Twenty-Six Words Tell the Rest of the Story

“Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”

So begins the biblical account of Job's trials. Prior to this, we learn Job was rich in children and goods and reputation. He was blameless before the Lord and great before men. A real stand-up guy. But Satan challenged Job's loyalty and God's deservedness of it. "He's only loyal to You because You bless him so," he said. God handed His child's possessions, family, health, and even his relationships over to Satan. "Give it all you've got," God told the Destroyer. And he did. Job lost it all, but "in all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong." Forty-one short chapters later, we see the end result: God replies (more on that another day), Job repents (more on that in a minute), his friends are commanded to offer sacrifice for their crazy presumptions, and God blessed Job more than He had before. The book concludes with the words, "After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days." That's important -- those last twenty-six words. 

Contemporary Western culture has a way of fixating on things. Things are a sign of prosperity. Things equal blessing, and blessing equals things. And too much contemporary "Christianity" (which, I believe, is not Christianity at all) teaches that the cross restores us the way Job was restored -- right now, in the natural. Far too many of us read the account of Job, and our take away is the blessing. We suffer a bit; we get blessed a lot. This year has been a perfect proving ground for God's people: global pandemic, racial injustice, riots, widespread unemployment, a volatile political climate -- in addition to the problems that plague us in a normal three hundred and sixty-five day period. I have heard so many people say how they can't wait until this year is over, but God is not on our timetable. The simple turning of a page does not mean life will somehow become different better or different worse. Because we have decided time is up does not mean it is. Because we have decided we've had enough does not mean we have. We can't begin to presume what God has accomplished, will accomplish or is accomplishing through the things we've endured recently. And we can't presume to know when it will end. So what if the blessing as we would like it doesn't come? Do you think Job endured all he did thinking to himself, "Seventeen more days. Seventeen days and this will all be fixed"? No, in fact, he repented! (I believe, because he had held on to his faith in God, because he had hunkered down and plowed through. I've done that, and, when all is said and done, I've not cursed God or turned from the Lord. But, I have felt awful. It was ugly -- maybe not on the outside, but on the inside. I've never wanted to go through a trial and, at the end said, "Well, God, I still don't hate You. I didn't curse You." No! I want to say, "I LOVE YOU! You are still my everything! I praised Your name the whole way through because You are worthy!" In reality, however, I didn't quite "keep the faith." Silently I raged; alone I accused and panicked. And based on what we're told of Job in verse one of chapter one, I think Job might have been the same way. I think he was resolute, but lacked peace from time to time. I think, that in trying to defend God and defend himself and figure it all out, Job said some things that caused him regret; he took his eyes off of God's goodness and sovereignty in an effort to provide himself with some solace. And he felt awful. But, that's just my two sense.) Let's get back to the blessing thing.

I made a joke about forty-one short chapters, but compared to the "months" (?) Job suffered, it's nothing. We can read the entire Book of Job in less than a day while sitting with a cup of tea and our feet up. Job. Suffered. And, yes, he did receive blessing: things restored, relationships and family restored -- for four generations! -- and a long life. But the blessing is not the point. Enduring for a time until the blessing arrives is not the point. How do I know? Because Job died. Just like everyone else under the curse, Job died. The blessing was not the end-all to beat-all. The blessing is not the conclusion. The blessing of more stuff was not his eternity. The takeaway is, he died. He lived through a terrible ordeal, and maybe others not as terrible after that. He got blessed -- not necessarily rewarded for being a good guy or for proving God right before Satan -- but, he got blessed. And then, sometime later, he died.

God loves each of His children. God blesses them according to His plan. Some of us are held to the fire -- more than once. But when we can see that as a blessing -- as God using us to bless others, as God maturing us, as God drawing us closer, as God simply exercising His holy prerogative for purposes we may not learn in this portion of life -- it redefines blessing in our minds and in our lives. May we always live with joy and gratitude so others will know the rest of the story.