Job XXXIV

It is unsettling to the mind of flesh to come to terms with the reality that not only does God choose how to respond to His creation, but also chooses when, within what context, and how clearly. Sometimes, God chooses to be silent. More often than not, it’s when He’s already given us clear direction, we didn’t like the directions we were given, and so return to Him with the same question hoping we’ll get a different answer. God didn’t stutter. He is neither double-minded nor duplicitous. He meant what He said, He said what He meant, and it’s incumbent upon us to obey. God’s not one for playing games, and usually, His answers are direct and forthright, without ambiguity or any wiggle room for our minds to interpret something other than what was intended.

When the Word of God says one thing, and men insist it says the opposite, it’s not that the Word itself is ambiguous. It’s that men are attempting to twist it into a pretzel to make it say something it clearly doesn’t. If you’re wondering why men would do such things, then you haven’t been paying attention. Life isn’t an oasis, a paradise, a safe place where we can while away the hours staring at our navels waiting on Christ’s return. It is a warzone rife with infiltrators, deceivers, betrayers, double-dealing faux brethren, and an enemy ever on the prowl.

If you’ve ever wondered how far the church has strayed from the gospel, take a verse deemed controversial by the modern-day church, read it to a six-year-old, and ask them what they think it means. You’re likely to get a more biblically accurate interpretation than you would from some of the clowns pretending to be shepherds who call evil good, darkness light, and bitter sweet.

Their aim is to sow confusion, doubt, and unbelief in the hearts of God’s children, to steer them from the way of truth into the murky shadows where personal opinion supersedes the word of God and where men become defacto gods, following their own way rather than God’s way.

There is purpose in God’s silence, just as there is purpose in God speaking. Especially when we are going through a trial, we would prefer He addresses us sooner rather than later, but our preferences, like our feelings, don’t enter the equation, contrary to what we may have been told by those trying to sell us a course on how to force God’s hand to do our bidding.

Job was not perturbed or deterred by God’s silence because his faith was well-established, and he knew the nature and character of the God he served. Here he sat, covered in boils, upon the ashes of his former life, scratching at himself with a potsherd, and his attitude was not one of self-pity or bitterness at having to endure something he’d concluded was undeserved.

When the knowledge of the God we serve has no depth, when we have not entered a relationship or fellowship with Him but possess only a superficial understanding of His glory, whenever sudden trials come upon us, the feeling that we are being maltreated or abused will inevitably rise to the fore, attempting to sow bitterness and despair.

My grandmother was a strict disciplinarian. While some might have the requisite “Bless This House” or “Joy Lives Here” needlepoint pillows about their homes, if my grandmother had ever gotten into needlepoint, I’m sure her pillow would have had “Spare The Rod, Spoil The Child” as its preeminent message. Even in her later years, when she needed to employ the aid of a walker, she found a way to administer discipline in varied and inventive ways.

Granted, we lived in a small apartment, and few corners were out of reach of her outstretched hands, even from a sitting position on the couch, but however many times she chose the way of the rod, I never doubted that she loved all three of us. Since my brother Daniel is the youngest, I tend to think she preferred him, but even he was not spared her discipline when it was deemed necessary.

God doesn’t stop loving us when He allows us to undergo testing. On the contrary, His correction is proof that we are His and that He considers us sons and daughters. He loves us enough to steer us clear of the pitfalls that would ensure our demise were we to follow through with what the flesh insists we ought. The flesh might resist the idea, but whenever a trial or a test comes upon us, it is intended for maturing and growth.

Proverbs 3:11-12, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”

If you’re a parent, you know that love as your children as you might, sometimes correction is necessary. It’s love that compels you to use the stern daddy voice, as my little one likes to call it, whenever you see them doing something you know will end in a bruise, a cut, or something much worse.

To them, climbing things that shouldn’t be climbed and jumping off is all in good fun—until it isn’t. The tile floor they’re about to belly flop on is unmerciful in its consistency, and rather than have to rush to urgent care to cast a leg or splint a finger, I step in as a loving father and end the festivities before mirth turns into tears. Those of you who have sons rather than daughters are likely rolling your eyes, thinking I don’t know the half of it, but I, too, was young once, with two little brothers, so I do know. My brother Sergiu still has a scar on his foot from when we played chicken with lawn darts. He didn’t move; a pyrrhic victory, indeed.

God never stops being a loving father, even when He chastens and corrects us. As wise children, we must never stop seeing Him as a good and loving father. I keep returning to this point because it is of paramount importance: Job never once, throughout his entire ordeal, doubted the character of the God he served. Had he done so, it would have unraveled in real-time, and he likely would have taken his wife’s advice to heart and done the unthinkable.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XXXIII

 Any objective observer of God’s Word can’t help but point out its interconnected consistency, something so profoundly difficult to pull off that the reality of its interwoven message and clearly emphasized main themes spanning thousands of years gave them reason for pause, introspection, and acknowledgment that there was something more to it than human happenstance or a happy accident. They acknowledged the unseen hand of God throughout the entirety of the Bible, bringing some, even grudgingly, to the conclusion that divine input was evident.

It’s not the only time we see the enemy using a person to try and steer someone’s heart or convince them to do something other than the will of God, most notably, Peter, whom the enemy used to try and sway Jesus from the reality that He would suffer many things, be killed, and be raised on the third day.

Within the span of one conversation, Jesus went from telling Peter that he would be the rock upon which He would build His church to rebuking him in the harshest manner Jesus had ever rebuked anyone.

Matthew 16:21-23, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”’

One could argue that Peter’s denunciation of what Jesus said came from a good place. He didn’t want to see Jesus, His Lord, suffer and die. Even so, Jesus knew that the enemy was trying to use Peter in the moment to diminish His resolve. Yes, sometimes well-intentioned people can give horrible advice because the way they see a situation unfolding and its purposes are different from how God sees it.

The same cannot be said of Job’s wife, even in the best possible light. Perhaps there’s a chance she did not want him to suffer needlessly or thought his pain too much for him to bear, but her solution was that he should curse God and die.

Even at this juncture, I would give her the benefit of the doubt if not for her questioning his integrity being intact. It is clear the enemy was using her as an agent of doubt, attempting to shake his resolve and have Job throw in the towel.

It is our duty to take every thought captive and filter it through the lens of God's will and Word. The ways of God are always counterintuitive to the ways of the flesh, and if we fall into the snare of seeing a situation, an event, a trial, or a hardship through the prism of flesh, we will kick against the goads and resist them.

Whether one calls it a snowball effect or a domino effect, once we give in to seeing our circumstances through the eyes of flesh rather than spiritual eyes, one decision in the flesh will lead to another, and the effects will compound exponentially. Whenever I counsel someone who has strayed from the path, it is inevitable that I hear some version of “I don’t know how I got here” as they work through the choices they made to bring them to the place they find themselves in.

One wrong decision turned into two, two turned into five, and before they knew it, they were unmoored, beaten to and fro by the waves of life, with no obvious means of relief for their predicament.

Even after all he’d endured, Satan still held out hope that he could get Job to grow bitter against the God he served to the point of cursing Him. Holding fast to one’s integrity is a choice. Especially when from the outside looking in, there is no reason for it. Had Job not known God on a fundamental level, had he not built up a relationship with Him to the point of trusting Him without fail in every area of his life, the worm of doubt would surely have found a way in.

If Job’s faith in God were tethered and dependent upon the things he possessed or, by this time, his own physical health, he would have had no viable reason for continuing in his faithfulness. Establishing why we serve God and ensuring it’s not because of any reason other than His presence in our lives is paramount and often the deciding factor as to whether or not someone will remain faithful in the midst of trial.

If my serving God were predicated upon material things, once those material things dry up and go away, then so does my commitment and willingness to serve Him. If, however, I serve Him because He has redeemed my life from destruction and His presence is all I desire, forfeiting all else for the knowledge of Him, then whatever may come, however cumbersome the travails of life, I will hold fast to my integrity.

There is a reason the Word instructs us to be wise about where we build our spiritual house. There are only two choices. Either we build our spiritual house upon the rock, ensuring that it will weather any storm and remain standing once the storm passes, or we build it upon the sand, which, although easier to do and requiring less effort and exertion, will likely result in our spiritual house being swept away.

A wise man prioritizes the spirit over the flesh and commits himself to building a spiritual house well-established in the truth of God’s word. A foolish man is indifferent toward his spiritual man’s well-being, haphazardly building upon the sand because his end goal isn’t to know Him and the power of His resurrection but to see himself as spiritual, hoping to get some discount fire insurance in the process. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XXXII

 There’s a reason Isaiah analogized the enemy coming in like a flood and not like a pipe leak. Granted, they didn’t have pipes during the time of Isaiah’s writing, but they did have water skins, and they did leak sometimes, so if he’d not intended to use such a devastatingly graphic analogy, he could have found something else to compare the enemy’s attacks to.

As far as Job’s life was concerned, the enemy had come in like a flood. Everything had been churned beneath the waters, upended and soiled, until he himself remained untouched, but the devil had a plan for that, too.

Since we’ve become an overly sensitive brood of late, actively seeking something to take offense at, trigger warning, the following may be uncomfortable to ponder: the enemy’s attacks on your individual person are proportionate to your level of spiritual maturity, at least as far as he can gauge. He won’t use a rocket launcher to take out a molehill if a solid boot heel will do the job.

Some actively brag about being left alone by the devil. They revel in the thought that their faith has not been tested and that they’ve never gone through trials of any noteworthy ferocity, not realizing that there is a reason the enemy is leaving them be, and it’s because they pose no threat to him and his plans.

Satan seeks to shake people’s faith in God. If the people in question have no faith to begin with, why bother? The enemy seeks to undermine one’s steadfastness and confidence in God’s providence, to cause doubt to seep into their hearts, and take their eyes off the things above, but if they’re already in that condition to begin with, if they’re already compromised, deceived, easily swayed, and wholly focused on the things of this earth, why try to fix something that’s not broken?

There is the general malaise sweeping the earth and general hardships that most go through, such as not having enough to pay bills or put food on their tables; then there are the targeted attacks against God’s faithful, the persecutions and hardships especially tailored for them.

Because of the things God had said about Job, singling him out as being a man apart, he knew that Job would not be easily rattled, and so went in like a flood, sparing none of Job’s children or possessions. Even so, Job remained steadfast and faithful, neither sinning nor finding fault with God.

Satan had lost the first round, and he knew it. It wasn’t a draw; it wasn’t even close to needing a judge’s decision on who came out the winner in this battle. Satan landed punch after punch that would have felled any other opponent, but Job still stood—bruised, hurting, battered, heartbroken, but still standing.

Now it was time for round two, and though he’d lost the first round, Satan was no less enthusiastic about trying again. It seems as though it’s the one lesson we’re slow to learn about the devil and his minions. Failure does not seem to bother or affect them. It emboldens them. If they fail once, they dust themselves off and try again and again, and because we’re busy celebrating our first-round win, oftentimes, the enemy gets a sucker punch in when we least expect it. Just because we’ve won a battle, it doesn’t mean we’ve won the war. While the war is still raging around you, although a battle has been won, keep your armor on and your sword sharp because another battle is a matter of when and not if.

Job 2:7-9, “So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”’

There’s nothing like the love of a good woman to lift you up when you’re feeling down. In order to understand the true depth of Satan’s nefarious nature and the perversity of his plots and schemes, one need look no further than what he did to Job. He took away every person who could offer him encouragement or a shoulder to cry on and left his wife alone and unharmed, whose one piece of advice is to get it over with. There was no “we’ll get through this together,” no “God’s ways are not our ways”; she didn’t sit in the ashes next to him and try to console him; she looked down on her husband, the father of her children, the man she’d made a life with and not only questioned why he still held to his integrity but insisted that he should curse God and die.

These thoughts were not of her own making, but the enemy was speaking through her as surely as day gives way to night. It’s another lesson from the life of Job we would do well to learn because the enemy will use those around us to attempt to dishearten us and abandon our hope in the sovereignty of the God we serve.

If you’ve ever asked a friend, an elder, a spouse, or a relative for advice while you’re going through a trial, and the advice they give you is antithetical to what Scripture prescribes, reject it because, at the moment, it’s not them speaking it’s the enemy speaking through them.

“Brother, I’m barely hanging on. It’s hard, and I find myself running to God every morning, every night, and throughout the day just to keep my head above water.”

“Well, then just give up! Let go, and let the waters drag you to the deep.”

“Huh? But the Word tells me to persevere, to endure, to trust that God knows, and sees, and has made a way for me.”

“Well, yeah, but you could also do the other thing.”

I don’t know which would hurt more. To be covered in painful boils from the soles of my feet to the crown of my head, sitting in the midst of ashes, scratching myself with a potsherd, or hearing my wife tell me I should pack it in, give up, curse God, and die.

Whenever a loved one is going through a trial, make sure that the counsel you give them is Biblical counsel. If it isn’t, it is better to keep silent and give no counsel at all. They’re already hurting; there’s no need to add to the hurt. They’re barely hanging on, and you trying to kick at their fingers and encouraging them to let go of hope is neither loving nor godly.   

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XXXI

 Although Job never referred to himself as being blameless and upright, God had, not just once but multiple times. If Job had done something to displease God, rather than fall on the ground and worship, he would have fallen on the ground and repented. Although the book of Job does not detail Job’s inner monologue, there was likely a momentary introspection of whether or not he’d done anything to displease God to such an extent as to have everything shattered and broken around him in one day.

Job knew God well enough to know that He chastens those He loves, not because He wants to see them flinch away in fear or cry out in pain, but to draw them back nearer to Him and remind them that He sees all and He knows all. Job knew that it was neither punishment, reproof, nor correction, so the one act left to him was to worship God.

For his part, the accuser of the brethren remained true to his nature, and rather than admit defeat and acknowledge that Job was a true and faithful man, he doubled down and insisted that the reason Job remained faithful was because his flesh was most important to him, and as long as he was left intact, he would continue to maintain his integrity. Satan’s underlying assumption was that even though he’d wreaked havoc in Job’s life, turning everything into ash and crumbling cinders, his love of self and sense of self-preservation were what kept him faithful and not steadfast love and sincerity of heart.

In reading his attempt to twist things to his advantage and interpret pure intent into being something other than what it was, it’s easy to conclude that Satan could have been the world’s first politician. There is no black and white, just an endless sea of gray. Every noble act has an ulterior motive, every act of worship has a vested interest, and even one such as Job, who was blameless and upright, had to be so for some reason other than a desire to know God.

Job 2:4-6, “So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life. But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.’”

If Satan had been right and a man would give all that he has for his life, then we would have no testimonies of martyrs to look back upon and see as heroes of the faith. All would have relented, bowed, and denied the name of Jesus to save their skin; all would have slinked away to lick their wounds and live out their days as those who had been found unworthy of His name. Because he is disloyal, a betrayer, and his nature is steeped in rebellion, Satan cannot fathom the thought that some men love God rather than their own lives, even unto death.

Satan had taken everything from Job but left him untouched as per God’s instruction. Now, upon his return before God, he’s got one more play: touching Job’s flesh. Even now, God sets boundaries, wherein Satan is allowed to touch his bone and flesh but commanded to spare his life.

Just as he had the previous time, Satan takes to this task with gusto, hoping to shake Job’s resolve and hoping that he does not possess the requisite perseverance to endure the next salvo. It is said there’s no worse feeling than outliving a child, and I tend to agree. Job had to bury all ten of his children on the same day, so whether attacking his flesh was worse than what he’d already been through is a matter of opinion, but it was Satan’s last play. There was nothing else he could point to as the reason for Job’s faithfulness, and he went after the one thing in Job’s life that was still intact.

If you’ve ever gone through a trial so severe as to cause you to fall on your face before God and cry out to Him because it was the only thing left to do, and once that trial passes, another comes along that you deem less ferocious than the last, it’s not because the devil’s giving you a breather, or he decided to be a bit nicer, it’s because there’s nothing worse in his bag of tricks that he can throw at you. He’s petty enough to keep trying, to try and cause you pain for pain’s sake, but if his second salvo is less brutal than his opening one, it’s because he tried his best during the first go round, and now he’s just hoping you’ve let down your guard.

Granted for those of the world their bodily health, their flesh is the most important thing of all, and since Satan cannot possess the mind of Christ, he cannot understand how some would lay down their lives for His name’s sake, but what Job had already gone through thus far makes what is to follow seem tame, at least from my perspective. Yes, all that he’d endured was emotional loss, having had his heart hollowed out and the works of his hands brought to ruin. It did occur within the span of a day, while bodily decay is a drawn-out, protracted experience. However, I’m still reticent to believe that having his bones and flesh attacked by Satan impacted him more profoundly than having heard that all of his progeny were no more and all that he’d labored for was gone in a breath.

Ultimately, I guess it matters which side of the coin you land on. Some people are more apt to endure physical pain than emotional, while others endure emotional pain with more aplomb than they would physical pain. Job had to contend with both and with such ferocity as to leave anyone not anchored in God and wholly devoted to Him reeling and despondent.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XXX

 It’s one thing to have a persecution buddy; it’s another to go through it alone. Paul had Silas as they sat in prison, their feet in stocks, singing hymns to God. Moses had Aaron and Joshua to lift up his hands when he grew weary and drew strength in the knowledge that they were there, but Job was alone, his life torn asunder, everything he’d build having come to ruin, yet he found the strength worship God.

Even when you have no one to lean on, you still have God, and God knows. God is not ignorant of our suffering, our testing, our hardship, or our persecution. He has not turned a blind eye, nor has He abandoned His children.

When the letter to the angel of the church of Smyrna was penned, Jesus made sure to encourage them by reminding them that He knew of their afflictions and poverty, as well as the slander brought against them. It’s easy to gloss over such passages and not understand the depth of the suffering they were going through. As far as Smyrna is concerned, at the time of the letter’s writing, those in power had instituted a law that if you reported someone within the city of being a Christian, all their belongings would be seized, and the person that turned them in would get ten percent of whatever had been confiscated as recompense.

Thousands of years later, the Communists instituted similar incentives, but ten percent seemed a bit much, so you’d get an extra bread ration or sugar ration for having informed on a neighbor, a friend, or a family member. The crimes of those being informed upon were that they were Christians, or followers of Christ, not that they’d murdered, stolen, cheated, or lied. It wasn’t so much ‘see something, say something’ but ‘suspect something, say something’ because you’d be rewarded for your betrayal.

All the enemy needs to despise you, hate you, and desire your destruction is that you serve Jesus. You could be all the other things the world deems offputting, you can commit the most heinous of crimes, and the devil will leave you alone, but if the desire of your heart is to humbly follow after Christ, know that you are in the bullseye, and the enemy of your soul is actively seeking your destruction.

Even though Satan’s second encounter with God is similar to the first, wherein he got permission to touch everything Job possessed but not lay a hand on his person, it is not identical. It started out much the same way, where the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them, God asking him where he was coming from, then asking if he’d considered Job, a blameless and upright man, but then a new wrinkle is added to the conversation.

After the whirlwind of destruction, after Satan did everything he could in attempting to shake Job’s faith, God pointed out that he still held fast to his integrity, although he’d incited God against him to destroy him without cause.

For those who insist that there is an underlying cause for everything that happens to us, I present to you exhibit A. They are God’s words, and so they must be taken with the requisite import, and God said that Satan had incited Him against Job to destroy him without cause. Sometimes, it’s hard to resist the urge to play judge and jury. We see someone going through a trial or struggling, and as we will see later, just as Job’s friends did, we assume they sinned or did something to bring the ire of God upon themselves. We can’t wrap our minds around the idea that sometimes there is no cause, but there is always a purpose.

Job’s troubles had no instigating cause. He had not sinned against God, he had not wandered from the truth, nor had he done anything to stir God’s wrath against him. His troubles, however, did have a purpose: to test his faithfulness and prove to Satan that Job served God from a pure heart, with pure intentions, and not because he’d been given wealth and prominence.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

All means all, even if you can’t understand it or see how something you’re going through might work together for good. Do you love God? Are you called according to His purpose? Then rest in the knowledge that it will work together for good. Paul didn’t say they would work together for good in the material, but more often than not, that’s where our expectations gravitate toward.

In hindsight, it’s easy to see that our physical trials served to strengthen our spiritual man to heights we dared not imagine. It’s easy to look back on the seasons of hardship and determine that they taught us to lean on God, and run to Him, trust Him, and build up our faith more than anything else would have, but while we’re going through it, all we can do is cling to the hem of His garment.

As children of God, it’s perfectly acceptable to acknowledge that we do not know why we are going through what we’re going through sometimes, but we should take strength in the knowledge that God knows.

God’s not a politician. He doesn’t sign laws and decrees He has no clue about, and no intention of following up on. God cannot be bought; He doesn’t do anything without a purpose, nor does He allow His children to suffer needlessly. There is a purpose in my suffering, just as there is a purpose in your suffering, and God knows the purpose; it is clearly defined, and one day, we will look back upon it and realize that it was as the Word says: it worked together for good.

God didn’t need an assistant to whisper into His ear about the Job matter, nor did He arch His eyebrows and whisper, “Job who?” He was fully invested in Job’s life and knew that he’d held fast to His integrity and continued to be a faithful servant. God is no less invested in your life. If you are His, He knows you by name, and your faithfulness in times of plenty as well as in times of trial brings joy and gladness to His heart.   

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XXIX

 It’s sad to think that the theme song to The Facts of Life had a better grasp on human existence than many preachers today. Good and bad alike are part of our human journey. There has never been anyone who’s had all of one and none of the other. The difference between the children of God and those of the world is that we have the hope of future glory and His presence to keep us in our darkest hour, knowing that He will make away even when no way is visible to the human eye.

When we teach an entire generation that their expectations of living a life devoted to God should extend no further than good things heaped upon good things, when something bad comes along, as it always does, they begin to question not just the teaching they heard being proffered from the pulpit but the goodness of God Himself.

The preacher man told me I should be expecting blessings upon blessings, pressed down and shaken together, and here I am getting evicted and getting my car repossessed. If he was wrong about the blessing part, perhaps he is wrong about the God part, too. The desire for a lie to become truth does not transform a lie into the truth. Regardless of how much you want it to be the truth, it's still a lie, and if you cling to it in the midst of the storm, you’re clinging to a cement block that’s bound to take you under.

This is why doctrine matters. This is why men tasked with rightly dividing the Word must preach the Word and not their own vain imaginings. Yes, bad things happen to good people. Yes, the children of God grow old and feeble and die. The greatest preachers, evangelists, and writers of the eighteen hundreds have all returned to the earth because no one escapes this life alive. It is what happens after that gives us hope. It is eternity with Him that makes this present journey sufferable.

Job was able to remain faithful because his sufficiency was not predicated upon the things he possessed. He was able to fall to the ground and worship because his worship was not contingent upon whether or not God blessed him but because He is God and worthy of worship.

Fluffy clouds and chubby cherubs sell because they confirm our bias that if we surrender to God, our rightful expectation ought to be good things, always, for as long as we have breath. The only problem with that mindset is that it’s not Biblical. It is the presence of God in the midst of our suffering that we must focus on, and not the idea that we won’t have to suffer while we are here.

Trials, tribulations, hardships, and suffering are part and parcel of the human experience. As children of God, we also have persecution to contend with, wherein we may have to endure the ire of the godless for our faithfulness to Jesus. If you signed on to team Jesus because you thought you would be spared these things, someone lied to you, and you believed the lie.

Well, it’s your word against theirs. Not so. It’s their word against the Word and the anecdotal evidence of countless generations that came before us who suffered well and went to their reward, having remained faithful. We tend to gloss over the fact that of the twelve apostles, eleven were martyred for their faith. Whether crucified upside down, hung, stabbed, flayed, stoned, or decapitated, had these men been sold on the idea that the whole of their existence would forthwith be prosperity and plenty, they would not have given their last full measure for the great high calling of Christ.

If we have any hope of standing and having done all to stand, we must do away with childish machinations and be established in the Word of God, receiving both good and bad from his hand without grumbling, wavering, or growing bitter in our hearts. God knows what He is doing. If we don’t have that singular concept well cemented in our minds, we will wander to and fro, questioning why such and such is happening rather than falling down and worshipping at His feet.  

Our belief structure, what we believe, and why we believe it will determine our reaction to adversity, trial, and hardship. If our faith is anchored in God, if we are firmly rooted in the Word, and the desire of our heart is Him alone, then we will stand in the midst of the tempest and worship Him. If our faith is anchored in the things He gives us, the blessings He bestows, or the safety nets we’ve fashioned for ourselves, when they begin to crumble or are taken away, our faith will be shaken.

In reading the book of Job, one gets the sense that Satan does a lot of walking back and forth upon the earth. It’s not because he’s trying to get his ten thousand steps in or because he’s got a nifty new Apple watch that tells him he needs to make one more trek around the block, but because he is always on the prowl looking for opportunities to do harm to the household of faith, and situations where he can try and tip the scales in his favor.

His easiest prey has always been those that are on the outskirts of Christ and not in Christ. It’s not semantics or splitting hairs; it’s the difference between enduring and overcoming and being trampled underfoot.

Do you know Jesus, or do you know of Him? That is the question of this late hour because if we only know of Jesus and do not know Him as Lord and King of our lives, then we will sway with every wind that comes about attempting to deceive us away from the truth of His word.

You can’t say you know someone when all you’ve had is second-hand accounts of who they are or how they are. Every human experience is subjective, and although I may meet someone and think they’re the bee's knees, another person might meet them and wholly dislike them for whatever reason. It’s why so many reject Christ until they have a personal encounter with Him. They may have heard wonderful things about Him, but they always had their doubts until, like Paul, they meet Him on the road, and their lives are forever transformed. Once you know Him, you will love Him. Once you know Him, you will serve Him. Once you know Him, you will obey Him.

Why some today live duplicitous lives, hopscotching between the darkness and the light, is because they never knew Him. Had they known Him, their commitment would be unwavering and their purpose established. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XXVIII

 In a culture obsessed with self, an individual obsessed with God will stand out like a ray of sunshine peeking through an overcast sky. It’s not because they are trying to draw attention to themselves or vying for the spotlight, but their nature is such that though they are but a man walking among men, they will be singled out as something different, special, and unique. Those of the darkness whose conscience has been seared will bristle at their conduct, their way of life, and their attitude toward their circumstances, seeking to deride and downplay their seemingly contrarian existence, while those being stirred and called toward the light will see them as a beacon toward which they will naturally gravitate.

In the world’s eyes, they are not special but rather an oddity. They know something is different about the lady working the register at the local grocery store, but they can’t put their finger on what. They know that the guy who stopped to help them change a tire on the side of the road for no other reason than to help someone in trouble isn’t common, but they do not perceive what makes him uncommon.

When we are true followers of Christ, walking in His way and clothed in righteousness, even though we might go about our day as anyone else, our attitude and demeanor will be noticed. It’s not about how we dress or how we present ourselves but about the inner light that shines in us and the way we interact with those around us. It’s not about what’s on the outside; it’s about what’s inside of us that makes us peculiar people.

Last night, I had to go to the store to pick up some lemons. My wife’s been on this cayenne pepper and lemon juice kick lately, and noticing that she was out of lemons and would need some in the morning, I thought I’d save myself from trudging to the store upon waking. I’m a creature of habit, so when I wake up, it’s usually a couple of hours before anyone in the house does. I can read, write, and drink my coffee without the melodic sounds of violins, cellos, or children asking where their tennis shoes went. Spoiler alert: the tennis shoes didn’t go anywhere; no one snuck in and took them, and they are exactly where they were left the previous night.

I grabbed my lemons and went to the checkout. The lady at the register scanned my purchase. As I handed her a five-dollar bill, she looked at me and said, “You’re the first person to smile at me today, and I’m at the end of my eight-hour shift.” It wasn’t intentional; it wasn’t something I’d planned, and I hadn’t thought about smiling as I walked up to the register; it’s who I am, my nature, and it is naturally occurring.

Job didn’t have to force faithfulness. He didn’t have to force worship or obedience. He didn’t have to force being blameless and upright, it was who he was, his nature, and he couldn’t help being any other way.

The knowledge of Christ, rebirth, salvation, and sanctification are transformative experiences. One’s life is forever transformed once they encounter God, and the clear demarcation will always be clear. You had a life before Christ; now you have a life after Christ. They cannot be the same because it is impossible for someone to be born again and still remain the old man, laden with sin and vice, taking succor from the darkness the world has to offer. Your life is no longer your own. You are in Christ, belonging to Him; otherwise, whatever experience you might have had was superficial, a surface-level emotional response, and not salvific.

We must be anchored in Christ if we are to keep from getting swept away by the storms of life. We cannot face trial in our own strength, or in our own understanding, but through the power of Christ in us, submitting to His will, clinging to faith in all things that we might overcome. Whether or not we endure to the end is a choice we make, but we must have the capacity for endurance well established before being required to endure.

Nobody wakes up the morning of a marathon and decides to run it. I’m well aware that the first thing that crossed your mind was what I could possibly know about running marathons, to which I can only say that I read a lot. I run only if I’m being chased by something that wants to eat me, and since I live in Wisconsin, there aren’t that many things that see yours truly as a tasty morsel. However, I’ve known people who got into running, and they’ll train for upwards of six months, steadily building up their endurance until the day of the race, where they’ll have to test their limits and exert themselves to the utmost in order to cross the finish line. Building up endurance is a process, and in order to stick it out, you must have a purpose and a goal in mind.

Job’s purpose was the presence of God in his life and the desire to bring glory to God through his endeavors. It’s not something that started when his world crumbled around him. It had been established for years on end, so much so that God took note. Not even Satan could find something negative to point to in Job’s conduct, even though he likely scoured the whole of his existence hoping to find some small thing he could magnify disproportionately and then present to God as the reason He overestimated Job’s faithfulness.

If Satan’s got nothing on you, then he’s got nothing on you. It’s the reason the Word insists that we, as children of God, must walk circumspectly, being above reproach, sober-minded, and self-controlled.

Whenever compromise is allowed to nest in men’s hearts, it’s akin to the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, creating an atmosphere of anxiousness and trepidation as they wonder when the horsehair will break and the sword will pierce their flesh. Though they have built kingdoms, because their kingdoms were of this earth, they live in constant fear of what they’ve built coming to ruin due to their hidden sin. Because their sin holds sway over their lives, and they are unwilling to humble themselves and repent, the entirety of their existence revolves around keeping the plates spinning rather than serving God. Because their purpose is not the will of God but rather their reputations, the fortunes they’ve amassed, or the fiefs they’ve cobbled together when their sin finds them out, their first reaction is damage control or putting a positive spin on it. As John so eloquently said, “They went out from among us because they were not of us.” Do not mourn those who were never of the household of faith to begin with. They are wasted tears.

“Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” - Jesus

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr. 

Job XXVII

 Job 2:1, “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and from on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”’

Since we get the privilege of glimpsing what is going on behind the curtain, so to speak, it’s easy to forget that Job himself was wholly unaware of any of it. Job did not know that God had singled him out as blameless and upright. He did not know that Satan had asked to sift him, nor was he aware that God had allowed for all Job possessed to be done with as Satan saw fit. His physical person was off limits up to this point, but as far as everything else in Job’s life, it was up for grabs.

It would have been much easier on Job had he known everything that had gone on between God and Satan. Had he known, however, his story would likely not have resonated the way it does. If this life is a journey and the only purpose is to get from here to there, then whatever we must contend with in order to hear ‘well done, good and faithful servant,’ we do so gladly, knowing the reward that awaits.

Satan’s first instinct was to bum rush Job, to overwhelm him, to stack calamity upon calamity until he broke and either sinned against God by finding fault with Him or cursing Him outright. Satan’s gambit was the presupposition that Job served God because God blessed him. His entire attack was predicated upon that singular assumption, and had his premise been correct, Job likely would have relented.

Contrary to popular modern-day opinion, we do not serve God because of what He can give us in the way of material things. We do not worship Him because we’re hoping for a windfall or an injection of cash but because He is God, He is worthy, and He is the prize. He is the treasure we seek, the pearl of great price that, once discovered, we forfeit all else in pursuit of.

God is what holds value, not the things He can give us. It is a worthwhile distinction with which we must familiarize ourselves, lest we be tempted to trade Him for the baubles and trinkets of this earth.

In the gospel, according to Matthew, Jesus spoke two concurrent parables, one about a treasure in a field, the other about a pearl of great price. In both instances, the men who found them sold all they had in order to obtain either the field in which the treasure was buried or the pearl because they understood the inherent value of what they had discovered and rightly concluded they were worth everything.

The one thing Satan hadn’t considered was that Job had found his treasure. He had found his pearl of great price, and having God was worth more to him than anything in the world. Only in testing do we discover the value we place on God and our relationship with Him. Men are good at lip service; they’re quick to declare they worship God or insist that they would gladly die a martyr’s death for the sake of Christ until they’re put to the test. That’s when you know what someone is made of, how deep their convictions and commitment run, and not when all is going well, the sea is calm, and there’s no storm cloud in the sky.

One’s faithfulness must be established before the storm. It cannot be established during the storm. Job had spent a lifetime serving God, knowing God, and walking with God before his day of testing came, and it was the foundation of faith he’d built throughout his life that allowed him to weather the maelstrom he found himself in.

Sensitive as the question might be, it is nevertheless worth pondering: Do we spend more time wondering what tomorrow will bring, how the events of the last days will play out, or in establishing a sure foundation of faith and making sure that we have built our spiritual house upon the rock?

The knowledge of what is to come will not keep you from being overwhelmed by it. Building up our most holy faith and ensuring that we are walking in God’s will will. It’s the difference between looking out on the horizon, seeing the storm approaching, and going back to playing Scrabble, and seeing the storm, boarding up your house, laying out sandbags, and doing what you know you need to do to mitigate the storm's effects. Granted, some storms are so violent that nothing one does in the physical will make any difference, but in the spiritual, learning to walk in faith and trust God is never a wasted effort. Faith in the goodness, providence, protection, and sovereignty of God will always pay dividends. It’s a given, a certainty, and not just a probability.

Whether Satan presented himself before God the second go-round grudgingly will ever remain a mystery, but given that Job remained faithful even after all he’d done in trying to shake him, it’s likely he was not enthused by the prospect of having to eat his own words and acknowledge failure. Being defined by his pride and arrogance, having to admit he’d misjudged Job would have been a hard pill to swallow, and so rather than admit defeat, he proceeds to double down. The devil doesn’t give up easily. If you’ve resisted him once, be certain he will try again because it’s his nature, and he can’t help it.

If resisting him worked the first time, however, it will work the second and the third. Once something is proven effective, there is no reason to try and find an alternative. This is why an axe has been an axe ever since the axe was invented: because it works. So does resisting the devil. Don’t try to needlessly complicate something that works simply, when simply applied.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XXVI

 Anyone who claims to have been in God’s presence without showing the requisite reverence is lying through their teeth about their alleged experience. Yes, I could have been nicer in my wording, but at some point, we have to be grown-ups and understand that sometimes harsh words must be spoken in order to avoid calamity in the future.

Perhaps it’s because we roll our eyes and brush off such claims and don’t confront them outright that those making them feel emboldened to continue in their foolishness. With each retelling, it gets more grandiose, and those given to believing fables stand in awe and astonishment of foolish people making foolish claims as though what they imagined in their fevered burrito dream actually had some basis in fact.

You’re telling me your heart went pitter-patter more profusely when you saw some aging musician strolling through the airport than when you stood in the presence of God? Meeting some D-list actor or some semi-famous individual gave you the goosebumps more than sitting on God’s lap, as you claim? Got it. Thanks. I think I’ll pass.   

Isaiah had a vision of God in His majesty, and a vision was all it took for him to declare that he was a man undone. If the presence of God does not reveal our own shortfalls and shortcomings, if His righteousness does not compel us to see our own unrighteousness more clearly, then we should be skeptical of the entire experience.

Brother Mike, that sounds a bit harsh. Are you saying? Yes, I am. An increasing number of people are trying to bolster their own authority by claiming to have seen God face-to-face, and the absence of reverence, awe, and veneration is the first clue that they are lying. You’re not on par with God, no matter how much of your donor’s money you spent on lip fillers and Botox injections.

Man’s reaction to glimpsing an image of the glory of God can be nothing less than reality-shattering. You can’t help but be humbled to the point of being undone. Isaiah had been a prophet of the Lord and had received prophetic words before his vision of God’s glory. It was not as though he’d been anything less than a servant of God before that experience, yet here he was declaring he was a man of unclean lips. His righteousness, no matter how close to the mark, was as dross when compared to God’s glory, and he was humble enough to understand this.

Likewise, Job knew the God he served. He knew of His majesty and accepted His lordship over his life, and as such, with all that befell him, he neither sinned nor charged God with wrong. If you hang around church folk long enough, you’re bound to hear someone say that God has wronged them. When you ask how so, the answer usually revolves around them not getting something they really wanted, whether a promotion, a new car, or straight teeth. You juxtapose this mindset with what Job lost while still maintaining his blamelessness and not charging God with wrongdoing, and you realize we have a long way to go in both understanding the nature of God, the dynamics of our relationship with Him, and the type of servanthood required for God to see us as blameless and upright.

Job didn’t go to seminary; he didn’t have a doctorate in hermeneutics, yet he possessed the existential realization that we end as we begin. Naked, we come from our mother’s womb, and naked, we return there, some sooner, some later. Knowing that our end will be as our beginning, the only thing that should matter is the eternity that follows. Do we know God? Do we serve God? Have we been born again and washed clean by the blood of Christ that we may be where He is?

The evil day is just that. It is a season, temporary, passing, and with an established expiration date. Eternity is forever, beyond our minds to comprehend, yet so many choose to focus on the fleeting and passing things of this earth while ignoring the reality of time without end once they are gone. Existence transcends this present life, and we would do well to remember this reality, for with each passing day, we are that much closer to it.  

Job was a man whose priorities were well-established and hierarchically correct. God first. His will first. His lordship first. Then everything else. If everything was taken, it was the Lord’s to take, for He was the one who gave, and even in the midst of heartbreak, disaster, tragedy, mourning, and loss, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Oh, to have such a faith, such a clarity of purpose as to look upon the ashes of the life we’ve built and still glory in the God we serve. To look upon the devastation of having everything snatched away and not only keep from sinning but worshipping God in the midst of it.

Blessings are always easier to accept than testing. As those who understand the sovereignty of God, however, we must thank God for the testing just as readily as we do for the blessing. Granted, it’s easier said than done, and oftentimes, in the midst of the testing, the last thing on our minds is to come before God with thankful hearts, but we must nevertheless do so because even in the seasons of sorrow that come upon us His love and goodness are ever-present.

We don’t always understand why some hardship or tragedy befalls us, but we can always trust that God does. Knowing He is a good Father gives us the strength to carry on, persevere, endure, and continue to worship Him in spirit and truth.

Job exalted God in the midst of his trial, and from the outside looking in, one could rightly conclude that he’d lost the thread. The world will never understand how you can have joy in the midst of sorrow or peace in the midst of tumult because they do not know the God you serve. Therefore, their ability to understand your reaction to suffering is nonexistent. They will likely deem you mad with grief upon seeing you worshipping God in your trial, but you know something they never will unless they, too, come to the saving knowledge of Christ: life is but a flicker, a breath, a drop of water in a raging sea, then comes eternity. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XXV

 As with most other things nowadays, people have come up with new and inventive ways to complicate worship. We have replaced desire and a hunger for God with contrived and formulaic catchphrases that do nothing to soothe the heart or feed the soul. I wonder how many would have stood in judgment of Job at seeing him tear his robe, shave his head, and fall on the ground and worship God? That seems a bit overly dramatic, the whole robe tearing thing and then falling to the ground. Really? He couldn’t have been more demure about it? He’s scaring the old ladies or the young children with his antics. Yes, it’s a horrible thing that happened to him, but that doesn’t negate the need for matters. Matters maketh man, after all, and he should know better.

Then you’d have those who weren’t so much bothered by his falling on the ground but by his putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable when he spoke the name of God. No wonder God does not hear the cry of his heart; he’s not addressing Him by His proper name.

Rather than weep with those who weep, nowadays, we tend to pour salt on the wound and watch those who are bruised, broken, hurting, and wounded as they traverse their valleys, judging their composure in the midst of trial. Perhaps it makes us feel spiritually superior, or we like the idea of playing god, but whatever the reason, we are quick to point out how they should be grieving instead of being a healing balm in the midst of their grief.

It’s not that they didn’t run to God, cling to Him, cry out to Him in their suffering; it’s the way they did it that bothers us, and we are quick to point it out at the most inappropriate of times, insisting that had they taken the course on the proper way to groan before the Almighty, then perhaps their situation wouldn’t have gotten as bad as it did.

Well, you know, brother, God doesn’t respond to our pleas when we address Him as God. Says who? Is He so petty as to turn a deaf ear to His children if they fail to address Him in a specific manner?

I’ve seen this sort of mind-numbing attitude one too many times, and it extends to those who, with sincerity of heart and a true desire to know more of God, get overwhelmed by those insisting upon tertiary issues that have no bearing on spiritual growth. We love to insert personal opinions in the lives of others, insisting that it’s more than what it is, then take no responsibility or accountability for the damage we cause when the individual in question goes in search of extra-biblical experiences rather than humbly remaining at the foot of the cross.

We’ve stopped teaching the sufficiency of Christ and have taken to teaching Christ, plus some other thing. Christ revealed Himself both as sufficient and singular. In Him, we find the truth, the way, and the life without needing to add any other tradition, ritual, ceremony, or formality.    

When your heart is crushed, when you’re overwhelmed, when you can barely keep from being dragged beneath the waves, every piece of fluff, every contrivance, every estimation of our own strength and prowess go out the window, and the only thing we have left is God.

It won’t matter if you’re standing, kneeling, bowing, genuflecting, or falling on the ground, and the last thing on your mind will be what others think of the way you’re crying out to God. There have been times in prayer meetings when the presence of God utterly wrecked me. I’d be on my knees, balling my eyes out, snot hanging off the tip of my nose, and the last thing on my mind was if anyone was watching or noticing or what they thought of a fully grown man balling like a baby.

When you enter into the presence of God, when you are in true worship, self-consciousness ceases to be an issue, as does one’s need to put their best foot forward or project some air of spirituality. True worship is not performative. It’s not about clapping along with the rhythm of a song or reading a prayer off a teleprompter; it’s about pouring out your heart to the God who promised to be a comfort and a present help in times of trouble.

Many today have never felt the true, tangible, undeniable presence of God because they refuse to humble themselves and be vulnerable in His presence. Intimacy with God demands vulnerability. When you cry out for God to search your heart, you must be prepared to have Him search all of it—not just the space you cleaned up and made nice, not just the living room you recently vacuumed, but the basement and the attic, the alcoves where there may still be spider webs and creepy crawly things.

When you ask for a heart inspection, you must be prepared to make the necessary changes when the report comes in. If there are things you need to fix, God will tell you, but then it’s up to you as an individual to follow through and excise the things standing in the way of your spiritual maturation. We ask God to search our hearts to see if there is any wicked way in us, then proceed to lead us in the way everlasting. If we’ve already determined that we’re not willing to change anything, that we’re not willing to surrender what may be required of us to surrender, that we’re not willing to follow where He leads us, why go through the motions of asking God to search our hearts? Change, transformation, sanctification, and the pruning of things and practices contrary to the spiritual man are not merely suggestions but indispensable necessities for spiritual growth.

True worship does not demand ritualistic rigidity; it demands a contrite heart. It’s about the condition of our hearts, not about formalities. True worship is a sacrifice well pleasing in the sight of God, and as individuals, we choose to either worship Him or go through the motions and feign worship that does not translate into a well-pleasing sacrifice.

Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart – These, O God, You will not despise.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XXIV

 If Job had felt unduly entitled or had unrealistic expectations of God in exchange for being a blameless and upright man, he likely would have charged God with wrong at seeing everything in his life turn to rubble and ash. Thankfully, Job wasn’t a blameless and upright man because he thought it might cause him to prosper or become wealthy; he was blameless and upright because he desired to be pleasing in the sight of the Lord. People do the right thing for the wrong reasons all the time, and it's why the intent and attitude of the heart are so important.

I’ve seen people go on ten-day fasts hoping to change God’s mind on something He was clear and explicit about. Fasting is all well and good, but you’re doing it in order to twist God’s arm into doing something He already said He wasn’t going to. When it turns out that missing a few meals did nothing to convince God that He should go against His Word just to appease you, the feigned worship turns to anger and deep-rooted bitterness because you did the thing. You fasted, and He didn’t notice. You even fasted through the Friday fish fry, and other than a few hunger pangs, you’ve got nothing to show for it.

Both Cain and Abel brought sacrifices before the Lord. One was accepted, the other was rejected, and it had little to do with the sacrifice itself and everything to do with the attitude and condition of each man’s heart. While one brought the best he had, in faith, with a pure heart and pure intentions, the other did so out of a sense of obligation, perhaps grudgingly and out of duty rather than genuine gratitude and love for God.

If I’m serving God in the hopes of winning the lottery or finding buried treasure in my backyard, the action itself is noble enough—after all, I am serving God—but the intent behind the action is neither pure nor noble. My motives and motivation aren’t right, and so when I don’t find the treasure or win the lottery, when I don’t get what I expect, and I’m not rubbing elbows with the elites on Martha’s Vineyard talking about how scary it was when a handful of the much-praised migrants were dropped off in our town square, I will cease serving Him and grow bitter toward Him to boot.

Doesn’t He know how loyal I would have been had I hit the billion-dollar jackpot? I would have been so generous and philanthropic had He given me a chance. Doesn’t He know how much good I could have done with that kind of wealth? Doesn’t He know how many souls I would have reached? And the more you listen to such individuals, the more you realize that it was never about God but always about them. God was used as a foil for their vanity and pride because, had such individuals come out and said what they really thought of themselves and how indispensable they are in their own eyes, it would leave a sour taste in the mouths of anyone within earshot. Self-importance is easy to spot when you know what to look for.

Self-important people aren’t nearly as important in God’s eyes as they think themselves to be. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. It is God who declared it so, and any man who seeks to esteem himself, his station, his abilities, aptitudes, or gifts is already being actively resisted by God.

Job didn’t believe himself to be the center of the universe; he did not think the world revolved around his wants or that God was there to do his bidding. His attitude toward God was that of a servant, and as such, he understood that, at best, he was a caretaker of whatever he’d been given. It all belonged to God, and if God chose to take it away, He was within His right to do so.

Had Job been a proponent of the prosperity doctrine, the least we could have expected of him was to decry how unfair God had been in allowing such things to befall him. From the outside looking in, if anyone was ever within their rights to throw the biggest pity party known to man, it was Job. He could have pointed to his faithfulness, to his tireless bringing of sacrifice before the Lord, to his being upright and blameless, but instead, he blessed the name of the Lord and neither sinned nor charged God with doing wrong.

Not that I would wish it upon them, but a few well-known modern-day names come to mind when I ponder how some men would react to Satan’s speed and savagery at decimating Job’s children and worldly possessions. They, too, would likely tear their robes and fall on the ground, but worship would be the last thing on their minds. They would be too busy trying to convince God why there must have been some miscommunication in heaven, how someone had gotten it wrong, and horribly so, because they’d called money down from heaven, exerted themselves, built their gaudy kingdoms, and had done so while claiming to be serving Him. Surely, that had to have counted for something.

Purity of heart and purity of purpose are paramount. You may not see it currently or understand it momentarily, but serving God for the right reasons, in spirit, and in truth, loving Him for what He has already done in sending Christ to die that we might live, and not for what we hope to gain in the material, is vital beyond my ability to verbalize.

The day is coming and will soon be upon us when many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another because their expectations of what this life should be and the reality of what it has become will be as different as day is from night. What they were told, and what they came to believe being a servant of God meant, and what it actually is, will turn out to be very different indeed.

In all that he endured, Job did not sin. He did not shake his fists at the heavens, he did not resent God in his heart, he didn’t grow bitter and disillusioned, nor did he attempt to convince God how undeserving he was of this monumental trial.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.