faith he did and come out on the other side knowing that I was forever changed for the better by the experience.
Job’s story is definitely a “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” tale.
Job 2:13 [KJV] 13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that [his] grief was very great.
I’m thinking of Job and about being “Jobed” today because a God-fearing, God-serving, loving family is swimming in the churning sea of a life-altering trial right now. What they are going through has already forever changed their lives and they have no idea when they will come out on the other side – or whether that will happen in this life or the next.
If someone you know is having a Job-like trial, there are a few easy options from the Bible that strike me as a good way to help:
1. Be like Job’s friends in the first seven days they were with him and just sit with your friend. Don’t give advice, don’t try to tell them it will pass, and don’t compare your trials to theirs (even if yours truly is worse). Just sit. Just be with him/her. [Job 2:11-13}
2. Don’t be like Job’s friends after the first 7 days =
a. Don’t try to analyze why they are facing this trail.
b. Don’t point out their faults.
c. Don’t try to speak for God.
3. Pray without ceasing [1 Timothy 5:17]. And then pray some more. Ask everyone you know who is a God-fearing person to pray too.
4. Stick with them through it all. [Proverbs 18:24] Don’t get weary in prayer or sitting with them. Proverbs 27:10 [NLT] Never abandon a friend--either yours or your father's. When disaster strikes, you won't have to ask your brother for assistance. It's better to go to a neighbor than to a brother who lives far away.
No one wants to be “Jobed”, but it may happen to you or someone you know someday. It may happen to me. If it does, we will need true friends to help us through.
I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the comments section below or email me at any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org.