Daily Deprogramming

God had already distinguished Job as a righteous man long before the troubles came upon him.  He had already proved himself faithful in God’s eyes. God chose for him to be tempted , tested and tried beyond anything most of us can imagine.  But in the end when Job prayed for his friends, everything turned around  and Job’s life went on.  Job was abundantly blessed, having ten more children, and living one hundred and forty more years.

We don’t know how long Job suffered, but we know he stood the test in God’s eyes even if in man’s eyes he  appeared to be angry, and impatient.

Let’s change the story a little. Suppose Job had broken up his family for another woman long before.  Suppose the “other woman ” had broken up other families before his.  Suppose he called his first  wife “possessed”, “spider”,  and suppose his children were estranged from him, because of the abuse that together Job and his new wife had inflicted upon them.   Do you think God would have used him the way He did? 

Job’s wife certainly wasn’t the believer he was. We need to remember that she suffered also the loss of everything, even all of her children.  She said to him in  his sufferings, “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die.” It sounds as if she had a difficult personality for Job to deal with. But there is nothing to indicate that he ever left her, divorced her , or remarried again.  This is the kind of man Job was. He was a faithful man. A faithful man is faithful in all his ways. 

What if Job had “coveted” another  mans wife and children and seperated the man’s family?  What if Job had deeply wounded  two young boys ages 12 and 4 by keeping their brothers away from them ?   Would Job have been God’s man then? 

What if Job had caused pain and sorrow for family after family?   Destroying relationships between parents and children and  breaking up other men’s  homes? 

A lot of our pain we bring upon ourselves by our actions.  Sometimes it has little  to do with God. When cult leaders  are miserable because their covetousness, greed, and hunger for power has gotten them into a difficult corner, they bring out lot’s of soothing words about God,  as if they really cared about such things as Mercy, Love, Kindness, Compassion. They want these things for themselves, but do not lift a finger to extend these to others whom they have harmed and continue to harm. They are cruel, self-centered, harsh, and nothing like God.  They are nothing like Job either ,and they never have been. (Please see comment below)