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.
1 comment:
Thank you for this good word – Purity of heart and purity of purpose are paramount.
Recently I have been pondering:
Matthew 5:8 – Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. John 14:3 – And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
Matthew 7::21-23 and Matthew 25:8-13 both contain parables with Jesus stating that I do not know you.
Job knew God and God knew Job. A place was being prepared for Job. Job’s heart was pure.
What more could we desire than to be known by God and having Jesus prepare a place for us? It is too easy to have misplaced desires. This is a truly sobering thought.
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