Reading through Job has been really good for me. It has brought me comfort and shown me some basic forgotten truths. Everyone has struggles and no one is perfect. Even Job, a very righteous man in God's eyes, questioned God. He wanted to know the "why". He was confused by why God would allow this to happen to him, and he even had moments of being angry with God. I must confess that reading about Job reacting that way... made me feel a little better... and not so guilty about my questions and anger. Now, I am not saying that it is okay to question and be angry with God... but I think He understand. What really got to me though is how his friends pointed their fingers at Job and told him, "You must have committed some terrible sin for God to punish you in such a way." I have felt that way through out this whole ordeal. I have sat there weeping, thinking about the sins and mistakes I made in my marriage... blaming myself and telling myself that I completely deserve everything that has happened. Don't get me wrong, I still do think that... I am a sinner who deserves nothing but death and eternal separation from God. But God sent His Son to die for me! I have been redeemed and cleaned. Jesus already took all my sin and my punishment. Now, I am not saying that God doesn't give consequences, He does, but I don't think He is up there thinking, "Now, in what way can I punish Megan for that mistake/sin?" I think in many ways He just allows the natural force of sin work at times... without any intervention... and that only will have its own terrible consequences.
Job's friends condemned Job even though he was a righteous man (so obviously followed all the laws and sacrificial rules so was therefore "clean" before God). That is what so many Christians do now days, I think. They look at someone who is going through something horrible, that they view as being a punishment from God, so they don't interfere because they do not want to stay the hand of God's justified anger. What many Christians seem to forget is that we are suppose to help our brothers and sisters stay on the right track. That if we see them straying from the Lord and turning to sin... we are suppose to run to them and try to pull them back! We are to try to... save them from themselves... in many ways. I think, if someone would have done that with my husband... then things may be very different right now. I am not blaming anyone else. He made his own decisions... he chose to live in sin. It is just a thought that I had while reading through these chapters of Job. I didn't view his friend's speeches as entirely inappropriate... in the right setting. If Job had not been such an openly righteous man... then their questions about sin would have been entirely acceptable... even warranted. They would have been doing just as God commanded us to do as brothers and sisters in the Lord. But in this situation I think they were to the point of hoping that Job was not as righteous as he appeared. I think they were jealous and angered by the fact that Job was so loved and cared for by God before. I think they were feeling almost a bit of joy and smugness with the fact that Job was now suffering. I think they felt that he was now a little more on their level... and they wanted to keep him there.
Job's friends condemned Job even though he was a righteous man (so obviously followed all the laws and sacrificial rules so was therefore "clean" before God). That is what so many Christians do now days, I think. They look at someone who is going through something horrible, that they view as being a punishment from God, so they don't interfere because they do not want to stay the hand of God's justified anger. What many Christians seem to forget is that we are suppose to help our brothers and sisters stay on the right track. That if we see them straying from the Lord and turning to sin... we are suppose to run to them and try to pull them back! We are to try to... save them from themselves... in many ways. I think, if someone would have done that with my husband... then things may be very different right now. I am not blaming anyone else. He made his own decisions... he chose to live in sin. It is just a thought that I had while reading through these chapters of Job. I didn't view his friend's speeches as entirely inappropriate... in the right setting. If Job had not been such an openly righteous man... then their questions about sin would have been entirely acceptable... even warranted. They would have been doing just as God commanded us to do as brothers and sisters in the Lord. But in this situation I think they were to the point of hoping that Job was not as righteous as he appeared. I think they were jealous and angered by the fact that Job was so loved and cared for by God before. I think they were feeling almost a bit of joy and smugness with the fact that Job was now suffering. I think they felt that he was now a little more on their level... and they wanted to keep him there.
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