Job CCCII

 No one asked him to do it, no one inquired of him, but Elihu took it upon himself to educate Job and his three friends, and he had nothing good to say about any of them. Job had offended his sensibilities by declaring his innocence; the three friends had offended him by being unable to challenge Job’s assertions; and, of all the men present, he thought himself the sole possessor of wisdom and understanding.

With the advent of modern technology, it has become far easier to highlight one’s ignorance and put it on full display for all to see, and the chorus of those screeching “Listen to me, I also will declare my opinion” has become the soundtrack of life, ever present in the background, like the buzzing of a hornet or the stridulation of a grasshopper. You try to tune them out, even succeed on the good days, but more often than not they get so loud as to become impossible to ignore, a cacophony of noise with no underlying substance.

The first impulse is to add our own noise to the chorus, to speak our mind, to have our say, to throw our two cents in to a growing mountain of pennies. Surely, if the guy with the squeegee, offering to clean your windshield for some spare change, has an opinion on geopolitics and global affairs, you should have one too; at least you own a car, and technically, delivering DoorDash to lazy people is a job, so you have one of those too. Yep, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll give him a piece of my mind and tell him what I think because I have just as much right to an opinion as he does to his, and my opinion is likely the correct one anyway.

If we surrender to that first impulse, all that occurs is that our voice is added to the noise, and we find ourselves trying to talk over others, each holding to their position, becoming ever more impatient, erratic, and vitriolic. Soon enough, it’s no longer about the position, but about the person, and the ad hominem attacks come in hot and heavy, focusing on the individual rather than their premise, because if the message is bulletproof, the messenger likely isn’t.

I’ve found that the wisest thing to do in such situations is refuse to participate entirely. People who’ve made up their minds about one thing or another are rarely willing to hear dissenting opinions, or allow for their minds to be changed on the matter. If I’m asked my opinion, I will give it, but beyond that, I refuse to engage in a war of words that will likely produce nothing but bitterness and animosity.

If the matter is of a biblical nature, then all I can do is point to what Scripture says, because I am subordinate to it, and not it to me. If it’s a trivial matter, we all have our preferences and will not judge another for failing to tuck in their shirt or wear khakis to the park when it’s blistering hot outside. Do I think that wearing knee-high socks with open-toe sandals is a good idea? No, but it will neither bring one closer nor distance them from Jesus, so why should it matter to me?       

Job 32:15-22, “They are dismayed and answer no more; words escape them. And I have waited, because they did not speak, because they stood still and answered no more. I also will answer my part, I too will declare my opinion. For I am full of words; the spirit within me compels me. Indeed my belly is like wine that has no vent; it is ready to burst like new wineskins. I will speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer. Let me not, I pray, show partiality to anyone; nor let me flatter any man. For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.”

For well over half of the book of Job, no one even knew Elihu was present or that he even existed. His name had not been brought up, he had not been included in the conversation, none of what was said pertained to him, yet he was full of words, and the spirit within him compelled him to speak. Which spirit, I wonder?

This wasn’t about giving an arbitrary opinion on the weather; it wasn’t as though he was asked to chime in, but Elihu took it upon himself to speak; otherwise, he would burst. In his mind, what he had to say mattered so much that had he kept silent, he would find no relief.

If you’ve ever had someone jump in mid-conversation without understanding the context or knowing what was said before they decided to give their hot take, you know what Job and his three friends felt like. I’m sure you’re right, and Fords are unreliable, but the conversation wasn’t about cars. You misheard “afford” and thought it was “Ford”, and now we’re onto a whole new topic when the initial conversation centered around how no one could afford health insurance anymore.

There is wisdom in the admonition that one ought to be slow to speak and quick to listen. Granted, Elihu had been listening to the back and forth between Job and his friends, but he had no reason for injecting himself into the conversation save for hubris and the elevated opinion he had of himself and his opinion.

He knew what he was going to say before he said it, and likewise knew it would not land well, so he couched his words in a self-serving, “I’m just being honest, not looking to flatter, or show partiality” preface before launching into his diatribe. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, believing him at his word that his desire was not to show partiality to any one individual over the other, the question remains: why say anything at all? It’s not as though Job asked him to jump into the conversation, nor had his three friends enquired of his opinion or asked for his aid in convincing Job that his uprightness was an illusion. Even so, in Elihu’s mind it was either speak, or burst like a new wineskin, and there was no in between.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCCI

 As we proceed further into the chapter, we are made aware of a fifth individual, one who, up until this moment, had watched and heard the interaction between Job and his three friends but had remained silent.

We are informed that he is Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, and by all accounts, he was an angry young man. His wrath was aroused against Job, against Job’s three friends, and as any youthful hubris is likely to do, he thought he knew better than everyone and proceeded to set them straight. He’d held his tongue up until this point. Perhaps his parents had taught him to respect his elders, and although he’d been present for the back and forth between Job and his three friends, and managed to hold his tongue and not speak, that time had come and gone, and now he would give them a piece of his mind.

His wrath was aroused against Job because he viewed Job’s discourse as justifying himself rather than God, and against his three friends because they found no answer, yet condemned Job. Young Elihu was an island unto himself and had convinced himself that he knew better than everyone, and he’d prove it.

Evidently, it’s not just this generation of young people who think they know better than those with decades under their belt. It’s not a new malady, it seems, but something that has been around for thousands upon thousands of years.

The first words out of Elihu’s mouth could readily be seen as an insult to the other four men, calling them very old, rather than wise or experienced. If you have children of a certain age, you’ve likely had at least one such conversation wherein the things they said revealed a lack of practical life experience. When we were children, we all thought as children. Tragically, even though fully grown, some men still think as children, but generally speaking, the way of things ought to be that the grayer your temples, the greater the wisdom you possess.  

There are no substitutes for some things. While you can substitute sugar for Splenda or coffee for tea, there are no substitutes for lived experience, and the wise among us tend to learn from the mistakes of others instead of making the same mistakes themselves.

There are countless examples in which the good advice parents gave their children was summarily ignored, only for the very same children to come back years later and grudgingly admit that their parents were right. Perhaps the face tattoo wasn’t the best idea. Perhaps mom and dad were right, and gainful employment did have its benefits, like not starving, after all.         

Job 32:10-14, “Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me, I also will declare my opinion.’ Indeed I waited for your words, I listened to your reasonings, while you searched out what to say. I paid close attention to you; and surely not one of you convinced Job, or answered his words – lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom’; God will vanquish him, not man. Now he has not directed his words against me; so I will not answer him with your words.”

No one asked it of me, but I will, nevertheless, give my opinion, and you have no choice but to listen to me. Although the Word does not go into detail about who this young man was, other than that he was from the family of Ram and the son of Barachel the Buzite, it seems he thought highly of himself and was not shy about it. It’s one of the things the household of faith contends with more and more these days, because everyone not only has an opinion about everything, but they feel it is within their right to voice said opinion, and insist that everyone listen.

It’s one of the reasons we have strayed so far from Biblical truth that we now require a roadmap just to get back to its general vicinity. It may deflate some egos, but when it comes to Biblical truth and what the Word of God says, your opinion is irrelevant. I know, but I’m me, and I’m important, and people should listen to everything I have to say, even if it contradicts Scripture itself.

As I heard a young man ask the cashier at the local grocery store when she denied his coupons because they’d expired, “Who you is? Who do you think you is?”

We have foregone discipleship, seasoning, maturing, studying, learning, and growing, because those things take too long, and we have a five-year plan for our ministry. I got saved on a Wednesday, and started teaching the Word on a Sunday, even though the first time I ever cracked open a Bible was the previous Thursday, but listen to me, and I also will declare my opinion!

Then they start playing their own version of “Did God really say?” with scripture that is obvious and unambiguously declares what God said, because in order to stand out, you have to put a new spin on the old text, and in order to do that, you must go beyond the bounds of what it states.

Now that you’re old, you just have a problem with young people in ministry. Not so, but I do take issue with brash young people in ministry who attempt to twist the Word of God to fit their reimagined version of what they think Christianity should be instead of what the Bible says it is. Being loud doesn’t make you right; it just makes you loud.

Speaking of things that can’t be substituted, discipleship is one of those things, at least if the desire of your heart is authentic ministry and not just a get-rich-quick scheme you’ve dreamed up. Who one chooses as their mentor in spiritual matters tells me everything I need to know about the true desire of their heart. There are those who follow after Christ, laying aside their plans, dreams, aspirations, and desires in the process; then there are those who pretend to follow Him to fulfill their plans, dreams, aspirations, and desires. One will lead to a humble, well-lived, obedient, and Biblical life. In contrast, the other will lead to compromise, because being Biblical will never draw the crowds that being worldly will, and if the heart is set on the things of this world, then every decision will focus toward that end.

The worst thing the young can do is seek to be discipled by flash over substance, unless what they really want is to mirror the flash, without regard for what the Bible says a bishop, elder, or teacher of the Word ought to be. We’ve seen the consequences of these choices time and again, and we’re just getting started.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCC

 Job 32:1-9, “So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet condemned Job. Now because they were years older than he, Elihu had waited to speak to Job. When Elihu saw there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was aroused. So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said: ‘I am young in years, and you are very old; therefore I was afraid, and dared not declare my opinion to you. I said, ‘Age should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. Great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice.’”

If you can’t win an argument on merit, if you can’t accuse someone of wickedness based on the evidence, the only thing left to do is start slinging mud and frame the individual in question as either pompous, elitist, or self-righteous. You don’t see things the way I do; you don’t come to the same conclusions as me, so there must be something wrong with you. We can’t put our finger on it; we can’t identify what it is, but sure as the sun shines, something is amiss; otherwise, you would have relented and acquiesced to our judgment. That’s what Job’s three friends had concluded, and, comforting themselves with the notion that he was being righteous in his own eyes, they ceased answering him.

The easiest way to see someone’s true character is to disagree with them on some small matter that in the great scheme of things is tertiary and irrelevant, and watch their reaction to it. People who think they’re always right can never admit to it when they are wrong. In their minds, being wrong is an impossibility, and so they eliminate the possibility thereof altogether. It’s never considered, it never enters the equation, and so they have to rationalize it to themselves by finding reasons to support their conclusion.

I don’t think it was ever intentional, but my grandfather had a gift for putting people on the back foot and watching them react. He wasn’t mean about it, just honest, but even back then, some took honesty as an affront and an insult. For all the years we lived in California, we didn’t have a dedicated ministry office or a dedicated line. Everything was run out of the two-bedroom apartment seven of us lived in, and the ministry line was the same as our home phone number, which became a bit of a nuisance when it would start ringing as early as four or five in the morning because those calling hadn’t figured in the time difference between the East Coast and the West Coast.

One morning, we got such a call with someone asking if they could drop by for a visit, as they were traveling to California the following week, and since we are the hospitable sort, we told them they could drop by any time, and we would have a prayer, a meal, and a talk.

He showed up four days later, and immediately, one could tell something was off. There are humble, pious people, then there are those who pretend at it, and this man was the latter, both in his mannerisms and the condescension he exhibited at seeing the humble apartment we lived in.

“You live here?” he asked, arching his eyebrows and wrinkling his nose.

“Indeed, we do,” my grandfather answered in Romanian, and I dutifully translated into English.

We invited him in, pointed to the table, offered him a chair, and suggested that if he wanted to place the large bundle he was carrying under his arm against the wall, he was more than welcome to do so.

“Oh, this is far too important to lay on the floor,” he said, and placed it across his knees as he sat.

My grandfather pulled up a chair across from him. I sat next to my grandfather, and we waited to see what the man wanted. Meanwhile, my mother was busy making lunch in the kitchen, and since it was a small apartment, you could hear the sizzling of the pan and the clanging of the pots, to which he said, “Can she be a bit less noisy? I have an important message to deliver to you.”

“She’s doing her best,” my grandfather said, a look of annoyance flashing on his face, “what brought you to our humble home?”

“I am here to reveal to you that I am King David, and you are to be Prince Moses, and we two are to be the voice of God throughout the land. As he said this, he reverently lifted the bundle from his knees and placed it on the table between us.

“This is your staff, Moses,” he said.

My grandfather arched his brows, shrugged his shoulders, and, without missing a beat, asked, “Why do you get to be a king, and I a lowly prince? I want to be king.”

The flush in the man’s face was instant. “No, that’s not the way it works,” he spluttered. “I’m King David, and you’re Prince Moses. That’s the way it works.”

I translated what he’d said, trying not to grin, and after taking a deep breath, my grandfather answered and said, “I have already received my marching orders, I already know what my duty is to God, and if there were to be a change of plans, He would have told me as much. I cannot be the Moses to your David, but you’re more than welcome to break bread with us, have a time of prayer, and fellowship.”

“I will do no such thing,” the man answered, pushing his chair away from the table, “I’ll shake the dust off my feet, is what I’ll do, you are not the man I thought you to be.”

“That’s fine,” my grandfather said, “my daughter will vacuum later.”

To that, the man stood and stormed out of our apartment, without another word, leaving the staff of Moses behind in his haste. It turned out to be a nice walking stick, ornate and beautifully carved, that my grandfather used on occasion when his gout and arthritis got to be a hindrance.

The point of the story is simple: the man had walked in with a preconceived notion, an assumption that he was certain was the right one, and would not allow for the possibility that he was mistaken. When his assumption was challenged, there was no introspection, but rather angry retorts and combativeness. Be humble enough to allow for the possibility that you misread a situation, that you prejudged someone not based on evidence but on emotion, and if you discover this to be the case, be humble enough to repent of it.    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXCIX

 Job 31:33-40, “If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, because I feared the great multitude, and dreaded the contempt of families, so that I kept silence and did not go out of the door – Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, that my Prosecutor had written a book! Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, and bind it on me like a crown; I would declare to Him the number of my steps; like a prince I would approach Him. If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together; If I have eaten its fruit without money, or caused its owners to lose their lives; then let thistles grow instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.”

An innocent man is just that: innocent. He is not someone who’s been able to hide his transgressions, sins, or wickedness from the eyes of others, for while others may not see what he does in the dark, God sees all and knows all. Job was able to declare his innocence because he was innocent of wickedness, innocent of sin, and not pretending to be.

You can’t go a week without reading some new, horrible, bile-producing headline of someone in spiritual authority being exposed for the wickedness they tried their best to cover up. The thing about sin is that it’s not your friend. It will whisper sweet nothings in your ear, it will insist this is the thing you’ve been missing out on all your life, it will present itself as fulfilling and something you can’t live without, until it has you in its clutches, then the mask comes off.

The devil plays dirty, and there is no empathy or compassion to be found in him. Sin is a snare, a trap, something the enemy uses time and again to stall forward momentum. The same thing that was used to tempt and entice, once committed, will be used to shame, humiliate, and discredit because that was the devil’s plan all along.

Especially when it comes to hidden sin, or sin one has not repented of, it’s not a question of if, but when the other shoe will drop. It’s the ever-present sword of Damocles hanging by a horse hair over one’s head, and though they may be surrounded by opulence and luxury, though they may have the best the world has to offer, the sword is still hanging overhead, ready to fall at any moment, making any sweet thing taste bitter on the tongue. As Cicero once wrote, nothing is happy for him over whom terror always looms.

The thing the foolhardy believed would give them wings, joy, and boundless pleasure soon becomes a millstone around their neck, a mire from which they cannot extricate themselves, and what’s worse, they can’t call out for help for fear of being found out and exposed for being the thing they railed against so passionately.

If you speak against the thing you’re doing, you’re a hypocrite, and sooner or later that hypocrisy will be on full display. If you preach righteousness, strive for righteousness. If you preach purity, be pure. Otherwise, it’s only a matter of time before the thing you tried to hide and cover up will be the thing that will define your existence, and the world will know of it in all its gory detail.

Unfortunately, so many names spring to mind that I would need four more arms to count them on my fingers, not because I’m keeping a tally but because once what was done in the dark is brought to light, the enemy does his utmost to gleefully point to it over and over again.

Funny how you never see a news segment about the true men of God who live the lives they’re preaching others ought to live. Funny how the selfless, the Scripturally sound, and those who rightly divide the Word never get any airtime, but the tumors and the cancers seem to be ever-present.

For those quick to roll their eyes at the mention of the fear of the Lord and the shunning of evil, say what they might, they can’t deny the results. The proof is in the pudding, and though these two pursuits are proven to work, as evidenced by the life of Job, all the other half-measures, machinations, justifications, and twisted interpretations they’ve attempted to foist upon the household of faith have fallen woefully short of the mark.

The fear of the Lord is a necessary virtue in the life of a believer, and it walks hand in hand with the shunning of evil. One who fears the Lord will shun evil because they acknowledge they serve a holy God, one who has declared that nothing wicked or defiled will enter His kingdom. It’s simple enough, obvious enough, self-explanatory to the point that anyone insisting that they can live in darkness yet claim to be of the light isn’t doing it out of ignorance but because they love their sin too much to repent of it, turn their back on it, and follow after Christ.

They will gravitate toward anyone giving them permission to remain as they are while vilifying those who, in love, insist that they must repent and turn from their wickedness because, as long as they cling to the illusion of being in right standing with God, there is no need for transformation, a new mind, a new heart, or a new purpose. They want to remain as they are while retaining the full benefits of sonship, because although heaven is appealing, their sin is more so.            

Some men think it’s a game and treat it as such. Others understand that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and live their lives accordingly.

Job knew himself well enough to know that he wasn’t faking it until he made it, he wasn’t putting on airs, he wasn’t pretending to be something he was not, and laments that if only his Prosecutor had presented any evidence He might have against him, he would gladly wear it as a badge of honor, not because he was proud of his wickedness but because there was no wickedness to be had.         

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCXCVIII

 The things that will grow your spiritual man are always the hardest things for the flesh to get behind, accept, and practice. The flesh knows you’re trying to kill it; it knows that the more you grow in the virtues of prayer, fasting, reading the Word, the likelier you are to bridle your tongue, make a covenant with your eyes, love your enemies, and pray for those who spitefully use you.

Not only did Jesus say we are to pray for those who use us, but who spitefully do so. It’s a turn of phrase that I’ve spent some time pondering, because ever since I could remember, words and the meaning of words have fascinated me. As one of the greatest wordsmiths of recent years was fond of saying, words mean things.

The addition of the word spitefully adds a whole new layer of intrigue because not only do some individuals take advantage of others, but they also harbor animosity and malevolence toward those they use, abuse, and exploit.

The very individuals who insist that the surefire way to prosper is to send them a sacrificial gift harbor resentment and dislike toward those they dupe into financing their lifestyle. There is no love, charity, kindness, or empathy in them, but a constant churning of spite because the feeling of self-loathing has to have a release valve, and they can’t run the risk of looking in the mirror and seeing themselves for what they truly are.

A hireling does not care about the well-being of the sheep as long as they can fleece their wool. Concern for the sheep’s spiritual health, however, is top of mind for any true shepherd. One need only look to spot the difference. A hireling does not care where the sheep graze, what they consume, or how many predators are circling them, as long as, at the end of the day, the check clears and the money hits their account. Some sheep have even taken this permissiveness as an expression of love instead of what it really is, which is indifference to their spiritual health and well-being.

I love my pastor. He never rebukes, he never chastens, he never corrects, he never admonishes, and we’re in and out of service in forty minutes flat. There’s never any of that heavy talk regarding hell or accountability; he keeps it light, and I appreciate it. Why, just last week, he gave a twenty-minute talk on how one jalapeno pepper has like fifty seeds that can each grow a new jalapeno. I never knew that. I learned something without feeling bogged down with thoughts of eternity and such. It's more like a variety show than anything else, really.

John 10:11-14, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not a shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”

It is a shepherd’s duty to corral the sheep, to keep them from wandering off into the woods, or grazing beyond the pasture where they might consume something that will make them sick or outright kill them. The Word of God has guardrails for similar reasons, and what is good and what is evil is clearly delineated therein.

We often point to the parable of the good shepherd leaving the ninety-nine to go in search of the one, failing to acknowledge that what the parable is really about is the goodness, mercy, love, and kindness of the shepherd rather than the obstinacy of the sheep who chose to go where he wasn’t supposed to be in the first place and got himself in trouble for the effort.

Even so, heaven does not rejoice for the sinner that remains a sinner, but for the sinner who repents. It’s not a distinction without a difference; it’s the difference between life and death.     

After declaring that he neither rejoiced in the destruction of those who hated him, nor lifted himself up when evil found them, Job turns his sights on the stranger, the sojourner, the traveler, those who would come and go, likely never to be heard from again, and insists that he opened his door to them, and did not let them lodge in the street.

Once again, context matters, and given that Job likely lived among nomadic people, and there were those who were constantly moving, never staying in one place for too long, it was a much-appreciated kindness to have someone feed you and give you a place to sleep for the night. What the sojourner did not do was claim Job’s tent as their own, demand that he feed them, or attempt to displace Job and become permanent fixtures in his house.

Job knew what was his, and willingly shared what he had with those who encountered him in their travels. He was not practicing socialism as some have quipped. Rather, he was being a gracious host willing to share a meal with a traveler and give them a place to rest for the night. It is a dangerous thing to force one’s worldview into the lives and times of individuals who lived thousands of years ago and insist this ought to be the way of things today.

Yes, be gracious, be kind, be giving, be charitable, but all those things require that one has a choice in the matter. Forced redistribution of goods isn’t charity, it’s legalized theft. That is not what Job was practicing, nor do I believe he would have stood for it were that the case.

Certain people with demonstrable and well-defined agendas have gotten brazen when it comes to coloring outside the lines, insisting that Jesus would do what the Word declares He never would, accept as virtue what He called sin, and this extends to every pet issue or pet doctrine one might cling to rather than to Him. Men will twist Scripture to make it fit into their worldview rather than allow Scripture to transform them into the likeness of Christ, and the only foreseeable outcome for such brazenness is utter destruction. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

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. 

Job CCXCVI

 Just as there are plenty of examples of men projecting an image of righteousness rather than pursuing and aspiring to it today, I’m sure there were such individuals in Job’s day as well. Unless you’re one of those odd ducks like me, you enjoy the odd compliment or individuals speaking well of you. I’ve never been able to take a compliment. I don’t know how to react to one.

The reason stems from my awareness that whatever was said in a sermon or written on a page that moved someone to the point of coming to thank me wasn’t my doing. It did not originate from me, so accepting praise for it seems a tad disingenuous if not outright dishonest. If I know I didn’t do something, whatever it might be, then I shouldn’t be taking credit for it.

Men who crave acknowledgment usually aren’t deserving of it, nor have men demanding of praise done anything to warrant it. By all means, thank the Lord, praise the Lord, acknowledge Him in all things, but as far as an individual, no matter how gifted or talented they might be, it wasn’t their talent that grew the ministry or the church, but the providence of God.

This is why so many churches and ministries crumble and are no more nowadays. Because rather than being built on the sure foundation of the gospel, rather than having the Word as their foundation, they were built upon the charisma, charm, or magnetism of an individual. When the figurehead no longer figures into the equation, when they go the way of all things, then whatever it is they’ve built goes with them. Only what is built upon the lasting, timeless, and eternal can sustain beyond the lifetime of an individual because it’s God who does the sustaining and not man.

Yes, there were likely men in Job’s generation who pretended at virtue, uprightness, or even righteousness as we’ve come to understand it, but for some vested interest rather than for righteousness’ sake. Of all the men of his day, God singled out Job because, knowing his heart, seeing what motivated him, God concluded that there was no ulterior motive for Job’s ceaseless kindness, obedience, and faithfulness.

Granted, to the person being fed or clothed, the motivation of the individual doing the feeding matters little. They were hungry; now they are hungry no longer. They were cold, now the coat they received keeps them warm. To God, however, motivation matters and is taken into account.

There will be individuals on that day of days who will stand before His throne and speak on all the noble things they’d done, up to and including prophesying, casting out demons, and doing many wonders in His name, yet told that Jesus never knew them, not because the things they’d done, in and of themselves weren’t virtuous but because the intent with which they’d done it was for something other than the glory of God.

Objectively speaking, they’d checked off a lot of boxes. They’d done the things they did in Jesus’ name, they exhibited power by doing wonders, prophesying, and casting out demons, but the underlying reason for doing these things was to elevate themselves, bring honor to themselves, or make themselves out to be more than they were supposed to be which is a vessel, a servant, one who does the bidding of his Master out of faithful obedience rather than some perceived benefit to themselves. They neither lived as a true follower of Christ nor walked in His way. They pretended to, and the power they exhibited was not due to their righteousness, but because there is power in the name that is above all names, the name of Jesus.

They were attempting to take credit for what they hadn’t done, had no ability to do in and of themselves, and knew full well they had no right to appropriate God’s glory for their own. I know my limitations, and you should too. When anything occurs that exceeds those limitations, give credit where credit is due. Don’t fall into the snare of appropriating what God did, claiming it as your own, because He is a jealous God and will not share His glory with another.    

Job 31:24-28, “If I have made gold my hope, or said to fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’; if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gained much; if I have observed the sun when it shines, or the moon moving in brightness, so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand; this also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment, for I would have denied God who is above.”

If we were to encapsulate Job’s words into one big idea, it would be that everything comes from God. He is the author, creator, and giver of all that is, and as such, it is in Him that we must place our hope rather than the things He freely gives us. Job viewed placing one’s hope and confidence in anything other than God as iniquity deserving of judgment, because it would imply that His hand was not in it, and He had no control over it.

Humbling as it might be for some, whatever heights of success you may have reached, however many zeros you have in the bank, it wasn’t you. It was His goodness, His providence, His purpose, and if ever you begin to place your confidence in the things rather than the God who gave you the things, it’s the genesis of a slippery slope whose terminus is the bottom of the pit of despair.

I’ve known men who’d amassed fortunes only to lose them on one bad investment, and because their confidence was in the net worth they’d been able to amass, the loss broke them. I’ve likewise known men who lost it all, and because their hope and confidence were in God, they retained their peace, joy, and faith. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t trust both in the arm of the flesh and in God. You must make the conscious choice to trust and hope in one over the other, and Job had made his choice. Had his confidence been in gold, had his hope been tethered to his great wealth, Job would now be a hopeless ruin, and a byword to be pitied. His hope and confidence, however, had always been firmly anchored in God, and though the storm buffeted him and the waves crashed upon him, he was not carried away by its incessant force.

You can trust in one or the other, but you can't trust in both. You can either trust in God, who has proven His faithfulness time and again, or in the things that are even now passing away. While for some this is no choice at all, for others it is an issue they wrestle with more frequently than they would ever admit. God is faithful, eternal, and omnipotent. The same can’t be said for the buckets of gruel you’re being encouraged to put on a credit card by unscrupulous individuals who see you as nothing more than a payday. Choose wisely!    

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.