READING: Job 1-2, Acts 7:22-43
“Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.”
Job 1:22
I’m not sure I could do it.
Job was a godly man, “a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil . . . the greatest man among all the people of the east” (Job 1:1, 3). God had blessed him tremendously, including granting him seven sons and three daughters. Then, under the attack of Satan, Job lost everything except his wife. His righteous living did not protect him from great tragedies, including the deaths of his children and the affliction of his own body. His faithfulness reaped only calamity.
Surely most men would have wondered where God was in the midst of the tragedies. Even get angry with God, perhaps. Two sentences in today’s reading help us to capture Job’s response, however. First, he “fell to the ground and worshiped” (Job 1:20). Second, “throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything” (Job 1:22). In fact, he did not even sin with his lips (Job 2:10). His wife, who had lost her children also, encouraged him simply to “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9), but that was not the heart of Job. He would follow God regardless of what God demanded of him.
Despite all that he faced, Job worshiped God anyway. It would have been so easy to blame God or to accuse Him of not caring, of not recognizing Job’s righteous choices to that point. I’m quite certain I would have said something in my response that would have sinful. Again, though, not Job. He grieved deeply over his losses, but He trusted and worshiped God in the midst of them. He won the battle with Satan by refusing to take his eyes off God even as his world fell apart.
I hope that I, too, would worship God fully if such things were to happen to me. One way to come closer to that goal is to worship God fully today. If I’m not falling at his feet when life is going well, it’s less likely I will immediately worship Him if life gets rough.
ACTION STEPS:
- Worship God with all your being today. Be a person of integrity, fearing God and turning away from evil.
- If you are facing a tough time today, trust God anyway. He’s Lord over your calm and over your chaos.
PRAYER: “God, help me to trust You like Job did when life gets hard.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Job 3-4, Acts 7:44-60