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Job and God's Faithfulness
Job and God's Faithfulness
As we began reading Job, we saw the outward affliction that Job had to endure: loss of wealth, loss of children, and loss of health. With the coming of his three friends, Job finds them accusing him of great wickedness rather than comforting him in his affliction. In chapter 29, Job lets us see even more of what he suffered as he tells us of people's reaction to his calamities. This mental affliction that went on in Job's mind looks to me to be the greatest affliction of all. I would think that of all the things that would cause Job to turn away from God, this would be it.
In many ways, Satan seems to be a genius. People's loyalty to God is a matter of mindset. If they can be convinced that God doesn't care, or worse, that God is against them, they likely will turn against God. This in fact was the challenge that Satan put forth in the beginning. As painful as this mental anguish was for Job, he held on to God.
Watching Job go through this has convinced me that we need a firm conviction that God loves us and is faithful to His promises. One of the most often used words to describe God's relationship with His people in the Old Testaments is 'hesed'. This word appears almost 250 times in the OT and is translated "mercy", "Kindness", "goodness," "favor," and "lovingkindness". The ESV translators most often render this as "steadfast love". God is faithful. Not only is this a constant theme in the Old Testament, it also is in the New Testament (cf. 1Cor. 1:9; 10:13; 1 Thess. 5:24; 2 Tim. 2:13; 1John 1:9, etc.).
Our real problem with life is not figuring out 'why', but trusting God. What if we get the 'why' answer wrong (as did Job's friends)? Will we still trust God? What if we get the 'why' right and we don't LIKE the answer? Will we still trust God? What if we never get an answer to our 'why', will we still trust God? Peter's advice: "Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right" (1 Peter 4:19)
Hugh DeLong
