Job CCXCVII

 Two noteworthy virtues, often overshadowed by his suffering, stand out when contemplating Job’s life: he never forgot who God was, and he never lost his awe of the God he served. A man who had everything he could ever want or desire still observed the sun when it shone, and the moon moving in brightness, and was in awe of God’s creation. He understood how small he was in relation to how great God was, and the majesty of all He’d spoken into being continued to humble him, no matter how far he’d come or how much he’d been able to amass.

When we sing How Great Thou Art we should mean it because it’s factual. It is the truth. We serve a great God, a God of wonder and majesty, and we can never lose sight of this lest we descend into the preposterous mindset that we can view God at eye level rather than looking up.

The fear of the Lord that Job possessed was a healthy one because of his awareness of who God is. He knew God to be both more precious and more reliable than gold, and so placed his confidence in Him. He knew that all his eyes saw, everything that surrounded him, whether the moon, the stars, the sun, or a blade of grass was fashioned by His hand. He would not take credit for the things God had done because he could not.

Job never patted himself on the back or saw himself as the architect of his existence. He did not view himself as a little god, nor as one who determined the course of his life. If he was blessed, it was not by his own hand, or his prowess in business, but by the providence and good pleasure of the God he served.

This is the proper attitude of the heart that we, as servants of God, must possess. Not demanding, not feeling entitled, but exhibiting awe and gratitude for His guiding hand upon us, whether that hand leads us through the valley or over the mountaintop. We are either spoiled children or soldiers of the cross. The difference between the two is that while a spoiled child stomps their feet and acts out when they don’t get their way, a soldier follows orders and carries on even if the way is hard.    

Job 31:29-32, “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted myself up when evil found him (indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for a curse on his soul); If the men of my tent have not said, ‘who is there that has not been satisfied with his meat?’ (but no sojourner had to lodge in the street, for I have opened my doors to the traveler).”

Even Job had his detractors. Even he had men who hated him, for whatever reason, but he did not return their hatred in kind. Yet another good, noble, virtuous, and practical lesson we can learn from the life of Job. Even when destruction came upon them, Job did not rejoice. Nor did he lift himself up when evil found those who hated him, insisting that whatever befell them was well deserved because they chose to pick a fight with him.

I’ve heard it from the mouths of those who ought to know better, and it’s off-putting every time. You know what happened to so-and-so? They crashed their car, their cat died, their house burned down, but they got what they deserved because they said that one nasty thing about me that one time.

It’s easy to love your friends. It’s a lot harder to love your enemies. The uniqueness of Job rests in the fact that he was doing intuitively what Jesus would command His followers to do two thousand years later. Job didn’t have a template. He didn’t have the law, he didn’t have Scripture, he didn’t have the words of Jesus; he was a man living in the desert who desired a pure relationship with God, and from that desire, he followed through and did all that God inspired him to do.   

Matthew 5:43-48, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

Job could have rightly pleaded ignorance of the notion of loving one’s enemies since he had no instruction manual to tell him otherwise. If you try to put Ikea furniture together without an instruction manual, can anyone really fault you when what ought to have been a dresser ends up looking more like a coffin?

We have no such excuse, yet we’re always looking for an out, a cheat code, a way to circumvent what Jesus said we must do, because blessing those who curse you, doing good to those who hate you, and praying for those who spitefully use you and persecute you is hard. Yes, it’s hard. Anyone who says it isn’t is either lying to you or lying to themselves.

I’ve lived long enough to know betrayal by those I’ve considered brothers in the faith, not for some noble reason, but for the basest reason of all, trying to take for themselves what God gave to another. Few things in life hurt worse, and demoralize you to that extent. In the moment, I would have rather moved the Great Wall of China stone by stone without the aid of oxen or carts than prayed for those who spitefully used me, but I did it nevertheless because it’s what Jesus commanded. The first prayer was the hardest, and I felt no relief or release; the weight of it was still heavy on my heart, but then came the second prayer, and the fifth, and the tenth. At some point, I stopped counting and was surprised to find that the pain had subsided, and my heart no longer felt like it was wrapped in barbed wire. It was heavy no longer.  

Do not rejoice at the destruction of him who hates you, do not revel in their downfall when evil finds him. Do not ask for a curse on their soul, or entertain the desire of seeing evil come to him. It will only serve to pollute your heart. Rather, rest in the knowledge that you serve a just and righteous God, who will do as He wills when He wills it, for you are not justified in the sight of men but in the sight of God.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.