JOB'S SECOND TEST

JOB’S SECOND TEST



                In the contest between God and Satan as revealed to us in the book of Job; his first test was in the loosing of everything he owned including his children. Job’s response to all of this tragedy was to say: “Naked cam I out of my mother’s womb and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed by the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21



                Our trials in this world, not only serve to shape us into what and who we are, but they also reveal what and who we are. This is both a spiritual insight and a secular insight as well. You have heard the saying, “When the going gets tough the tough get going.” So “tough going” reveals who we are, because if we are tough, we will take life as a challenge and we will overcome the obstacles and win the day.



                Jesus once had a problem. He was on the shore and His disciples were in a boat in the middle of the lake. So Jesus solved the problem by walking on the water until He reached the boat. Problem solved. But here Jesus introduces a new element. To many of our natural problems there is a supernatural answer when we walk by faith. Our Father in heaven will support us when there seems to be no other support.



                In the story of Abraham, Isaac and Rebekah, the camels that Rebekah  worked so hard to feed and water, became her ride to her destiny and not only that but they revealed to Abraham’s servant the kind of character that Rebekah had.



                The character of Job was also displayed in the way he handled adversity and so we too need to look at our problems as opportunities to grow and to learn, rather than to presume that the world is against us and that life has no purpose but to survive. We are called to do more than survive. We are called to be mighty conquerors through Jesus Christ. Romans 8:35-39



                Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil. 4:13



                Have you ever noticed that the heaviest loads are carried by ships and planes?  Loads that would literally crush and destroy our highways are routinely carried by ships and planes. You wave your hand in the air and you feel little or no resistance, but if you stick your hand out the window of a car going 100 miles per hour, then you can easily feel the force of the wind. Go a little faster, say 150 mph and you can lift one hundred tons into the air and fly it to wherever you need to take it. Likewise you can wade into the ocean and sink like a stone, and yet huge ships carry thousands of tons of cargo to distant ports. Water and air carry the heaviest loads.



                Likewise the Spirit of God seems much too thin to carry you over life’s storms… much too invisible… much too nebulous and uncertain… and yet that same Spirit created the entire universe and all that is in it. So the breath of God and the Word of God are forces to be reckoned with. When you speak His words after Him in faith, we are told that the word of God will not return to Him void, but will accomplish the thing that He sent it out to do. Isa. 55:10, 11.



                In Job’s second test Satan attacked Job’s person bringing him into unbelievable personal suffering. He was covered with boils from head to foot so that he could find comfort in no position and the boils were weeping and oozing and he was scraping the ooze off with a potsherd. A more miserable situation would be hard to find and yet Job remained faithful to God. Even his wife finally suggested that he curse God and die, but in spite of his pain and suffering, Job continued to speak wonderful words of faith. Listen to some of them:



                Behold how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. Job 5:17



                “Though He slay me I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him. This also will be my salvation for a godless man may not come before His presence.” Job 13:15, 16



                “For as long as life is in me and the breath of God is in my nostrils, my lips certainly will not speak unjustly, nor will my tongue mutter deceit…. Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.” Job 27:3, 4, 5b



                “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is flayed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom my eyes shall behold and whom my eyes shall see and not another. My heart faints within me.” Job 19:25-27.



                We go through various trials in this life, some of them trivial and some of them overwhelming to the point of despair and even death, but we can maintain the same calm assurance that Job expressed. Even beyond death Job knew that a day was coming when with his own eyes he would see the Lord.



                Sometimes we try to carry our burdens when in fact they are best met with rest. David said this in Ps. 37:7 saying: Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him…”



                Like water and air, rest is a powerful force. It represents finite man resting in the arms of the infinite. We rest in a boat because powerful forces are keeping us afloat. We rest in an airplane because powerful forces are carrying us high above land and sea. Likewise we rest in the Lord because powerful forces are at work causing all things to work together for good for those who love God and who are called according to His purposes.



                We can learn much from Job. He never let his suffering remove him from the greater context of God’s love and His ultimate plans for Job’s life.



                Like Einstein said, “Time is a stubbornly persistent illusion.” We have a perception of time based upon the motion of the planets and changing seasons and so there is a way in which God placed us in linear time so we can experience life in a meaningful sequence. But God does not dwell in linear time. For Him all time is now. He may be talking to Abraham one moment, or Moses or even one of us even as He deals with Noah on how to build a boat. With God all time as being now.



                We see time as a straight arrow pointing in one direction, but God may see time as a carousal circling around Him and He reaches into the carousal of time to answer Elijah’s prayer for rain in one moment and in the next He is answering your prayer for your needs. Likewise He can also go backward and forward in time so that He can pop in and answer your prayer at the best time and for the best reasons.



                However it works, we need to know that God is in control and He will never leave us or forsake us because no matter where we are in time, He is there. There is no need for Him to move or to change, for time simply revolves in Him and according to His purposes.



                Jesus stepped into our linear time and experienced time as one of us. He paid the ransom for our sin and placed time limits of Satan’s rule and reign. Then He went back to heaven, back outside of time, from whence He sent us His Holy Spirit, to live within our timeless spirits and to speak to our flesh saying: Be still and know that I am God. Rest in Me, for in my realm all is well and all is settled and all is going according to my plans and purposes… Rest I say in the Lord.