January 9 – Job 21-23

Today’s reading comes from Job 21-23. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

In his back and forth Job and his friends continue to discuss what has brought this calamity on. In chapter twenty-one Job describes the wicked, the immoral of the earth. The way he sees it, the wicked live on, sometime in elegance while the righteous get by with little means … “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.” (Job 21:7-8 NIV84).  Toward the end of the chapter in verse thirty-three he remarks how people follow after the wicked.

In Job’s mind the world is backwards. The wicked are blessed and followed while the righteous, those who strive to honor God, seem to suffer heartache and isolation. We might even argue with Job. We see similar things play out in our world. One of the most humble righteous seeking people of the twentieth century, Mother Teresa, had no personal wealth and seemed to wrestle with her isolation. On the other side of the coin we look at Hollywood and we see people who are immoral, dishonest, and wicked in many regards awarded with fame and fortune.

However, I wander if we are considering blessedness true blessedness when we evaluate it against fame and fortune? I think we, like Job and his friends may evaluate God’s blessings differently than God does. I don’t think that thought was lost on Job … “But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” (Job 23:8-10 NIV84) I think Job knows and understands where true blessings come from.

So how do you define blessings? Do you measure them the way the world does? Do you measure them the way God does? And exactly how does God measure blessings?