Job XCV

 If we all got what we deserved, and God used karma as a metric, then we’d be seeing a lot more people sitting on ash heaps scratching at themselves with potsherds. All have fallen short, even those who think of themselves as spiritual giants, because the Word of God neither exaggerates nor generalizes.

If, during his monologue, Eliphaz had retained a modicum of self-awareness, he would have likely been less brutal in his judgment of Job. Rather than insist that Job had done something so nefarious as to cause the death of his ten children and the loss of all material possessions, a better perspective would have been to conclude that if such a thing could happen to Job, a man known for his uprightness in the land, how long before his own turn on the threshing floor?

It’s easy to judge and level ad hominem attacks without regard for the situation beyond the individual's current state. He’s homeless; therefore, he must be a deadbeat, lazy, unfocused, unwilling to work, likely on drugs, perhaps an alcoholic, with a penchant for gaming the system. If you took a moment to hear the man’s story, you would discover that he was once a successful surgeon who lost his wife and baby in the same accident that left him unable to do his job due to a tremor in his hands and after the mourning and the debt collectors and the feeling of hopelessness pressing in from all sides, he found himself living on the street with no prospects and no genuine friends to be there for him in his time of need. People he once helped pretended not to know him or turn the other way when they saw him walking down the street, and the bitterness and resentment were too much to bear.

Not everything is as simple as it seems at first glance. Some things are nuanced and complicated and require wisdom and discernment on our part. The more in tune we are with the Holy Spirit, the easier it becomes to discern when an opportunity to be a comfort, encouragement, and a help presents itself, understanding that such situations don’t materialize out of the ether but are orchestrated by the hand of God.

When Paul writes to the Hebrews encouraging them to entertain strangers because by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels, it wasn’t a throwaway line or something waved off as hyperbole, but something he knew to be valid and verifiable. This doesn’t mean everyone you run across is an angel in disguise, but if you are open to the urging of the Holy Spirit in your day-to-day life, at some point, you will run across someone who you will help that you’ll likely never seen again, but who leaves an indelible mark on you. You remember the person, and perhaps days, weeks, or months after the encounter, you start to wonder if there was something more to them than just an individual in filthy rags rummaging through a dumpster for scraps.

What makes the book of Job more challenging to decipher than other books of the Bible is that there are things in Eliphaz’s discourse that are demonstrably factual and true, some of them even being quoted by Paul as he writes to the churches, more specifically his first letter to the Corinthians. In contrast, others are mere conjecture or conclusions based on personal experiences he had as an individual. To know which is which, one must have a proper understanding of Scripture and is required to spend time in the Word so as to determine what is divinely inspired and what is man’s machinations.

As is often the case, men layer personal opinion or conviction atop biblical truth, hoping no one takes the time to discern and ferret out which is which. It’s become a staple of the modern-day church, and we can see its effects among the sheep who are frozen in place by all the confusion that personal opinion dressed up as gospel truth has wrought.

While Eliphaz’s discourse had some timeless truths peppered in, it also held much innuendo and a predisposition toward the notion of causality regarding Job’s situation.

As he concludes his oration, Eliphaz makes mention of the wisdom of God in all things, a wisdom superior to our limited understanding that we must defer to in times of uncertainty. Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore, do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. When you’re in it, it’s easier said than done, but it is nevertheless true. If God didn’t care, if He was indifferent and unconcerned about our spiritual state, then He would leave us to the desires of our heart, where everything goes, nothing is off limits, and self-destruction is a given.

Although what Eliphaz said was true generally speaking, within the context of Job’s situation, he was off the mark because, unbeknownst to him, this was not God’s correction, nor was it His chastening, but a testing of his faith. What he spoke was factual; God chastens those He loves, but the context in which this truth was used was inappropriate given Job’s circumstances.

You can say the right thing at the wrong time and quote scripture out of context to the point that it will shatter an already broken heart.

If you’re counseling parents regarding their older son being violently aggressive toward his sibling, telling them that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him is likely not the best thing that could come out of your mouth. It’s in the Bible, quoted verbatim, yet the context requires a different approach.

The Word of God is not intended to bludgeon people or strip away the last vestiges of their hope. The Word was given to us that we might know the truth, and by knowing it, we would be made free. It was given to us that we might know Christ and the power of His resurrection. It was given to us that we may know the measure of God’s love for mankind in sending Jesus. It was given to us that we might know the way to the Father, not to build our fiefdoms here on earth and twist it to the point that it becomes unrecognizable whenever it suits us. Situational saints are saints in name only, and those who discount entire swaths of Scripture because it doesn’t fit their narrative are not worthy of His name.   

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XCIV

 The more things change, the more they stay the same. So the proverb goes, and given the benefit of reading of those who came before and seeing this present generation, it’s not far off the mark. Times may change, and technology may advance, but as far as people are concerned, they are stubbornly consistent from generation to generation.

Even though Eliphaz and his two friends only possessed a partial understanding of God, they felt it within their right to pass judgment on Job, as though they understood the full measure of why he was being allowed to suffer the things he was, and why all his possessions had been turned to dust.

They considered that what they knew of God was enough to assess, conclude, and judge a given situation, fully confident that they had the right of it and that what they were doing was within the confines of God’s thoughts. In modern-day parlance, they were sure that what they were doing was what Jesus would do, even though what Jesus would do couldn’t be any more different than what they were doing.

It’s that kind of mindset that leads some to pass judgment on those who are currently suffering for the gospel’s sake, insisting that they don’t have enough faith to prosperity think their way out of the situation they’re in, not once considering the possibility that they are being tested and tried, that they may be purified and all the more glorious in the sight of God.

I’ve heard it often enough wherein it’s leeched every ounce of sympathy out of me, and I can no longer waive off such statements as ignorance or foolish words. Perhaps it’s my age and the fact that getting older hasn’t mellowed me out, or that I’ve had to deal with such naïve quasi-intellectualism for too long, but I just can’t abide it when someone whose only knowledge of God is the three half verses they’ve memorized and use out of context every chance they get look their noses down on those who carry the scars of their faithfulness on their bodies.  

Do you mean to tell me that men and women, brothers and sisters in Christ who are currently being martyred for the sake of Christ, don’t have enough faith? You mean to tell me that these individuals who would not deny Jesus on pain of death are lacking conviction and understanding of their duty toward God to the point that you can demean them and look down on them, concluding that they are somehow spiritually inferior to you?

It is a grace to know what you know and acknowledge what you don’t know. It is a grace to be humble enough to understand that for now, we see in a mirror dimly, and we understand in part, and though many have claimed to have had confabs with the almighty Himself, staring into His eyes and sitting on His lap, none have proven to be true.

Whenever we hear of someone going through a hardship, it’s easy to run into the arms of causality and conclude that they must have done something to deserve the thing that has come upon them. Although the law of cause and effect may apply in some instances, it is not absolute. It is relative at best, especially when it comes to spiritual matters; causality may not be the reason someone is going through a hardship, and to jump to a conclusion without having all the necessary evidence is foolhardy and childish.

It’s an easy out, especially when we don’t possess discernment or a proper understanding of what God is doing in someone’s life. Rather than take the time to pray, fast, and seek the face of God as to why someone is going through a trial, it’s easier and more expeditious to conclude that they must have done something; therefore, what is happening to them is as a direct result of the thing they did.

Jumping to such conclusions and verbalizing them with all the certainty of one who will not be swayed by reason or evidence is oftentimes as painful to the individual currently suffering as the tragedy itself.

If I come to you for comfort and a shoulder to cry on, and you start beating me about the head and shoulders with the rod of self-righteous zeal, insisting that I’ve done something I know I haven’t, however close I may have deemed you, my thoughts regarding you, our friendship, and our bond will inevitably sour.

Job’s three friends showed great wisdom in sitting with him in silence for seven days. Not so much once they started speaking and trying to use human reason to explain something they had no understanding of.

Come on, brother, we all know that affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground; there has to be a cause; there has to be something that precipitated the events that led to your demise, sitting on an ash heap and scratching at yourself with a potsherd. Just think about it. What did you do?

Those must have been some truly crushing words to Job’s ears because although Eliphaz was insistent that there had to be an underlying cause to the situation he found himself in, Job knew of nothing he had done to displease the Lord.

May we be wise enough to know and understand when silence is our best and only course of action. May we be wise enough to know and understand that sometimes God allows seasons of trial and sifting in the lives of His children, not because they have sinned, erred, or become wayward children but because He is purifying them and growing their faith through it.

Personal experience is not determinative in understanding the truth. Personal experience must be proof-tested with the truth, fall in line, and harmonize with the Word of God to be deemed true. Just because I personally feel some kind of way about something is wholly irrelevant if it doesn’t align with the word of God. We’ve taken to placing personal opinions, dreams, visions, or what we deem to be some sort of revelation above the word of God, ignoring it over what we believe to be the truth, and not only is that foolish and ignorant, it is dangerous and destructive.

Based on personal experience, Eliphaz concluded that Job must have sinned. He must have done something to displease God, and as we know, he could not have been further from the truth. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.               

Job XCIII

 Growing in the knowledge of God necessarily makes you more humble. It is an undeniable reality borne out by true believers throughout time. The knowledge of Christ will not engender pride but rather humility to the utmost. The more you draw closer to Him, your own wretchedness becomes all that much clearer, and as a result, the reality of what Jesus did for us on the cross crystallizes in our hearts and minds. It’s one thing to discover someone paid for a twenty-dollar layaway item at Kmart on your behalf; it’s another to realize that Jesus took your death sentence upon Himself and saved you from eternal torment by His own blood and sacrifice.

Herein lies the majesty of what Jesus did, that while we were yet sinners, He died for us. We stand not in our own righteousness but in His. Because it was not of our own making, we have nothing to boast in, save Him, yet every day, I run across some individual or another who insists that none among the eight billion souls currently living on the earth meet their standards of uprightness. It’s not God’s standard they’re referring to but their own.

If your walk with God does not produce humility but rather a self-righteous, judgmental mindset wherein you sit in judgment of all those around you, insisting that none comes close to achieving your righteousness because they fail to do or practice some extra-biblical thing that you insist has become the salvific issue it isn’t, repent now, while you still have time.

The tendency to jump to conclusions when we don’t have all the relevant information or adopt the mindset of Eliphaz when someone we know is going through a trial is an urge we must resist because it neither comes from God nor does it do anything to bind up the wounds of one who is hurting. There are countless pet doctrines we go to war over within the household of faith, and every day, a new one seems to spring up when the old ones run out of gas or forward momentum.

I’ve been in ministry long enough to see the shifting tides and the new-fangled thing some addle-brained individual came up with, which then spread like wildfire, taking the focus off Jesus and placing it on whether or not we’ve memorized the book of Enoch, whether the giants were fallen angels or aliens, and a glut of other theories with no basis in scripture save for a passing handful of words that some have managed to convert into a cottage industry.

A distraction is still a distraction, even if it is well-meaning. If the enemy can get me to stop focusing on Christ and the cross, if he can get me to look elsewhere save for Jesus, then I will no longer see my wretchedness in light of His glory, nor will I continually consider all that He has done for me. That’s the first step in a spiritual decline that will have me roaming the wilderness looking for something to supplement the relationship and intimacy I had with Him while I remained in Him, and the same enemy that served up the distraction will provide the supplemental shiny new thing, recently unearthed from the papyrus of old that will illuminate me above my contemporaries and give me a heretofore untapped knowledge that will make me spiritually superior to the Apostles of old.

Folly and vanity are what it is, and if you think the enemy is proffering new doctrines because he has your spiritual best interest at heart, you’ve deluded yourself into believing the lie wholesale.

But just Jesus is too boring. We have to give the people something new, less vanilla and more spice, to keep them interested and engaged. If that’s your mindset, then I fear you never knew the real Jesus nor ever took the time to grow a bond with Him. Throughout the ages, countless souls have dedicated themselves to the pursuit of Christ, lost their freedom and even their lives for His name’s sake, yet here we sit, overfed but undernourished, rolling our eyes at the mention of Christ, as though He were some passing fad and not Lord and King of all.

Job and his friends did not have the benefit of Scripture; they did not know the name Christ, nor were they aware of the prophecies that would be spoken of Him thousands of years later, which, in turn, would come to pass centuries after they were delivered. They had a sliver of an understanding of God’s love, no understanding whatsoever of His plan to send His only begotten Son to redeem mankind, yet the little understanding they possessed compelled them to commit their ways unto the Lord and seek Him as the priceless treasure He is.

It’s often been said that if God did not spare Sodom and Gomorrah, He must surely judge this generation for its sin and depravity. Far fewer, however, have insisted that if Job and his friends could know God given the limited resources they had at their disposal concerning Him, then this generation will be without excuse for their ignorance, but that conclusion, even if not so popular, is likewise true.

We are a generation without excuse, both within and without the church, because we’ve squandered the time we were given and gone in search of gurus, mystics, strange fire, and strange doctrines, seemingly anything and everything else except for the risen Savior who gave His life that we might have life. Stop looking for saviors outside of Jesus because there aren’t any. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by Him.

This isn’t me belaboring the point. This is me trying to explain why the judgment that is soon to fall upon the house of God is not only justified but sorely needed. When God is done, all that will remain of the false Christs, the false prophets, the false apostles, the false shepherds, the false brethren, and the false church will be dust and ash. It will be very much like what Job experienced with one all-important difference: While Job was being tested by God, these men, institutions, and false deities will be judged by God. They will be under judgment, not under testing, and we will see the marked difference between the two. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XCII

 Even though the words Eliphaz spoke were delivered as criticism of Job, one can’t help but notice that for a man who did not have the benefit of Scripture, the written Word, or a theological seminary, there was much wisdom and a right understanding of who God is, and what He can do.

If not for the presupposition that Job was being punished rather than tested, Eliphaz’s words would have been uplifting, encouraging, motivational, steeped in truth, and quotable enough to make their way onto a piece of driftwood for sale at Marshal Goods. It doesn’t bode well for the contemporary church when a man with no formal training or the Bible as a source of wisdom has a better grasp on the nature, justice, and sovereignty of God than most mega-church pastors today.

How can this generation be more ignorant of God’s word with all the available resources than an individual who grew up in the plains, living in a tent, without the benefit of any of the things we take for granted? We’re not even talking about lay people; we’re talking about men who see themselves as shepherds of the sheep.

Consider that during the time of Job, the laws of Moses hadn’t even been delivered, never mind the revelation of Christ, His life, death, burial, and resurrection, yet Job and his friends retained enough of a knowledge of God to conclude such profound truths as to leave modern-day scholars scratching their heads in befuddlement.

Throughout time, God has revealed Himself to those willing to see His hand at work. It didn’t take workshops or stuffy classrooms; it just took a desire to know, see, and press in. Ever since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes have been readily visible and understood by the things that are made. That’s okay; we fixed it, though. We came up with our pea-brained theory of a big explosion that set everything in perfect order in our attempt to explain away His eternal power because it meant we wouldn’t have to contend with the reality of a sovereign Creator who rules and reigns supreme over His creation.

It’s not that one is easier to believe over the other. Between believing that a guiding hand was responsible for molding the universe, creating man from the dust and the earth, and setting everything in its proper place, and a big bang that made something out of nothing, it’s far easier to accept the reality of a Creator, than an accident that brought about everything we see today. It’s not that His attributes are not plainly seen; it’s that mankind refuses to see them because of the underlying implications.

If there is a God over all, then I am accountable for my actions. I must own the consequences of whether I believe or not and one day answer for my rejection of Him. It would mean that I am not the master of my destiny, that I don’t dictate terms, and that I must be subservient to the One who breathed life into me.

Romans 1:18-21, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

If men are ignorant of God today, it is willful ignorance. It’s akin to a man walking into the noonday sun, putting a sack over his head, and insisting that there is no sun. It’s all darkness, all dread; the sun does not exist to them, even though their action is what caused them to be ignorant of it. Does this mean the sun ceased to be? Just because they covered their faces and shut their eyes, does the sun now bow to their denial and blink out of existence? No, it doesn’t, and though they may deny the existence of the sun, those around them will attest to the reality that it exists; it burns bright and lights the world with its warmth.

Men’s god complex and rebellious hearts are keeping them from knowing the one true God, even though since the beginning of creation, His invisible attributes are clearly seen. Eliphaz and his two friends understood that there was something more than themselves, had seen the hand of God at work in their lives, and it is the undeniable reality they lived. They likewise knew Job was a man of faith, one who was faithful and upright, but the one thing they couldn’t reconcile is how so horrible a thing could happen to one who retained his integrity and uprightness.

Eliphaz even went so far as to give in to the whispers of the enemy, who insisted that Job’s faithfulness had to be some sort of pretense since a mortal could not be more righteous than God and a mortal could not be more pure than his Maker. But that’s not something Job ever claimed, nor was it something God ever said about Job. That’s what the enemy does. He twists the truth to sow doubt and subverts it to transform the meaning of something clear into a bog of confusion.

What God said about Job wasn’t that he was more righteous than his Maker, but that he was a blameless and upright man who feared Him and shunned evil. The devil knew this to be the case, but that didn’t stop him from speaking lies and half-truths to the point that the three friends who had sat with Job in silence for seven days were now on the warpath, trying to ferret out what hidden sin he harbored in his heart that had brought the wrath of God upon his head. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XCI

 God does not attempt to perfect those who do not know Him. They are under judgment. Why would He offer such a priceless gift to those who despise Him? Why would He attempt to mold someone into the image of His Son if they are ignorant of Him?

Those who do know Him, who desire and hunger after Him, are continually being pruned because God’s love for us is such that He desires us to be complete in Him, in His image, walking in His authority, with no impurities or imperfections nesting in the corners of our hearts. God is our heavenly father, and He wants the best for us. What we define as best might not be what He sees as best. Just as any earthly father will discipline, mold, and teach his progeny things that may seem difficult at first glance but that will reap a lifelong reward once they are mastered, God grows us so we learn to walk by faith, daily stretching us and getting us out of our comfort zone so as to not remain static ever reliant on milk.

We grew up poor. By we, I mean my brothers and I. My mom worked odd jobs cleaning homes, my dad worked two jobs, and the first few years were difficult to the point of desperation. When you have the Mexican family in the adjoining apartment bringing you a block of government cheese, you kind of know where you stand.

I wish I could say that my childhood didn’t mark me, but it did. One of the most vivid memories I have of our first few months in California was walking to the local grocery store, seeing the aisles stock full of all manner of things, wanting to fill the cart with cookies and cereal, and my mom counting out quarters, nickels, and dimes hoping we had enough for a gallon of milk and a loaf of white bread.

I remember the feeling of seeing what seemed like wonderful things to my adolescent eyes and not being able to have them, and because of my experiences, I have to fight the urge to spoil my daughters and give them everything they want because I know it would not be good for them in the long run.

If they had their way, there would be nothing but chocolate in the fridge, the cupboard, and the pantry. All five food groups rolled up into one delicious morsel. Because I know an all-chocolate diet would be detrimental to their health, I have to curb my compulsion to say yes to everything or let them eat chocolate until they pass out, and although I can see the disappointment in their eyes, or that look emblematic of all children, I have to insist that they include broccoli in their diet as well. Do they love broccoli? Hardly. What child does? But they eat it because their mother and I insist upon it, and although they may not shower us with gratitude presently if we’re still around when they’re all grown up, they’ll thank their mother and me for not giving in to their desires.

You discipline your children, teach them right from wrong, and deny them certain things not because you’re mean but because you love them. You know that their momentary cheerfulness and joy at having received what they desired will have detrimental effects further down the road, and so, even at the risk of tears or pouty looks, you still say no. Getting everything you want may not be the best thing for you, and because God knows best, you must defer to Him in such matters. It’s as simple as that, but as with most things, we tend to complicate it to the point of insisting that our will supersedes His, and though He knows how many hairs you have on your head, He’s ignorant of this one thing you really want and insist you should have.

God chastens those He loves. He corrects, refines, and perfects those who are His. It’s a hard truth but a Biblical truth, and we must acknowledge it as such. What you may think is your ideal may be the snare that has you weeping in the dark, hoping that the sun never rises. What you may think would be the blessings of all blessings might be quicksand you’ll never be free of. Trust God. Not in some things, but in all things, and the beauty of His way will one day be clear to you.

God is a constant. He is a fixed point, and wherever you are, you can look up to see Him, and as long as you are journeying toward Him, you know you’re headed in the right direction. Because He promised that if we seek Him, we will find Him, there is never confusion, doubt, or a sense of being lost and wandering about without purpose or direction. He is the north star of our spiritual walk, and wherever we may be, His presence helps us find our way and orient ourselves.

It’s when we ignore Him or think we know a shorter path to Him that we tend to get in trouble, and although He is still there, a beacon of light in a world of darkness, many pretend as though He’s not.

When we find ourselves in seemingly untenable situations, the first instinct is to look to the left and to the right, hoping someone within our circle of friends, acquaintances, or brothers and sisters in Christ will lend a hand. Most assuredly, there is a time and place for the help of friends and family, but we must never forget that our help comes from the Lord. He may use people to bring it about, but rather than look around us in panic, hoping someone will step up, our first reaction should be to look up, fix our eyes upon Him, and press ever onward. It’s not something that is inherent or instinctual. It’s a learned reaction based on lived experience, wherein we know that if we trust in Him, He will make a way.

I don’t mean to spoil the ending for you, but in his current state, shattered and broken, a boil-covered husk of his former self, Job could not have foreseen a means by which everything he’d lost would be restored to him, but what seems impossible to man is more than possible to God. I know my redeemer lives. I know He will make a way. That alone is enough to carry me through the dark seasons of this life.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.               

Job XC

 The lessons we learn in our season of testing are worth their weight in blood, sweat, and tears, and though the hurt, privation, hardship, and trials eventually pass, the wisdom of the lessons remains with us for the rest of our days. Many would rather forego any modicum of suffering at the expense of not gaining wisdom, learning, growing, and maturing because their fear of pain, lack, hunger, persecution, or privation is such that they will outright refuse to consider the benefits of the experience when it’s in the rearview.

We’ve all known someone who started a diet with all the enthusiasm of a fat kid in a candy store, only to throw their hands up in frustration and give up a couple of weeks in because they deemed it too hard. Others, however, stuck with it, persisted through the hardship and adversity, and committed to their course not for a week or a month but until they hit their goal and succeeded.

Every time something in life is challenging or difficult, there’s bound to be someone to offer a shortcut. An entire cottage industry has been created around shedding weight when its fundamentals could fit on a six-by-five card: Eat less, exercise more! That simply won’t do, however. You can’t monetize four words and expect people to shell out recurring monthly payments when all you’re offering them is something they’ve likely known all along. Put down the chocolate cake and go for a walk. Better yet, throw it out.

And so, in the most self-serving way possible, those profiting off the struggles of others complicate a simple premise to the utmost so they could be the ones to offer a solution for a reasonable fee. Take these pills, take these shots, eat cabbage soup until you’re soiling yourself on the way to work, stand on one leg, then on your head, say this mantra every morning, drink cod liver oil mixed with apple cider vinegar but make sure it’s with mother otherwise it won’t work, have a warm cup of water first thing in the morning, staple your lips shut an hour before bed, but whatever you do, don’t cancel your subscription to new year, new you!

Every fad works for a time, but if there is no lifestyle change, and your will is not strong enough to say no to the things you know you ought to, eventually, you fall off the wagon, roll into the weeds, and find yourself tipping the delivery guy who just brought three meat lovers pizzas, extra cheese, with a side of ranch to your front door.

Tragically, the contemporary church has taken the same model and applied it to salvation. Sure, narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it, but that was before we discovered this surefire shortcut that will simplify your spiritual walk and shave decades off the need to build up your most holy faith. Just repeat after me: This is my Bible; I am what it says I am; I have what it says I have; I can do what it says I can do! Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it? We couldn’t make it any easier if we tried.

Everyone wants to attain the prize, but few acknowledge there is a cost, count the inherent cost, and are willing to pay the whole freight because they understand the value of the prize. It’s not because I say it, but because Jesus said it that it matters. Some things are the way they are no matter how much some may wish them to be otherwise, and the danger of not counting the cost and establishing the Lord in your heart is that when the road gets hard, and it will at some point, you will begin to grumble, resist, and grow bitter in your heart because it’s not what you envisioned your faith journey to be.

I’ve been told all my life that I’m a priest, a king, one who will rule the nations with a rod of iron, who will speak things into existence, bind up and loose at will, and here I am trying to find the coupon for a free gallon of milk. Either there was some miscommunication or a serious case of false advertising. This isn’t what I signed up for!

What the Temu version of Christianity gets you is disillusionment, disappointment, and bitterness. You’re promised one thing and end up with something that looks like the genuine article at first glance, but upon closer inspection, you realize it’s nowhere close to it. On the surface, it seems like Christianity, but soon enough, you can’t help but notice there is no power, no presence of God, no conviction, no hunger, just well-rehearsed sideshows that leave you hollow inside.

This is why it’s important not to sugarcoat the gospel or the cost of being a follower of Christ from the start. This is what it is; this is what it will cost; now, you must make the choice of whether or not you will embark upon the journey. Anything less than the truth is disingenuous and will lead to recrimination sooner or later because the individual was presented Jesus as being the fix-all for all their problems rather than the One to whom they must submit and who they must obey for the rest of their time here on earth.

When you go to apply for a job, there is a discussion of both compensation as well as expectations, a detailed job description, and certain non-negotiables required of you. The same applies to our walk of faith. Repentance, regeneration, sanctification, and faithfulness are non-negotiables, as is being born again, transformed, and renewed. This isn’t me being a curmudgeon or a stick in the mud; the Word of God says you must be born again. I’m just passing the message along.

What if Job had been a proponent of the prosperity gospel? What would have happened to his faith, integrity, perseverance, and endurance? While he was rich, lacked nothing, and had everything a man could wish for, it would have worked swimmingly, but what about after? How would he have reacted if his conviction was that God’s primary purpose was to bless and prosper him, always? Would his faith have endured? Would he have clung to his integrity still?

What you believe regarding the nature of the God you serve matters, and what matters most of all is that what you believe about God aligns with His word. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job LXXXIX

 Job 5:17-27, “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hand makes whole. He shall deliver you in six troubles, yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. In famine He shall redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes. You shall laugh at destruction and famine, and you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. You shall know that your tent is in peace; you shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss. You shall also know that your descendants shall be many, and your offspring like the grass of the earth. You shall come to the grave at a full age, as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season. Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear it, and know for yourself.”

It’s easy to rationalize someone else’s pain and conclude that they’re reacting in a manner they shouldn’t be. We go back to the idea that every situation is unique, and every trial and the reaction to it is exclusive to the individual in question. We tend to generalize much more than we ought, and although generally speaking, the notion that the man whom God corrects is happy, in Job’s case, it was not correction; it was something wholly different, a new experience heretofore unheard of by Eliphaz and his two friends, and it was something they couldn’t wrap their minds around.

Correction is one thing. Giving Satan free rein to tear you down to the studs and then cover those with painful boils as a means of testing is something wholly different. Job’s friends couldn’t have known why these things were happening to him, and Job himself was likewise in the dark.

It’s even discombobulating for us who have the benefit of the Word and understand that sometimes God tests our faith for reasons that have nothing to do with correction, but as far as Job was concerned, he was the first, the prototype, the forerunner of being sifted, and tried to the point of unimaginable pain. He had no point of reference for what he was going through. There was no one he could point to in the past and reconcile his current lot with what another had gone through before.

Job’s friends had done their due diligence. They’d searched it out and concluded it to be true, but there had never been a man to have been sifted for the reasons Job was being sifted for, and so having a partial understanding of the situation, they spoke to him in words whose substance was undeniably true, but which did not apply to his current circumstance.

Having seen Job at his lowest, they’d concluded that his situation did not warrant the level of desperation or suffering he was feeling. God bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hand makes whole; all true, but difficult to see when you’re still being bruised and wounded for no reason that you can discern.

The promises of God hold true even if their fulfillment is delayed. That is an absolute truth we, as children of God, with the benefit of hindsight and the foundation of Scripture, can abide in and draw comfort from. Even when you don’t know the reason you’re going through testing, when you’ve searched your heart and know that there is no unconfessed sin therein, when you conclude it isn’t correction but something else, take strength from the knowledge that He will bind up, restore, and heal in due season.

The knowledge of this doesn’t make it any easier, but it gives us the strength to press on, to endure and persevere when others have fallen by the wayside and given in to despair. I don’t have hobbies. I don’t bowl, golf, hunt, or roller derby. One thing I have been doing as far back as I can remember is collecting stories of individuals who spent time in prison, were tortured, persecuted, and unfairly treated for the sake of Christ during the communist rule in Eastern Europe.

None of these people had any recourse. They couldn’t go to the justice system, appeal their arrest with a judge, and though they trumpeted their innocence, no one paid them any mind. There wasn’t even a promise of deliverance or that someday they would know freedom once more. All they had was the daily choice of remaining faithful or giving in to bitterness.

It was a binary thing. Either they persevered and committed their ways to the Lord in all things or requested an audience with an overseer and wrote down some names on a piece of paper. The reward for their betrayal was no small thing. They would get to go home to their wives and children, they would no longer be harassed by local officials, and the threat of torture and imprisonment would no longer hang over their heads like the sword of Damocles. Even so, many, if not most, endured untold horrors at the hands of those who saw them as less than human because they understood that there had not failed one word of all His good promises.

If there had been any doubt regarding God’s omnipotence, faithfulness, and sovereignty in the hearts of these individuals, the offer on the table would have been too good to pass up. With one stroke of a pen, all your problems went away. No more beatings, humiliations, hard labor, or psychological torture; all of it went away in an instant.

They could not see the promises of God being fulfilled presently; there was no particular date they could count down to, yet unshakeable faith in the God they served gave them the assurance that one way or another, their deliverance was a certainty. God will heal; He will bind up, restore, and make the crooked paths straight because He promised it would be so, but in His time and for His purpose. When we’re in the midst of it, every second seems like an eternity, and we wonder if deliverance will ever come, but rest assured, it will.  

With love in Christ, 

Michael Boldea, Jr.