1. No man suffered as Job
At our Golden Years Retreat in Penang (concluding Saturday September 10, 2011), we learnt sobering lessons from the life of Job. What a man he was: unique in godliness as well as in personal experience. In one day of calamitous happenings, he lost 10 offsprings and all his vast possessions – something unheard of in recorded history. His substance included many thousands of livestock and “… a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3).
In today’s society, Job might be in the millionaire class. But in one disastrous day, everything was gone – taken from him by natural disasters and marauding bandits.
Some might call it an “act of God.” But in the Scripture record, we are given a rare insight into “happenings in the courts of heaven” where Satan lodged a complaint against the godly man.
Whereas the record in God’s book described Job as “… perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil” (Job 1:1), Satan mischievously made out that Job was but a hypocrite.
Satan argued that Job’s uprightness was but a return favour for favours received from God. “But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face” (Job 1:11). Satan thereupon wreaked havoc on Job. But Job was unmoved. The Word of God records that the man of God, “ … fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly” (Job 1:20-22). We surely applaud such steadfast godliness.
2. Job loses his health
Since Job remained faithful to God and unmoved in his personal loyalty to the Lord, Satan adopted a different attack – this time to assail his bodily well-being. Satan’s expectation was that Job will surely curse God to His face (Job 2:5). Having obtained the Lord’s consent, Satan “…smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes” (Job 2:7, 8).
Now, we see Job reduced to a wreck of a man, a shadow of his former self. “Now Job will surely turn against God,” so thought Satan. But despite his ill health, Job nevertheless kept loyal to God; neither did he charge God foolishly. His faith remained strong as ever, in spite of his wife’s unreasonable complaint. To his great credit, Job rebuked his wife. “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? …” (Job 2:10).
In a later chapter, Job enumerated in some detail his physical afflictions and social problems arising from his bodily ill health: “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies. His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle. He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I entreated him with my mouth. My breath is strange to my wife, though entreated for the children's sake of mine own body. Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me” (Job 19:7-18).
Then, in his seemingly hopeless plight, Job “out of the blue” strikes a new and amazing chord of hope with astonishing prophetic insight into God’s plan for his final redemption. Listen to the utterance of this saint of God, stating some hitherto unheard of truth: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me” (Job 19:25-27).
Question for thought: Where did Job get his amazing insight from? What do you think?
Dr SH Tow
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