Grief and Marriage: Are you like Job’s Wife?

Job’s wife gets a bum deal from most people.

Don’t raise your eyebrows at me. Seriously, she faced all the same trials as Job and people don’t cut her any slack.

Why is that?

Grief Bites

Mrs. Job had a bad day. A very bad day. She might have been sewing or cooking or sweeping out the house when the messengers came bearing tidings of distress.

The beasts of burden? All stolen. Fire from the sky burned up all the sheep? Wait. It’s almost shearing season. What about wool  and mutton this year?

Those camels? Stolen! They carried trading goods to the nearest city. All of those things were gone and now no way to transport anything else. What else is left to trade?

Her jaw dropped. She dug at her ears. She couldn’t have heard the servant right.

What Job Teaches about Suffering

Suffering abounds in our world. No one likes it. Many want to blame it on God. But who has suffered more than Job?

We’ve noted that the book of Job is a treatise on many things. The chief subject is suffering.

Questions asked by Job, his wife, his friends and even God are still asked today. Why is this happening? What did I do to deserve this? Why is God allowing this? If God is real, why doesn’t He stop suffering?

What Job Suffered

1. The Loss of his wealth. In a single day, Job’s working animals and camels were stolen, his sheep were burned up and all of his hired helpers were killed.
2. The Grief of Death. Job had no sooner learned of his great poverty, when a servant arrived to tell him about a terrible storm. Wind had destroyed his son’s house where all ten of his children were eating dinner, and every one of his children perished.
3. Affliction of his flesh. Later, Job’s entire body was covered in boils. Some sources state this might be elephantitis, a condition where the body swells and the pain is horrific.
4. Enmity with his wife. We’ll discuss this more next week, but after everything that happened to him, Job’s wife struck out at him. She suffered all these losses with him, but her faith failed her. She wanted to die, and she tried to convince Job to curse God so God would grant her wish.
5. Loss of respect of his friends. As discussed last week, Job’s friends showed up to mourn with him. Instead, they thrust false accusations at him, taunting him to just admit his sins so God would stop afflicting him.

Reasons Job Suffered

The beauty of this story is in Job 1:8. Satan shows up to accuse God’s children and God asks him, “Have you considered my servant Job?”

God actually brags about Job to Satan. Can you imagine it? This is what He said about Job: 1) no one else is like him; 2) he is perfect and upright; 3) he fears God and 4) he avoids evil.

If God thought so highly of Job, why did He allow all these horrible things to happen to him? Not only did He allow them, He encouraged Satan to test Job.

Why would a loving God do that?

1. To silence Satan. Satan was positive he could get Job to fail in his godly walk. But no matter how hard things got for him, Job didn’t stop trusting in God. When we walk in the power of the Lord, Satan is defeated (1 John 4:4).
2. To reveal Himself to Job. Job believed in God’s goodness, but he didn’t understand God’s greatness until he’d walked through the fire of trials (Job 42:5).
3. To reveal the truth of Job’s character. Job was a humble man. We’d say he was a perfect example of what a Christian should be – before his trials. Afterward, Job was more humble, more grateful and more amazed by God. Faith is refined in times of suffering (1 Peter 1:7-8).
4. To teach Job’s friends not to judge. This is a lesson we still need to learn today. We aren’t all-knowing. Job’s friends were ignorant of God’s thoughts about Job’s lifestyle. They assumed bad things happened because Job was a sinner, when in reality they happened because Job was amazingly faithful to God. We would be wise to keep our condemnation to ourselves when we see hardship and hurt in someone’s life, even if we see them living in flagrant sin. We are not judges; only God has that right (Romans 14:10).
5. To teach Job to pray for his critics. The structure of Job 42:10 makes it sound like Job’s problems didn’t end UNTIL he prayed for his friends. “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.” We are commanded to love our enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:44).
6. To demonstrate the truth of Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” If Job could suffer all he did and still say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21)” who are we to doubt God’s sovereignty? Remember that in the end, God blessed Job with twice as much as he had before the trials.

Next time you’re suffering, remember the story of Job. If you’re living outside God’s will, repent and return. Take heart if things don’t get better right away. If Job could pass his test of faith, you can too.

Next Week: Grief and Marriage: Are you like Job’s Wife?

Godliness and Contentment: a Direct Correlation

“But godliness with contentment is great gain” 1 Timothy 6:6

More things will bring satisfaction. This is the great lie we have swallowed, especially in America.

We admire the rich and idolize the famous. Magazines and websites list the wealthiest people in the world. Even the entertainment industry bows to this obsession. Who can forget Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?

Statistics show that more things do not bring greater satisfaction. People in the middle and low-end of the monetary and possessions scale admit to greater contentment with where they are and what they have.

The rich want to get richer. The famous worry that someone will overshadow them. Stock market billionaires obsess over the Dow Jones numbers and worry they will lose everything if they don’t buy and sell at the right moment.

God has a better way.

Paul’s Four-step method to being Content

“I have learned … to be content” (Phil. 4:11) stated the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians. Most of us would agree this is a lesson people in our society need to learn. Maybe those of us who claim the name of Christ most of all.

If Paul can do it, so can we! Most of the time we look at the apostles as superhuman and ultra-spiritual. This is our perception, but it’s hardly the truth.

In his own words, Paul considered himself “chief among sinners” and admitted he struggled to keep his fleshly desires in subjection every day. He would be appalled if he thought we considered him to be more spiritual than anyone else.

The Author of the Book, on the other hand, made sure that we could find examples in its pages to use as patterns. Since He created us, He knows we learn best if there is a model to follow.

Our supreme model is Christ. After all, we were created to be conformed into His image.

The Secret to getting what you Want

“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” –Psalm 37:4

It’s a selfish world we live in. Everyone wants their way. People have an agenda even when they seem to be reaching out in kindness.

This is not the world God designed. It is a world scarred by sin for thousands of years.

The good news is that God wants to give us the desires of our heart. He even gives us the formula for making that happen.

Delight in the Lord

Like any normal person, this verse in Psalm 37:4 intrigues me. After all, who doesn’t want their heart’s desire fulfilled?