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.