Wow, I love how the Bible is SO packed with human examples of faith and lifestyles of worship!
What i was reminded again from Job's, is that one of his first reactions was to worship God. I almost did a double-take on 1:20...
"Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped...."
He what?
Worshiped God. "God gives, God takes, God's name be ever blessed" (v21b).
Throughout these first 2 chapters, Job demonstrated anguish and sorrow. I can only imagine the sadness of losing his children (for whom he made post-party sacrifices just in case they'd sinned).
But he didn't blame God. Didn't sin.
He worshiped.
Hard to blame God while worshiping.
Sorta reminds me of that verse "Be angry but do not sin." What i'm being reminded of in this reading of Job so far is that it's okay to have emotions when things happen -- God made us with emotions; gave us a soul -- but it's not okay to sin with those emotions, not okay to blame God with them.
Instead, let my soul worship God!
(But, wow, that's easier said than done! -- at least for me!)
3 comments:
From Pastor Eleanor...
Heather,
I felt the same way as you when I read those first two chapters of Job this morning. I especially liked the first verse when it told us that he was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. That gives you immediately what kind of man he was. First of all, it told what kind of man he was, blameless, and upright, and then the reason he was like that – he feared God and shunned evil. How he reacted to all the negatives that came his way were because of this verse. Wow!
Eleanor
Job 1&2
June 24, 2010
Love your post, Heather!
Under pressure . . . the abundance of our heart comes out of our mouth!
Now enters Job’s friends, who came to comfort and console him. They showed they cared by being there with Job. It says, “They sat on the ground with him for 7 days and nights and no one said a word, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.” (2:13)
Can you imagine not saying a single word for 7 days and 7 nights! YIKES!!! I know I can’t! Too bad Job’s friends could not keep their mouths shut longer than 7 days!!!
“To everything there is a season . . . A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be quiet and a time to speak up.” (Ecc 3:7)
Silence is so unnatural . . . so “unhuman.”
Loving silence has no sound . . . telling the one you are sitting with that you care . . . that you are listening! God will show us when to speak and will give us His words to speak . . . if we ask Him.
I want to be a friend who has the “ministry of presence” . . . the “ministry of silence.”
I want to be a friend who can simply LISTEN, not just half listen so I can insert my words when my friend comes up for air.
I want to be a friend who does not finish my friend’s sentences for her.
I want to be a friend who cries with, prays with, and stands in the gap for my friend until there is a breakthrough!
Help me Lord to
“Be quick to listen, slow to speak . . .” (James 1:19)
“Be still and know that you are God!”
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