Lessons learned from Job

I have found that my days go much better if I sit and read my Bible at very first chance. I have been reading the Chronological Bible which the local church is working through. It has certain passages that correspond with each day of the year. Then I grab my Bible, and for the first week or so would turn always first to Psalm 61. One morning, the Lord sent me to Job which seemed appropriate as he was the most suddenly and unexpectedly afflicted man in the Bible. In a matter of a day the Lord allowed Satan to take everything he owned along with all 10 of his children. I have only so far made it half way through the book, and all of what touched me came from the first seven chapters on the first day I read it. These are all words I have read before, but now had something special for me.
"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. And said, Naked came I out of my mothers womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:20-21 Everything is God's to give and take. He is just in both and I choose to praise Him in both.
"Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did thy knees prevent me? Or why the breasts that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, with kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves; or with princes that had gold who filled their houses with silver. Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. There the wicked cease from troubling: and there the weary be at rest. There the  prisoners rest together: they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master." Job 3:11-19 We have all felt, at some time, some more than others, that we wish we were not born or would soon die. There is only true comfort in the arms of Jesus where will all go one day if our trust is in Him. Here Job envies the babies that have never had to see light or have died upon birth. It is just our selfishness that we would want them here. Possibly our beloved babies have been taken as a favor resulting from the pleas of Job so many years ago. It is not a curse, although it feels like it to us, but truly a blessing that they are resting with Jesus now and not enduring tribulation on this earth. Also, certainly the untimely death of children is nothing that is new or uncommon. It has been around as long as childbearing. Many parents have borne the pain and survived.
"Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips." Job 2: 9-10 Certainly God has the whole world in His hands and just as we praise him for the good gifts He gives us, we should praise Him equally for the tribulation He allows. None of this comes without his permission...
"Now there came a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord and said Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." Job 1: 6-12 God blessed Job for being His child. Satan had to ask permission to do evil to him and God saw fit and gave Satan permission to take everything except his life. Satan was crafty enough to leave him only with a wife who would tell him to curse God and die which Job would not do. God has been faithful to us and we owe Him nothing less than our faithfulness in plenty and tribulation alike.
"Remember I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." Job 4:7-8 "And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil?" Job 1:8 In the first verse Job's "friend" tells him he has surely done something to cause all of this to happen to him and certainly as Jeffrey's mom I have questioned what I have done to cause his death. What sin am I being repaid for? But in the following verse, God calls Job a perfect and upright man. We have done nothing to deserve or cause the loss of our child. Life and death are God's alone to give and take away. Not one soul will ever perish and be a surprise to God. It is all in His plan. He holds the keys to death and life. He knows when we will die before we are ever born. We are foolish to think we have any control over this. Although Jeffrey's death was a complete surprise to me, God knew all along and he has it all under control. Also, none of us are "perfect and upright" without Christ. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of the Lord, but through the death and resurrection of Christ and our acceptance of Him into our hearts we are viewed as blameless when He sees us through the blood of Christ applied to our lives.