Job’s Life
Job had
it all. He had 7000 sheep, 3000 camels,
500 oxen, 500 donkeys, a whole house full of servants, and 10 children of his
own. He was known as “the greatest man
among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3).
And on top of all that, he was a believer. Scripture describes him as a blameless and
upright man, a Christian who feared God, someone who prayed for his children on
a regular basis, a man who was not unduly influenced by the wealth and success
he had been blessed with.
But
then, of course, if you remember the story, Job lost it all. On one day all of his donkeys and oxen, sheep
and camels were either destroyed or stolen.
He lost all but a couple servants to these enemy raids, and every one of
his 10 children died all at once when the house they were in collapsed on top
of them. In the span of few minutes
Job’s livelihood, savings, vehicles, and family were wiped out. And if that wasn’t enough, a short time later
the Lord allowed Satan to take away even Job’s health. He was inflicted with boils from head to toe
and all he could do was scratch his sores with broken pieces of pottery while
the dogs came by and licked his wounds.
Job had lost everything that he had, his own wife turned on him, his
friends despised him, and he wasn’t even healthy enough to deal with it. And in the middle of it all, he broke
down. He couldn’t handle it any
more. Listen to just a few of his words
at this awful time in his life: “Does
not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man? Like a slave longing for the evening shadows,
or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages, so I have been allotted months of
futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me. When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I
get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss till dawn. My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my
skin is broken and festering. My days
are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.”
Job was
miserable! And who can blame him? After all he was going through, it’s not
surprising that he says words like these!
And these aren’t even the worst of what he says. He talks about wishing that he were never
born, that he wanted to die as soon as possible, that the person who brought
him into this world should be cursed.
Job was almost at the breaking point.
He was nearly drained of hope for anything to get better and he certainly
could find no comfort.
But
then, by the end of the book of Job, after the Lord himself comes down and
really lays into him for blaming God of being unjust, Job receives back double
of everything that he had lost. 14,000
sheep, 6000 camels, 1000 ox and donkeys, 10 more children, and his three
daughters were known as the most beautiful women in the land. Job lived for another 140 years after this
happened and so he was able to see his great-great-great grandchildren. And you can bet that Job appreciated every
single bit of it! You can be absolutely
sure that Job had a little different perspective now on what he had after what
he had gone through! He undoubtedly
treasured his blessings a little more, valued his children a little more,
thanked his Lord a little more. That
terrible part of his life had to have changed his attitude about some very
important things and refocused his perspective on the real blessings that he had never lost.
Our Life
Sometimes
we might need a different perspective than what we have. And it’s not that we are unbelievers or
blatantly disregarding God’s blessings or purposely ignoring God’s hand in our
lives; sometimes it’s simply that we get too comfortable where we’re at and
what we’re doing and we start to take for granted the gifts that the Lord has
been giving us every day and maybe even forgetting about the “real” blessings
that he will never take way.
There
was a really interesting character in the Old Testament named
Nebuchadnezzar. He was the king of
Babylon at the time when his armies destroyed Jerusalem and took the people of
Israel into exile. Nebuchadnezzar was
the king who threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the fiery furnace. He was the one who had those dreams that
Daniel interpreted for him. He was the
one that appointed these men to high positions in his kingdom. In chapter four of the book of Daniel,
Nebuchadnezzar relates an incident that happened to him in the past involving
the Lord. He had had a dream that Daniel
interpreted for him. The dream was that
Nebuchadnezzar would be cast out of his kingdom, be driven mentally insane, and
live with wild animals for a time unless he repented of his arrogance and
pride. Nebuchadnezzar, however, did not
listen to the Lord’s warning and so the Lord did to him what he had promised:
the king went crazy, he was thrown off of his thrown, and he lived in the wild
with the animals until the time the Lord had set was completed. He was then given back his throne, his sanity
was restored, and he once again ruled over his kingdom. And, not surprisingly, he had a different
perspective on things after that! “I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and
glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his
ways are just. And those who walk in
pride he is able to humble” (Daniel 4:37).
It certainly was not pleasant for Nebuchadnezzar to go through what he did. But it was good for him. It was the best for him. It was a way in which the Lord slapped him
across the face and snapped him out of his sinful tendencies. The king of Babylon needed a different
perspective on life and the King of Heaven cared enough about him to do just
that.
There
are times when we do not appreciate all of the thousands of blessings that the
Lord gives us every day. There are times
when we do not bring to mind all of the ways he helps us every day. There are times when we do not acknowledge
that he is always with us and supporting us and guiding us every day. And shame on us when we don’t. Shame on us when we are so busy complaining
that we look past the blessings. Shame
on us when we are so worried about getting something else that we forget about
what we already have. Shame on us when
we are so concerned about some of the enjoyable things that have been taken
away that we lose sight of those blessings that never will be. Shame on us when we lose our perspective in
this life. Shame on us when we lose our
perspective of the cross.
Blessings to
Keep in Perspective
Understand
that your Lord’s number one goal is to see you in heaven with him. Your faith in him is his primary concern and
he will do everything it takes to make sure that you remained attached to your
Savior until the end. And so if your
perspective on life is starting to be influenced a little too much by all of
the niceties of this world, then he’ll change your perspective. It might not be fun; it might not be pleasant
at the time; but he’ll do it so that you are looking at cross once again. If your perspective on life is starting to be
hampered by self-pity and “Woe is me” despair, then he’ll change your
perspective in some way. It might not be
fun; it might not be pleasant at the time; but he’ll do it so that you are
looking at the cross once again. If your
perspective on life is starting to be shaded by complaining, by selfish
ambition, by an unhealthy pursuit of some earthly happiness, then he might very
well change your perspective if it needs to be done. And it might not be fun for you; it might not
be pleasant at the time; but he’ll do it so that you are looking at the cross
once again.
He never
wants you to forget about those blessings that he will never take away: his
forgiveness, his salvation, and his eternal life. And sometimes we have to learn it the hard
way. You will be in some extreme
physical pain at certain points in your life, persistent pain, seemingly
unending pain; but your Lord might allow that to happen so that you do not lose
your perspective on the blessings he gives you through the pain that he went
through: the beatings, the scourgings, the nails and the thorns. You will be faced with the loss of a number
of good things in this life that make you happy and content and comfortable;
but your Lord may do that so that you do not lose your perspective on the
blessings he gives you through what he never had on this earth: a home, a job,
a family, a vacation, free time, a bank account, loyal friends… Jesus didn’t have any of those things, but he
didn’t have any of those things for you.
You will have to struggle with the death of those you love at some point
if you have not had to multiple times already.
But during those difficult times the Lord never wants you to lose your
perspective on the blessings he gives you through his death. And sometimes he might use the death of
someone you love to do that. Sometimes
he might take away a few of your prized possessions to do that. Sometimes he might allow you to undergo some
real physical hardships to do that. He
does not want you to be blocked from the view of his cross. And if you are unable to see the cross
clearly for some reason, he will not hesitate to change your perspective no
matter how painful it might be for you at the time.
Blessings Over
and Above
It was
painful for Job to go through those kinds of things. But we don’t want to be too hard on Job today
because even at his lowest point he still do not lose his faith and trust in
the Lord. And the Lord wouldn’t have
done that anyway: he would have never inflicted Job with so much misery that
Job’s faith would crash and burn. And so
a few chapters after we hear Job complain about his life in chapter 7, in
chapter 19 we hear a beautiful confession of faith that is the basis for one of
the most famous Easter hymns ever written: “I
know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the
earth. And after my skin has been
destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own
eyes—I, and not another. How my heart
yearns within me!” (19:25-27). Job
never lost his perspective of the cross - even though Christ had yet to die on
it. Job knew for a fact that he would
end up in heaven and that he would one day see his Lord face to face. And because of that perspective, he was able
to view the blessings he got back in a new light too.
When we
as Christians have a clear viewpoint from which we can look out and see Christ’s
cross in the foreground, his empty tomb in the center of the scene, and the
gates of heaven off on the horizon, all of the wonderful blessings that he
gives us in this life over and above those great gifts are put into their proper
perspective. We care about them less but we appreciate them more. We care about them less because we
realize that they aren’t what is most important in this life; Christ is! And his forgiveness and salvation and eternal
life that he gives to us! The blessings
that he will never take away are what really matter! But on the other hand, we appreciate those
little, every day, earthly, temporary blessings more than we did before because
we know that we don’t deserve them, that we don’t need them, that we can get by
without them, and yet our gracious Lord gives them to us anyway! Our Lord showers us with so many gifts that
we can’t possibly count them all! And we
are so flattered that he would do that for us that we just can’t help but smile
and almost turn red from embarrassment.
What a great Lord our God is to people like us! What a great God he continues to be!
Thank
your Lord that he reminds you of that from time to time, that he takes things
away or allows you to go through some difficulties so that you don’t forget,
that he changes your perspective when it needs to be done so that you never
stray too far away from his arms. Our God
is good like that. Our God is dependable
like that. And although a change in
perspective can be a painful process in the hands of our Lord, the view we are
left with of his cross when it is done is never more beautiful.
Amen.
“The Lord will
rescue us from every evil attack and will bring us safely to his heavenly
kingdom. To him be glory forever and
ever. Amen.” - 2 Tim. 4:18
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