Passage of the Day: Job 2: 10 … But [Job] said to [his wife], “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
My Journal for Today: Swindoll says today, “Job’s response to his wife’s suggestion that he curse God and die is magnificent.” And of course, Chuck is right; but don’t you just about gag when you read that verse. I do. I’m the type that says, “No way I could ever be able to respond like that if I had just lost my everything, including my kids; and I’m sitting there covered with boils.” And, … of course, … that’s the point, isn’t it?
Job’s response is not human. It is superhuman. It is Christlike in its faithfulness.
I have no doubt that this scenario is truth; because long ago I realized and resolved that all in the Bible is truth. Oh, you may ask, “Is it allegorical truth; or is it actual truth?” And to that I’d say, “Does it matter? … Truth is truth!” So, if we read it in God’s book, we are reading truth which God wants us to read so that we can be shaped by God’s Spirit, the Author of His truth, into the likeness of The Christ, the arch type of so many of the characters of the Bible, men or women like we have been studying, … Joseph, Moses, Elijah, Esther, or Job. In these character studies we see modeled elements of the character of Christ; and we can glean from them who or how we should grow to become in life.
That is why I gag at the prospect of being like Job in verse 10 of Job 2. I’m not that strong; and right now I have trouble identifying with Job’s trust in God. But I do see that this kind of strength is way more that we’d expect from any of us. It’s simply way more than human. And there in lies the lesson. It’s the character traits of faith and trust in God to which we should aspire. It’s the path of character development to which we must commit our lives to become. It’s the prayer, as I will shortly, to become more like Christ today than yesterday; and even more like Him tomorrow than today.
So, join me, my dear one; and let’s make a covenant to grow into the statement we read in today’s passage … to become more like Job as we read this account today. And perhaps one day, down the road of life, when we face some horrendous set of circumstances, we’ll respond by thinking and acting more like Job than we could today.
My Prayer for Today: Father, grow me into the image of Your Son, Jesus; and I pray this in His Name. Amen
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