Let Patience have Its Perfect Work

Job 9:1-4 -  Then Job spoke again:  "Yes, I know this is all true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in the eyes of God?  If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?  For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully?

 

Bildad had not told Job anything he did not already know. Job clung to the deep knowledge that he was innocent…but continued to be frustrated. He knew he had no strength or knowledge that would explain his plight. He knew that God was the only one who understood and could explain this storm he was experiencing.  He just had to accept the confusion…until God saw fit to explain it to him.

 

Job’s disadvantage was that God had not sent his son to Earth to die for our sins. Job did not get to hear the sweet words that Jesus spoke to the blind man in John 9:3... “Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’  Then Jesus spat on the ground…made some mud…and rubbed it on this man’s eyes….to show the power of the father who sent him.

 

Job had no way of knowing that God was using him to prove a point to satan. And God also knew that it wouldn’t help Job be any stronger if he did know.  Job’s strength came from the faith and knowledge he had in a holy God…who was in control of everything in his world. He feared his life without God in it…and was trying to accept what God was asking him to suffer.

 

Sometimes…we suffer at the hand of the world…to prove to others we love God.  We are chosen …like Job ….to suffer for the sake of spreading the gospel to one other person…so Heaven’s population can be increased. We are asked in James 1:2-4… “ My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

 

God was building a patience and faith in Job that would help his three friends let go of their wrong notions about sin. God allowed satan to throw whatever he wanted at Job…because he knew that Job would pass the test…and be a model for all to come. Job was chosen…to show us how to endure the hardest trails of life…to let go…and let God handle the tough times…especially the ones we don’t understand!

 

Father…thank you for the endurance of Job….whose story helps me to know that sometimes I will be asked to suffer for your sake.  Help me to count it joy…and endure all the bad times…so I can learn the hard lessons…and be a model for others that need to find your love. Thank you for the greatest model of all…your son Jesus Christ…who suffered even death on the cross…to provide for me a way to love you and spend eternity in your arms. Amen.