Job's Prosperity

10/21/2011 8:36:37 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Job’s Prosperity

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                       Reference:  Job 1:1-5

                Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. 2  Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3  His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

    “4 ¶  His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5  When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.”

                I have mentioned before that I have the greatest respect for Warren Wiersbe and his wonderful ability to write his commentaries on the Word of God to make them understandable to everyone who reads them.  He has a precious gift from the Lord to be able to do this. 

                Before beginning his writing on the book of Job he knew in his heart that there would be trials that lie ahead so that he would be able to understand more about the book of Job, that he would be able to write on it more effectively.  He also challenges his readers to be aware that they too may go through trials in order to better understand what Job went through and to also learn more of the faithfulness of God.  He states in his introduction to this first chapter that there are two things that we should accomplish in our lives as we study this book:  to be patient in our trials and also to be better equipped to help others who are going through trials, and be willing to help others through those trials.

Job 23:10 reads as follows “’But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.’”  Gold does not fear the fire, for what is burned up in the fire is not worth having anyway.

Dr. Wiersbe entitles this first chapter of his commentary “The Drama Begins,” and it will cover the first three chapters of the book of Job and it will reveal four important facts about Job of which the first one is the subject of today’s SD.  It should be no surprise to anyone that he entitles this commentary “Be Patient.”

One of the questions that many people have in this life is why do the innocent suffer?  This is surely one of the themes of the book of Job, for Job did not have any idea as to why he was suffering, for his claim throughout this entire book was that his suffering was not due to any sin that he had committed, as he was accused of by his wife and three friends.  James 5:11 states “We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”  This shows that Job was a real person and that he was a person who was patient, as the word endurance states. 

Job and his friends were trying to figure out why he was suffering and this takes up the majority of the book as they go back and forth trying to analyze this, but the fact is that none of them knew why Job was suffering because the first section of the book that takes place in heaven and shows why Job was suffering was not known to them. 

John MacArthur writes at the beginning of his Study Bible on Job the following that will shed some light on this theme of why the innocent suffer:

1.      “There are matters going on in heaven with God that believers know nothing about; yet they affect their lives;

2.      Even the best effort at explaining the issues of life can be useless;

3.      God’s people do suffer.  Bad things happen all the time to good people, so one cannot judge a person’s spirituality by his painful circumstances or success;

4.      Even though God seems far away, perseverance in faith is a most noble virtue since God is good and on can safely leave his life in His hands;

5.       The believer in the midst of suffering should not abandon God, but draw near to Him, so out of the fellowship can come comfort—without the explanation; and;

6.      Suffering may be intense, but it will ultimately end for the righteous and God will bless abundantly.”

                The first verse states that Job was from the land of Uz, and that he was “blameless upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.”  There is speculation as to where Uz is located, some think that it was near where the Edomites lived, but I don’t think that this is greatly important.  Most scholars say that Job lived during the time of Abraham, in that era. 

                His Character:  Stating that Job was blameless and upright did not mean that Job was sinless, for there was only One Man who fits that description; Jesus Christ.  Job was complete and mature in character and straight in conduct.  When we look at the word blameless we see the following:  “1c) complete, morally innocent, having integrity 1c1) one who is morally and ethically pure.”  (Online Bible Dictionary)

                Job feared God and shunned evil, See Job 28:28.  Dr. Wiersbe writes the following about the fear of the Lord:  “To fear the Lord means to respect who His is, what He says, and what He does.  It is not the cringing fear of a slave before a master but the loving reverence of a child before a father, a respect that leads to obedience.  ‘The remarkable thing about fearing God,’ said Oswald Chambers ‘is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.’”

                His Family:  Job was not only prosperous in his character, but he was prosperous in his family as seen in verse two. During the Patriarchal Age it was common to have a large family, as that was a great blessing.  We can see from the text that the children must have enjoyed each other’s company as frequently meet to celebrate birthdays.  We can see from this that Job and his wife did a good job in raising their children.  Job would even offer sacrifices after those birthday gatherings in case any of them sinned.  This does not mean that evil was going on, it was just the way that Job was, and part of his character.

                His Material Possessions:   It seems clear that Job owned his possessions and that his possessions did not own Job.  This is why Satan was accusing God of giving Job all of these possession in order to have Job worship him, yet it is clear that Job, although was happy with all of these possessions, did not worship God because of them.  This will come out later on and is an important part of this book.

                His Friends:  Job had many friends as he was prosperous in having friends.  We will see Job friends were not as supported of him as they could be, but none the less they were his friends, and we can believe that after this whole ordeal was over that their friendship became even stronger.

                Spiritual meaning for my life today:  When I think of Job’s character and how he handled the situation that he was put into I wonder in my heart if I would have done this the way he did.  I hope that as I study this book that I will learn much from his character and that by the grace of God, have it as part of my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.    Trust that the Lord will reveal to my heart what He has for me to learn as I study this wonderful book of Job.

2.    Put on the whole armor of God:  The belt of truth; the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace, take up the shield of faith; put on the helmet of salvation; and take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

3.    Continue to learn contentment.

10/21/2011 10:04:44 AM