God's love and our tragedies

DAILY BIBLE READING:

Job 1:1–3:26 
1 Corinthians 14:1-17 
Psalm 37:12-29 
Proverbs 21:25-26

TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):

Job 1:8 (NLT) "Then the LORD asked Satan, 'Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.' "

REFLECTIONS ON TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE(S):

In American Christianity, so many that claim that they are opposed to the Health & Wealth Gospel actually believe it. When something good happens to them, they immediately assume that God is blessing them. When something bad happens, they feel like an injustice has occurred. "God, I've been faithfully serving You and this bad thing has happened to me. Why?!"

Fortunately, we have the Bible to correct our erroneous thinking. And if God's Word said nothing else about the subject, the book of Job is sufficient.

The book of Job essentially deals with the topic of suffering in a messed up world. By the end of chapter 1, we read that Job had lost his livelihood and all of his children had been killed.

If that happened to you or me, we would immediately ask the question: "God, what have I done to deserve this?" That question assumes that God will give good things to those who faithfully follow Him and He will allow bad things to come to those who are not following Him. (In other words, the false beliefs of the Health & Wealth Gospel.)

But, all we need to do is read Job 1:8 (and Job 2:3 where God essentially repeats Himself) to see that sin did not bring on Job's tragedy. It wasn't because he was out of favor with God. God wasn't angry at him or disappointed in him.

None of the above things were true. The truth is that God was thoroughly pleased with Job and proud of him!

Job 1:8 (NLT) "Then the LORD asked Satan, 'Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.' "

Essentially, there was a cosmic battle taking place. Satan wanted to demonstrate that God's followers were weak and would quickly abandon Him if their life got tough. God presented Job to Satan as a trophy and as proof that his followers wouldn't quickly abandon Him.

So, Job's horrible troubles weren't because of sin or God's displeasure. No! Job's troubles actually came about ... because God was very pleased with him and proud of him!

Friend, when bad things happen to you, it would be appropriate to do a self-assessment. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your mind and heart to reveal any hidden sins that may have brought on God's discipline (Psalm 139:23-24). 

But, if there is no known sin, then don't continue to assume that the bad thing(s) is evidence of God's displeasure with you. In fact, Job's example reveals that there will be times when God allows troubles into the life of those who are thoroughly pleasing to Him. 

In those times, don't waste your energy questioning Him. Just focus on passing the test. Keep your eyes on Him, strive for wholehearted obedience, and immediately repent of any shortcoming as you receive the grace and forgiveness to get back up and keep on going.