Know the True God in Your Tests (Job 7)

²⁰"Have I sinned? What have I done to You,
         O watcher of men?
         Why have You set me as Your target,
         So that I am a burden to myself?
    ²¹"Why then do You not pardon my transgression
         And take away my iniquity?
         For now I will lie down in the dust;
         And You will seek me, but I will not be."

Job had two strikes against him as he sat in his extreme emotional and physical pain. First, he had some misunderstandings about God and how God works. Second, he lacked the comfort and godly counsel of people that could have provided encouragement in his situation. So Job was stuck in his self-pity and focus on death.

There is something I have learned that could have helped Job's friends in encouraging him. If they had been able to identify specific sins that they had witnessed, then they could have respectfully rebuked him, hopefully with much love. However, even in the face of no evidence of sin, they condemned him because of his situation. They assumed that he must have sinned for him to be in this much torment. This was their sin... condemning without cause.

All testing comes from God so that we will become like Jesus, the goal of our faith (Romans 8:28-29). Some testing comes into our lives to expose our sin patterns so that we may exchange them for God's character to grow in us. In addition, some testing comes so that we may be a witness in this dark world (for the sake of righteousness 1 Peter 3:14) as we go through the testing in a godly fashion. We now have access to the entire Word of God, unlike Job, and can much more easily place ourselves in a good position for going through our tests by spending time in the Word getting to know the God of the Bible and by surrounding ourselves with others who are doing the same. God designed us to go through these tests together and there are ways to go through them with the comfort and peace that Job lacked.

Thank You that You have made Yourself knowable through the Word and prayer and through encouragements of the saints. Cause us to position ourselves well for the tests that will come to grow us.

Beth Warlick, 1/19/2011

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		edward an	03/20/2024 09:55
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