~ Day Two ~

There was a day in Job's life when his whole world came crashing down around him. In a single day, all his livestock and livelihood were stripped from him; and, to make a bad situation even worse, on that same day, all ten of his children were killed. If it weren't for the behind the scenes tour we were given, informing us of the heavenly courtroom conversation between the Sovereign Lord and the Accuser, we would be left to wonder how a good God could allow such terrible things happen to such a good person. It's a question that gets asked all the time, to which few provide an answer. The Lord gives us the answer even before tragedy strikes in Job's life, so that we are not left to wonder or to question why He was allowing such horrible circumstances to fall upon one of His highly-esteemed servants. It was true, Job was a good man, a blameless man, and an upright man, who fears the Lord. The Lord Himself even told Satan that "there is none like him on the earth" (1:8) - but his shining resume would not be able to keep him from day of tragedy, nor save him out of his troubles. There is only One who can save us.

Our Lord Jesus knows fully the destruction that sin brings into the human life. He came as the ultimate suffering Servant, willing to bear all our griefs, sorrows, sickness, and pain, that are the consequences of sin, in His own body, and He nailed them to the Cross. He was considered "smitten by God" because He was "hanged on a tree" (Deuteronomy 21:22, 23; Galatians 3:13). He was "despised and rejected," "wounded and bruised," "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." He was blameless like Job, but unlike Job, Jesus was sinless. Job's life had become a battlefield which would be used to prove that the Lord God was worthy of man's worship regardless if he experienced blessing or burden from the hand of God. Job's humble response and testimony of faith in the midst of overwhelming tragedy shut the mouth of the enemy, for a moment. But it was the life of Jesus Christ, where the greatest spiritual battle was fought and won, that would silence the enemy forever, and bring the greatest honor and glory to God. Our Lord Jesus' willingness to lay down His life for the sins of mankind was the ultimate act of worship. "Yet is pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief" (Isaiah 53:10a). As we travel this journey, may we gain a clearer, heavenly perspective of our trials and suffering. The Lord will use the trials and tragedies of this life to bring us to perfection. Our humble, worshipful response to those sufferings has power to silence the enemy of God who wants to destroy our faith in God and rob God of the worship that it due His glorious name. "Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants You have ordained praise, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger" (Psalm 8:2). May we find comfort today in the knowledge that the battles we face today have already have been fought and won on the ultimate battlefield where the blood of Jesus, alone, was shed, so that we might live and walk victoriously in this life. Let us look beyond our present circumstances and look to the perfection of Jesus Christ and magnify His wonderful name today! "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3).

Read: Job Chapter Two

Job heroically endured the worst of all human tragedy's and humbly worshiped the Sovereign Lord, who alone had power to give and to take away. His response silenced the Accuser and proved that the Lord God was worthy of man's worship even when he had lost everything. Job could bless the name of the Lord in the worst of all circumstances because he held lightly to the things of the world, but held tightly to the Lord. He lived with his hands and heart open to heaven, knowing that what he had was from the Lord and it was His to freely give and take as He saw fit. Job held nothing back from the Lord, and that included his worship. His worship of God was not dependent upon his physical circumstances. He worshiped the Lord for who He is and not for what He can give. The story of Job may give new meaning to misery, but it gives even greater meaning to worship. His story provides an unexpected source of comfort to anyone who is feeling crushed by the weight of pain and suffering as he looked up to the One who knew what he was suffering, but also knew why he was suffering (2 Corinthians 4:7-11). But the enemy was not about to let Job off the hook so easily; he returned to the courtroom of heaven to submit new evidence and bring Job, and the Judge, back to trial.

(Job 2:4, 5)

The Accuser did what he does best, accuse! While the Lord affirmed Job and presented the facts that Job had kept his integrity in tact despite the enemy's awful assaults, Satan continued to debate and dispute the Judge of all the earth. Satan wasn't about to stop his attack on Job until he had done just that - destroy him. Job's worship of God enraged Satan, but still he had to ask permission to inflict further pain and suffering on God's servant. Again, the Lord placed Job into Satan's hands with further limitations. "Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life" (v. 6). This time Satan went after Job's own flesh. He not only struck Job with painful festering sores all over his whole body and caused such physical disfigurement that his own friends couldn't recognize him (v. 7, 8); but, to add insult to injury, the enemy used the people closest to Job to tempt him to do what he failed to provoke him to do by stripping him of all his worldly wealth and position. The only people left in Job's life was his wife and his three friends, and while the enemy could have taken them along with Job's children and servants, he purposed to use them to inflict the sharpest blows in Job's life. "Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (v. 9). While the Lord had just commended Job for maintaining his integrity, Job's wife wanted him to let it go and deliver himself from the pain of this life. Little did she know that God was working out a far greater deliverance for both of them that would bring about the greatest blessing they would ever know. "Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" (v. 10b). Satan wanted Job to curse God and die, and he used his wife to do his dirty work. Thankfully Job did not heed his wife's advice, but Satan had further mischief in mind, so he sent in his pinch-hitters: "Now when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place...for they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him...So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great" (2:11, 13). Job's friends traveled a long distance to sit with their friend in the ash heap, sharing in his grief. Their presence was a great comfort to Job for those seven days - if only they would have just remained silent, then they would have been a great help to their friend! May we strive to be instruments in the hands of God to bring comfort and blessing to others and not a weapon in the hand of the enemy to inflict further pain and suffering. This year, while the whole world has experienced being confined to their homes for a season, loneliness and isolation have elevated people's pain and suffering, making life unbearable in many cases. Tragically, there are far too many people listening to the deceptive and destructive lies of the enemy who is telling them that the only way out of their troubles is to end their life in this world. Let us pray for these silent sufferers to have their ears and hearts open to the comforting Word of the Lord who alone promises deliverance and even greater blessing to those who are willing to wait upon Him. When we do speak, let us speak words of comfort, not judgment, that will bring healing and hope to their aching, anguished hearts. "Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" says your God" (Isaiah 40:1).

(2 Corinthians 1:3-7)

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"Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord - that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (James 5:10).

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