Yay, 17 weeks down! We're closer that halfway mark. I already feel like I've learned so much thus far. Thank you again to everyone who stops by and supports my Bible 365 posts! I greatly appreciate it.
In week 17, we finished reading about Job. Last week we read how, God had asked Satan if he'd tried his servant Job. Then Job lost all of his riches, his children and good health. Hid friends tried to talk him into cursing and forsaking God, but Job wasn't having any of that.
Anyways, I guess since he refused to forsake God, his friends decided that Job had caused this terrible fortune on himself. They accused him of not being a good Christian, but having turned his back on those in need, being a thief and more. Of course, Job (and God) knew this all to be lies. Job defended himself saying, "My foots has held fast to the His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:11-12).
I know it sounds like Job was tooting his own horn, but he really wasn't. Job was indeed more righteous or obedient than the average man during his time. Somehow, Job knew that this was test of his faithfulness because he told his friends, "When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).
Don't know of many of you have heard the gospel song goes "have you been tried in the fire/did you come through as pure gold," but that verse made me think of it. We all go through fires (trials) in our lives. And we all have the ability to come through them as pure gold and not faltering in our faith in God and His word.
We live in a time where evil is no longer confined to the dark. Job 24:14 says, "The murderer rises with the light; he kills the poor and needy; and in the night is life a thief." After the Boston bombing and all the recent murders I have heard about, I couldn't agree with this verse more. Crooks aren't scared of getting caught anymore. They boldly attack and destroy in broad daylight where they can be easily recognized.
It's almost like they're taunting us and daring us to take a stand against them. "The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight saying, 'No eye will see me,' and disguises his face," reads Job 24:15. You all already know that adultery is something that has affected my life. Needless to say, I wondered if my father had this same thought of logic when he stepped outside of his marriage with my mom?
I wonder if he even cared if would get caught. We lived in a very small town where everyone knew us because both my mother's and father's family had good reputations. He had to have known that the truth would come out at some point, right? I digress. That's another post for another day.
In the end, God sat the record straight and told Job that he was indeed a righteous and faithful man. He also told Job that his friends were pretty much haters who had no clue what they were talking about. If you think about it they weren't really good friends at all. God restored everything Job had lost twice over.
He had more children, got his health back and his possessions plus extra. I'm definitely striving to have faith like Job. I'm not saying that I want God to test me in the same way He did Job, but when hard times strike I want my faith to be unwavering and not falter. I don't want to doubt God for even a millisecond.
If you were Job, how would have reacted if your friends started accusing you of being bad Christian/person?
Week 18 Readings
4/29: Psalms 9-12
4/30: Psalms 13-16
5/01: Psalms 17-20
5/02: Psalms 21-24
5/03: Psalms 25-28
5/04: Psalms 29-32
5/05: Psalms 33-36
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