SCRIPTURE: Job 29
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
When I was in my prime, God’s friendship was felt in my home. The Almighty was still with me, and my children were around me. [Job 29:4-5] I thought, ‘Surely I will die surrounded by my family after a long, good life. [Job 29:18]
Job is reminiscing about the good old days, when he was blessed and honoured, loving God and people, living a godly life and enjoying the good life!
Like many christians living in the west today, he assumed that his blessing was the result of his good life, and that he would continue to enjoy God’s favour as long as he continued to live the right way.
And like many christians in the west today, he was confused when things turned bad, wondering why God allowed bad things to happen to him – afterall, he was a good, faithful servant of God!
Make no mistake, there are many christians in my experience who see their good lives as the result of good, decent living; and many of them experience a crisis of faith when things go wrong!
But is the life of loving God and following Jesus a guarantee of blessing and peace, of the good life?
Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then. [Matthew 19:27-30]
One day, yes, we will see the result of our faith and obedience, but not yet.
For today, loving God and following Jesus means going against the grain of this selfish messed up world.
When we choose to follow Jesus, what we get in the short term is mild to serious hardship: we say ‘no’ to the things that everyone else says ‘yes’ to; we do things that everyone else says is foolish; we make sacrifices for the sake of others, we deny ourselves to bless others, we willingly take the lesser place so that others maybe be honoured.
Job describes some of this for himself: For I assisted the poor in their need and the orphans who required help. I helped those without hope, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows’ hearts to sing for joy. Everything I did was honest. Righteousness covered me like a robe, and I wore justice like a turban. I served as eyes for the blind and feet for the lame. I was a father to the poor and assisted strangers who needed help. I broke the jaws of godless oppressors and plucked their victims from their teeth. [Job 29:14-17]
This sounds like Jesus, and the kind of life that Jesus calls us to follow!
But where Job was mistaken was in his assumption that living this way would make this life easy, good, blessed.
In this broken, messed up world, we choose to live this way because it is the right way to live, not because it will make life easier for us.
In fact, for a time it will seem as if our lives become less – not more.
Jesus makes this clear when he says that in the present moment things will appear backward; the greatest will be the least and the least will be the greatest.
But the time is coming, says Jesus, when the world will be made new, when those that remained committed to the right kind of life will finally experience the full blessing of God.
Until then, whatever happens – whether rich or poor, blessed or troubled, healthy or sick – we choose to follow Jesus and to live and love like Him, confident that one day all things will be made right and good!
PRAYER:
Lord, there are no guarantees for a good or easy life in this world, but You do guarantee that one day those that chose to live and love like You will be honoured and blessed. Help me to endure whatever happens to me in this life, to persevere in doing what is right and good, and to await the day when the full blessing finally comes!
Job describes the days gone by when the Lord watched over him, when His light shone upon him Job is thinking that in his misery, the Lord God had forsaken him. My God, where are you? What have I done? Why all this hardship?
The life Job lived was certainly the life of a Christian. Wow! What an example for me! What an example for you! Being the very word and deeds of Jesus Christ. However, Job had the wrong assumption that the Lord had left Him when the hardships came. Receiving the good each day is not necessarily the indicator of the right relationship with the Lord. We live in a broken world. And though the wrong is oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet. This is my Father’s world.
Many people today also believe in the prosperity gospel. If we live right we will receive blessings upon blessing. Our lives are to be lived in such a way that we will inherit the kingdom, being His hands, His feet, His workers today. We do not live just for today, but for the forever – the life eternal. And in the meantime, continue to be His workers in His vineyard, serving Him in all we do and say in all circumstances for He is my Father.
I am His.
This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.
This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.
This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.
This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, “The Lord is in this place.”
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.
This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.
This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.