Would We Continue To Worship?

The book of Job.
Nothing sends shivers up a believer's spine quite like this book.
We nod our heads in agreement of what is written, and silently pray, "Oh God! Please...not me."
This book brings us face to face with the sovereignty of God. His right and power to choose as He pleases to bring about the fulfillment of His plan.

If you get down to the crux of the account of Job in Scripture, the devil accuses God of a "worship for hire" scheme. He insinuates that God has to bribe people to worship Him by blessing them and giving them riches and gifts. God isn't drawn into a cosmic showdown with the devil, but does agree to reveal the truth. Even here at this point of the story we see an incredible thing happen. God, not the devil, defines how far this event with Job can go. God tells the devil what he can and cannot do. Sometimes we forget that the devil is God's devil. Many believer's have a hard time with the concept that God does have a say so in what the devil is doing.

Many want God to justify his actions.
Why do good people die and bad people prosper.
Why do I have to ask God for things if He already knows that I need them.
We want fairness in this world and yet every time we read from Job we see the unfairness.
We need to remember that we are looking at Job through our eyes, not God's.
OF course we see the unfairness. We can't see beyond to the true heart and nature of God who is completing a greater work than we could ever comprehend.
Seems to me when I'm whining and crying about the unfairness of life, it really reveals how small I am. How petty I am. How small is my trust in God. What a stinker I am.

In all of the loss that Job experienced, he made some pretty profound statements.
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
Blessed by the name of the Lord."

"Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?

Job wasn't some kind of super human with abilities far beyond those of mortal men. No! He was a poor schmo like you and me. Slogging through the day to day tyring to take care of his family.
But, according to God, Job was a blameless and upright man. One who feared God and shunned evil. A man who held fast to his integrity.

Job was a man who took his relationship with God seriously and recognized the right-ness of walking daily with God. Maybe that is what I need. A good dose of character building. To shed my whiney-moaning-woe-is-me-no-one-loves-me-life-ain't-fair-attitude and embrace a mindset that God is greater than any of my problems. When life doesn't go the way I think it should, then is the time I fall on the wisdom that God is indeed in control and knows far better than I what needs to be done. My job? To worship Him!

I like what scripture says happened when Job received the tidal wave of bad news concerning his family and worldly goods being destroyed.
Job got up.
Tore his clothes as a symbol of grief.
Shaved his head.
Fell to the ground and worshipped.
Worshipped!!!!

Oh God, please help me to move from the nursery to being a grownup in you.
Help me to have vision that looks beyond my flesh.

God on you..........

mb