January 15 – Job 40-42

Today’s reading comes from Job 40-42. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Today we have finished the book of Job. We have seen the life he had lived and the reverence to God he did it with. We have seen Satan approach God seeking permission to destroy the fabric of Job’s entire life. From that destruction we have witnessed the remorse, strength, questions, and faith that Job contained. We have witnessed the back and forth between Job and his friends. We have also experienced the thoughts of a young man. And we have now concluded with God’s own words.

In all Job did he never cursed God. He never turned his back on God. He did certainly struggle, he did certainly question God. And because Job asked for God to show up and to correct him, and instruct him God did just that. In the end, because of his faith, because he was willing to learn, because he was willing to be wrong and submit to the authority and leadership of God, Job is blessed beyond what he previously had before the destruction in his life.

There is a powerful lesson we can learn from Job. If we are humble, if we have faith, if we are willing to listen and learn from God, to be open to his teaching, to allow it to mold and shape our lives … when the valleys of this present themselves we will come out stronger than before. Job did just that and in the end it is said of him … “After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so Job died, an old man and full of years.” (Job 42:16-17 NIV84) What a beautiful eulogy of Job.

The storms of life will define us. The definition will come from how we handle these storms. If we handle them well it may be said of us that we lived a full life, full of years, full of memories. If we do not handle them well it may be said of us, not in a eulogy at our funeral, but around the dinner table at family get-togethers about the negative ways we handled the storms of life. How do you want people to speak of you? Live as Job did, learning and growing from the pains, toils, heartaches, and calamities and you will be remembered well.