January 19

It's weird to think that Job could have been around the same time as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You mean to tell me that they were not the only ones on earth at the time!? It is fun seeing how everything in history connects when you read it chronologically. (I still picture Job being around sometime near the exile...which is also a possibility.)

Job 1:8

Then the Lord asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless--a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil."

Blameless does not equal sinless. Job was still human, he was just a person of high integrity. He made sacrifices for his children just incase they may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. God singled Job out and GOD called him blameless. This was before Christ came and sacrificed himself so that we could all be blameless before God.

So Satan tells God that if he took away all Job's possessions and family, he would curse God. So God gave Satan permission to do what he wanted with Job except harm his health. That almost seems like God is playing with us...how is that fair to Job? Basically, God can do whatever He wants and who are we to say what is fair or not fair. I don't claim to know the reason's why God does the things he does, but we do know this fact: nothing surprises God. God didn't wake up one day and say 'Oh no Satan! What have you done to my people?!' He has a role in everything whether we see it as good or bad. Job tells his wife: "You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" Job 2:10

He also recognized that God gives and God takes away.

Job 1:21

He said, "I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!"

He never blamed God for the things that happened to him. We have a long way to go in this story and I'm interested to see how his friends react and the advice they give him. Job can be difficult to get through, but it is rich with lessons and applications.

<3