Week One…Chapters 1-3
Day 1: What are your first thoughts or impressions on what you just read?
· I got up from my desk and went out to get a cup of coffee, saying to God, “Wow that is an uplifting little piece of scripture, Lord!” Then I said a prayer asking Him to open my mind and heart to whatever He has to give Me. I also asking him to help me with my preformed attitude about Him where Job is concerned…getting a bit of a laugh when it occurred to me that my having any kind of attitude against God was laughable, foolhardy, non productive, and a total waste of time.
· I thought of the words to the song “Blessed Be”
Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
· Job had the right attitude in how he dealt with his suffering in the beginning. He did not have a pity party and even if he had he would not have been condemned for it. Those were terrible things to have to deal with.
· I still cannot understand why God would turn Job over to the devil for such torment. However, I have enough faith to believe that God has a plan for us and that He would never hurt us. I don’t think I would ever verbally attack God because something bad has happened to me. But in Job’s case it just seemed without reason. Still the Bible says in 1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
· As I am typing this it comes to mind that we and all we are and have belong to God for Him to use to his purposes as He will. Job had much wealth and good fortune, but it all came from God. He gives and takes away.
· In addition, sometimes when we do seem to be enduring many trials that come one after one that is the very time when God is helping us see a lesson and preparing us for higher heights. I need to remember that.
· When things started to go bad it was like one thing after another. Sometimes this is how it feels leaving us stressed and paralyzed by our pain.
· Still I would hate to think that a trial that I was enduring was happening so God could teach Satan a lesson.
· In Chapter 3 he is reduced to a bit of a whiner, but not without cause. It is just that we have Job presented to us of an example of human perfection and courage, but even this mighty man of God is reduced in the end.
· When Job’s friends show up they just sit with him. They do not talk. In the last year I have had two of my friends facing unthinkable obstacles. I am a person who likes to point out why I think someone is awesome…a kind of cheerleader with pompoms. Recently one of them (when I was doing my sis boom bah) told me that that may be well and good but in the end it does not matter. I realized that sometimes a person just has to go through it with no side crutches.
Day 2: What verse or verses did the Holy Spirit bring to your mind to meditate on and what does it mean to you?
There were several verses in these chapters that made me stop and think.
- In Chapter 1:7
“The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”Although this is not deep or hard to understand it is a warning to me to be cautious. We all know this to be true, but we do not always have our guard up and so many times Satan catches us unaware. And he is such a slimy sneak. When he tempts us it is not overt in nature. He would not tell us to kill someone, because that would fail. He comes in and masks the temptation in so many ways that we can fail to see that it is in fact from him. Then we fall. I need to keep this in the forefront of my consciousness. - In Chapter 1:22“In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”
And again in Chapter 2:3b
“And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."Again in Chapter 2:10
‘He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"In these three verses Job does not act out. He is taking it like a man. Though he is blameless himself he does not blame God for his tribulations. When his wire starts complaining and tell him to let go of his integrity and to just curse God and die Job takes her to task and reminds here that they have to accept not only good from God but trouble as well. He calls her foolish but the Hebrew word used means “moral deficiency.” Personal integrity and morality is a very important thing. I feel that I need to think about this and make some changes in the way I look at and do things. (gossip, complaining, procrastination, untruthfulness) - In Chapter 3:22Why is life given to a man
whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
I think Job was finally skating on thin ice here by accusing God of “hedging in” a person so that he cannot see his path ahead of time. I believe that God gives us every opportunity to choose our path. Sometimes when bad things happen it is due to free will of ourselves and others not due God’s laying some sort of trap or roadblock.
Day 3: How did you see God's character come through in these chapters?
- Aware ~ As in all knowing. He knew the kind of man Job was. He knew Satan could not win.
- Loyal ~ God spoke well of Job and believed in him.
- Patient ~ God did not become upset or impatient when Job finally started venting. He was also willing to wait it out and give Job a chance to prove the kind of man he was. He was even patient with Satan to a certain extent.
Day 4: What did you find that you can apply to your life?
- It is useless to flail around when life brings troubles.
- I need to be able to accept the good and the trials.
- I need to know that in the end of any challenge and in the middle of it God is always there. He will never leave us or forsake us.
- I need to believe that He is trustworthy.
- Integrity and morality are very important to the holy life. This does not only mean in the big things that are sinful. It also means in the little things that affect how you live your life and your character.
- Waiting on the Lord is one of the most important things to enact. In the end it is the difference in going off half cocked and making a mess of life or considering the options in prayerful communication with God so that choices made lead to the kind of life I am hoping to live…a holy life.
Day 5: Are there any questions, concerns, or new insights about what you read that you could bring to the group for discussion?
- He is God and I am not. Still I have questions.
- I was surprised to see that it was God who initiated the conversation about Job with Satan. I had always thought that Satan was badgering God about Job and how he would be as bad as anyone if he lost his material possessions. This was not true. God introduced Job into that conversation. From my dim human view through a glass darkly it seems to me that Satan baited God and God took his worm. It is hard for me to understand how God would let Satan have full reign to do harm to Job. Again I am having an ah hah moment here. This is the way it always is. Satan to some extent is free to “roam the earth going back and forth in it.” And since we have been given free will we are free to follow him back and forth or to keep our eyes on the sky to be led by God. There would be no wonder in salvation if we were all puppets on the Marionette’s strings. All of this said I still do not understand entirely. We use our free will to form our own path. The fly in the ice-cream in the story of Job is that he did not use his free will to choose anything . He was attacked, and it seems that God was willing for that to happen.
- One insight that I received here is that no matter what happens the important thing is how we react to it. I just thought about Jesus who just stood there and did not fight back. He did not curse his tormentors. He did not scream his rage at what was happening to Him. If we are going through a trial period and we keep our integrity and moral behavior, we have won where there could have been great losses.
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