Hehe! Moving on! One more base to cover before I get to my blogging. My url has changed from the crazy long counterculturalteen to an easier one to remember. CCT412. The 412 is for the verse that stared this whole blog! 1 Timothy 4:12. (The one on the banner up there ^)
Okay! I don't really have a post ready. But I have really been trying to clearly write my opinion of the story of Job. I don't have it finished. But I think I'll post some of it here. Let me know what you think.
Be Honest With God.
I’ve heard people tell me that a lot over the years. I mean I mostly grew up in the Church so I’ve heard many of these “Christian sayings” without ever truly understanding them. I’m afraid I came to truly understanding this one kicking a screaming. Well. Not literally kicking or screaming. That would just look quite childish. Plus the people around me would probably think I was crazy or demon possessed or something. I just don’t see that as being a good thing. Anyway, back to being honest with God. I learned that the hard way. I did (ha! did? okay, fine. still do! I might as well be honest with you guys too!) a lot of trying to figure things out on my own and make things work the way I want them to or the way I think they should. I still fall into that trap! “Yeah! Of course I trust you God! But don’t worry about this over here. I’ll handle that.” Even now as I type it I am reminded of how silly that is! I can’t even begin to describe how silly it is to keep things from God or to try to control them without him! And the Bible shows us that clearly! Have you heard the story of Job in the Bible?
When the story of Job started off it said that Job would offer sacrifices on behalf of any sins his sons or daughters could have committed in their hearts. This brings up the first example of the difference of heart and actions. Job understood that people often sinned in their hearts without ever sinning with their words. This is a tough one. This goes for any other sins. The Bible is clearly saying that even if you do not sin outwardly and only keep it inward it is still sin. It is easy to sin without anyone knowing. But God still sees it. No matter how much you try to hide it, God will still know your heart and intentions. Psalms 44:19 says “For He knows the secrets of the heart.” How can you argue with that? Or hide anything from that? You can’t! God is all knowing! Omniscient! (oh yeah! I used a big word!) Job knew the difference between the two. I want to make sure that is clear before we go any further. This information will be helpful later on in the story of Jobs life.
As the story goes on the Devil comes to God and God points out how great Job is. I mean, after all, Job 1:1 says that Job was a perfect and upright man who feared God and shunned evil. He sounds like a pretty great guy! I’m totally paraphrasing here, but then the Devil basically says “Well duh Job loves and fears you! You have always taken care of him! You have been spoiling the pampered guy! I bet if you took away all of those blessings he would not love or fear you any more.”
Job 1:12 says “All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don't harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord's presence.”
So Satan has permission the mess with Job’s family and property. He just can’t touch Job physically. So he takes this very seriously and goes on to kill all of his servants, animals, crops, and his children. He grieved deeply. He tore his clothes and grieved while praising God. Job did not sin…. this time.
So after seeing that Job still stayed strong in his faith in God, the Devil decided to make another visit to the Almighty God. The first thing that happens is God starts to brag on His son Job again. He says “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged me to harm him without cause.” (Job 2:3) Clearly God is proud of Job. He seems to kind of rubbing Jobs faith in Satan’s face. So the devil decided to ask to be able to mess with Jobs health. He thought that is Job thought his life was at risk surely he would give in and begin to curse and hate God. So God gives him permission to do this.
Job was infected with boils. Boils is a terrible infection. WebMD (yep. went all WebMD on you! Honestly, I just wanted to really know what a boil was.) says “A boil is a skin infection that starts in a hair follicle or oil gland. At first, the skin turns red in the area of the infection, and a tender lump develops. After four to seven days, the lump starts turning white as pus collects under the skin.” that doesn’t sound good, right? And they become painful and fill with puss and rotting flesh! Rotting flesh! Can you imagine how he smelled? And these can often get to be golf ball sized. Wow! And the Bible says his whole body was infected with this! I can only imagine the misery!
So Job is sitting around scrapping his skin with parts of broken pots to try and stop some of the pain. He’s in a bad place. And his wife comes to him and says “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.” (Job 2:9) I want to point out something about Job and his wife. Job seemed like a very smart and blessed man. Do you think he would have picked a foolish woman for a wife? I highly doubt it. I also know that since she was his wife she knew Job and his heart better than anyone on earth. After all, they raised ten kids together! They had been through a lot together! She knew her husband better than anyone. She was a good wife to stay through all of that. I think that she had wisdom in what she said. She knew that Job was sinning against God in his heart and holding on to being self-righteous by not saying it out loud. To further validate this point, in the very next verse Job says “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” He clearly thought his wife to be a wise woman otherwise he would not have found anything remarkable in her statement. But he did find this statement out of the norm He said that she was speaking like the foolish women! Not that she was a foolish woman. In fact in every version I can find it specifies that she was speaking like a foolish woman. She was not a woman who was known for being foolish. Maybe he should have followed her advice.
The next thing that the Bible says is that “In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Remember how we learned that Job knew the difference between sinning with the heart and not words? Well this has come into play here! It sounds to me like Jobs wife was right. Otherwise, why would it specify that Job was not sinning with his lips? There would be no need to that to be added. If Job hadn’t sinned at all then they could have just said that Job didn’t sin! Just like they said after the first time the devil came around. He reacted differently this time. He truly was upset with God but did not want to express this. He was not only trying to look more righteous than he really was to the people around him, he was also trying to hide this from God.
That is all I have for now. Feel free to comment with your thoughts or opinions! I know this isn't a common view of Job or his wife. So I'd love to get some feedback!
Plus, any Citadel girlfriends, I'd love your comments on anything! lol! :)
