Job: An Encouragement and a Testimony

Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.  And he said:

      “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
      And naked shall I return there.
      The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
      Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.--Job 1:20-22

I LOVE Job!  His story and these words have been an encouragement and a testimony to me of living by faith...of accepting all that comes my way with worship and words of faith.   Job took all his emotion to the Lord and released it through worship!

Job did not have the benefit of reading Chapter 1 like I do.  He had no idea what was happening behind the scenes.  I know this was a test that God was allowing in his life.  I know what God really thought of him.   Job has been an example not only to me, but for countless others throughout time. His story reminds us that even though it seems like God has forsaken us there is a lot going on that we do not see.   These verses remind me of all that Job went through.  No one was tested like Job.  And yet he endured and was able to say this:

But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.  

Here is what James says about Job:

My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. 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.

If Job endured, then I can too and so can you!  Job's choosing to worship the Lord at a time of such deep sorrow and loss is and has always been such a comfort to me as I face my own grief and sorrow.  I can wait on the Lord who is compassionate and merciful.  I can wait on Him who loved me enough to die for me.  I can wait on Him because my hope is sure and certain in Heaven.  I can wait because like Moses I choose to see the "invisible" by faith.

By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.—Hebrews 11:24-27