What Did Job See Through Suffering?
Read Job 42:1-5
“Then Job answered the Lord and said: I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.” (Job 42:1,5). 42:1ff throughout the book, Job’s friends had asked him to admit his sin and ask for forgiveness, and eventually Job did, indeed, repent.
Ironically, Job’s repentance was not the kind called for by his friends. He did not ask for forgiveness for committing secret sins, but for questioning God’s sovereignty and justice.
Job repented of his attitude and acknowledged God’s great power and perfect justice. We sin when we angrily ask; “if God is in control, how could he let this happen?” Because we are locked into time, unable to see beyond today, we cannot know the reasons for everything that happens. Will you trust God with your unanswered questions?
42:2-4 Job was quoting the Lord’s earlier questions to him (38:2,3). He openly and honestly faced God and admitted that he was the one who had been foolish. Are you using what you can’t understand as an excuse for your lack of trust? Admit to God that you don’t even have enough faith to trust him. True faith begins in such humility.
Read Ps 52:1-9. God will judge the evildoer. Our anger must not block our confidence in God’s ability to defeat evil.
Our God is not only God of the mountain, but also God of the valley. 1 Kings 20:30. God’s will is always perfect and, although we might not be able to recognise them at the time, there are always reasons, like Paul, we can rejoice in everything that God allows or sends. Grace may flow like a river, but a grudge will dam the stream of God’s grace. When Nero imprisoned Paul, he did not rail at God or Nero. Instead he transformed his situation and called himself the prisoner of Christ Jesus (Eph 3:1).
(9) Give God Your Best
“As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11: If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Pet 4:10,11).
4:10, 11: Some people, well aware of their abilities, believe that they have the right to use their abilities as they please. Others feel that they have no special talents at all. Peter addresses both groups in these verses. Everyone has some gifts; find yours and use them.
