Saturday, June 16, 2018

A Perspective on Personal Pain


Read Job 1.

There is a difference between punishment and a test.  Punishment is the penalty for doing something wrong.  A test is an opportunity to prove one can do something right.  Sometimes, a test of faith may feel like punishment.  This is often true when a loss is involved.

The book of Job is about a test.  Job did not do anything wrong.  Just the opposite was true of him.  He lived a "blameless and upright" life.  He "feared God and turned away from evil."  Yet, he experienced great pain and the loss of everything.  Though allowed by God, the losses were not "acts of God".

This chapter provides a behind the scenes look at the spiritual war that takes place continually between Satan and God.  Revelation 12:10 calls him "the accuser" as day and night he comes before the God of heaven and makes accusations against believers. 

The Apostle Peter warned of this very thing when he wrote, "Be sober-minded; be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." But then Peter continued, "Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world." (1 Peter 5:8-9)  The unbeliever has no faith to resist the plans of the devil.  The believer in Jesus does.

Did this test hurt Job?  Yes.  Deeply.  Pain and loss do not define our values.  Instead, they reveal the values we hold most dear.

How could Job endure such suffering and pass this test?
He acknowledged in verse 21 that the measure of life is not the things one accumulates.  Indeed, these are temporal blessings from God, at best.  They can be taken away and everything will be left behind at death.  The greater possession then is to live with an understanding of and a commitment to eternal values.

Job knew what was of lasting importance.  When this excruciating test came, his values never wavered.  "In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."  The story was not over.  God's ultimate plan for his life was worthy of his trust.

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