Job 42:1-6 NLT
Then Job replied to the LORD: [2] "I know that You can do anything, and no one can stop You. [3] You asked, 'Who is this that questions My wisdom with such ignorance?' It is I-and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. [4] You said, 'Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.' [5] I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my own eyes. [6] I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance."
Job had been through so much. He'd suffered loss, illness, been misunderstood and doubted by his friends.
He was told to "curse God and die" by his wife Job 2:9.
Alone with his sickness, poverty and grief he started off well:
Job 2:10 NLT
But Job replied, "You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the Hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.
However, after a while of this emotional, physical and spiritual bombardment which, crucially, God allowed, he began to question God.
Job 3:11-13 NLT
"Why wasn't I born dead? Why didn't I die as I came from the womb? [12] Why was I laid on my mother's lap? Why did she nurse me at her breasts? [13] Had I died at birth, I would now be at peace. I would be asleep and at rest.
Job 3:23-26 NLT
Why is life given to those with no future, those God has surrounded with difficulties? [24] I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. [25] What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true. [26] I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes."
I'm so glad the Bible doesn't mask over the "whys" that this life produces. It doesn't pretend that life is a bowl of cherries.
Particularly the book of Job speaks of personal suffering and provides insight into the cosmic activities of Satan in relation to persecuting God's followers.
Satan doesn't believe in us. He is the cosmic accuser. He sees only our fallen state and thinks, under the right circumstances, we will desert God.
He asked to "sift" Simon Peter like wheat:
Luke 22:31-32 NLT
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. [32] But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to Me again, strengthen your brothers."
It's so good to know that God in Jesus believes in us, even when we fail. He is the Great Interceder, praying for us that our faith won't fail.
At the end of Job's dreadful trial, after seeming silence from the Lord, God speaks to him personally.
God never gives a reason for what he's been through, but points to the majesty and awesomeness of God's creation in comparison with Job's mortality.
That personal meeting with His Creator silenced his doubts and put him in awe of God.
He saw his own sinfulness before God and repented "in dust and ashes".
We're all too big for our boots until we have that personal encounter.
Have you had yours?
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