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.