End of the month

This has been a pretty busy week for me. Hopefully it was a productive week. At times I just felt like I was spinning my wheels but I have realized that I don't always see the results of what I do right away. Using hockey terms, I just keep "going to the net" and eventually you get a shot in!

Reading through the Bible I have been in the book of Job most of this week. I have read and heard about Job most of my life but this is one of the first times I really read through the whole book and thought about it. usually I would wrap up the story like this...Job was a good man, God tested him, Job praised God in spite of his wife and friends, God spoke to Job and then Job was restored. I have been realizing that I have been missing a lot of the story. Here are some of the things that jumped out at me this week.

1. Job lost everything in a short span of time. Talk about a bad day! It happened one right after another..."while he was still speaking, another messenger arrived.." and they all were bringing devastating news. If even one of those things happened to me I would be in rough shape.
2. Job's first response was to praise God. Job 1:20-21 "Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground in worship. He said, I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!" Job recognized that God not only gives blessings he also takes blessings away. This is something that the modern Christian really does not get anymore. We think that we need to be blessed all of the time. When things go wrong we question God and think that he has forgotten us. I know I do this all the time. I want to be in the place where Christ is the center of my life and nothing else will change that. No matter what way my emotions go or what happens around me I want to keep my eyes on him.
3. Job's response starts to change a little bit throughout the book. Apparently this suffering went on for months. I never realized that before... Job starts to say things like "I hate my life and don't want to go on living..." Job 7:16. Job starts to question God and why he is allowing these things to happen to him.
4. His friends say good things about God. As I read through their responses they are right in a lot of what they are saying about God. But as John Piper said in a message on Job that I was listening to the other day, knowledge used incorrectly is not useful. His friends knew a lot about God and believed he was sovereign but they were using this knowledge incorrectly in the case of Job. These things did not happen to Job because of sin.
5. At some point Job begins to change his response back to praise and declaring how great God is. Job 26 for example...
6. God speaks and Job covers his mouth in awe. Can you imagine the people today that would cover their mouths in awe at God if they heard him speak right now? So many people that speak against God in proud tones would be on the ground in a second if they heard the voice of God. Paul fell right off his horse when God spoke. Thousands of soldiers fell over backward when Jesus simply said "I am he". When I think of this and the power that God has I am amazed and in awe that this God calls me son! Who am I to complain when God is in control??