A bigger plan

I find the story of Job quite interesting and that is one man I believe we should all learn from.

Let me give you his profile:

·         He was blameless and upright

·         He feared God and shunned evil

·         He had seven sons and three daughters

·         He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camel, 5,000 yoke of oxen and 500 donkeys

·         He had a large number of servants

·         He was the greatest man among all the people of the East

Job Chapter 1 records how Satan had gone to present himself before God. You know, God was so proud of Job, that he asked Satan if he had considered Job. God even added that there was none like Job on earth and went on about how perfect and upright he was and how he detested evil.

Satan was convinced Job only served God because of the material things he had, so he got permission from God to strip Job off those things.

And it came to pass that Job lost everything but his life and his wife, in a single day! His children, sheep, camel, yoke of oxen, donkeys, servants… gone!

 His reaction when he got the news is the biggest lesson I have learnt from Job. Look at verse 20, ‘ it says and Job arose, shaved his head, fell on the ground and worshipped God. Verse 21 says … he praised God saying blessed be your name.

For me, I believe the devil had lost the battle at that point. He took everything away from Job and yet, Job worshiped and praised God. I imagine God must have been smiling on the throne, saying yes! That’s my true servant. I am so proud of Job, I knew he would not let me down.

We have all had our own fair share of experiences where we have lost something or someone very dear to us. What was our reaction like? Often times, the first reaction is to start asking God why such a thing has happened to us. At that point we feel God has wronged us because we do not ‘deserve’ such a bad experience. Would you say Job deserved it? What do you think God will have to say about your reaction?

If you read the story of Job to the end you will see that God indeed had something much bigger stored up for Job and he was fully restored.

It is true when the bible says that ‘all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose’. Romans 8 verse 28.