Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "martyrdom"
Grief and Relief – Part 1
Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, “A boy is conceived.” [Job 3:3]
Have you ever had it so rough that you wished you were dead? Hope not, but it can happen. Life has been known to throw some fast curve balls, and it’s hard not to strike out when it happens.
I’ve known this from personal experience. At times I have to watch myself that I don’t succumb to despondency. On such occasions I almost become convinced that I was born under a bad sign—but such thinking belongs to astrology, and I don’t subscribe to astrology.
Once there was this man named Job. He was a man of like passions as all men. His social estate was one of wealth and status. He wasn’t supercilious about it though. He aided the weak and less fortunate, helped the widows and orphans, and in general served his community with distinction.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the supermarket one day. Without warning his property perished through supernatural causes. Oh, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
As if the loss of his livelihood wasn’t enough, his seven sons and three daughters were dispatched to eternity in the blink of an eye. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
One would think it couldn’t get any worse for Job at that moment…but it did! His wife turned on him and told him God was against him. To listen to wifey, he should get it over with. Stop clinging to his righteousness. Curse God and die!
She had some swell advice, don’t you think? Especially coming, as it did, at such a time in Job’s life. The only positive Job could cull from the situation by then was that the worst was over. I mean, what else was there that could go wrong, right?
Wrong! Job still had his health. Oops! I shouldn’t have said it. I jinxed him. Job lost his health too. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit. Egads! Won’t it ever end? God, help me!
Such was the mess in which Job was embroiled, when we get to the story at chapter 3. Oh, no, I forgot a crucial detail to the story. Job still hadn’t reached rock bottom. He still couldn’t catch a break.
Job’s three “friends” arrived to “comfort” him, and they brought a young dude along with them who meant well but hadn’t the experience to actually do well. This young guy did have enough sense, though, to zip the lip and let the adults speak first. Alas for poor Job. He would’ve been the better if they had kept quiet too.
But we’re getting ahead of the story because, as chapter 3 commences, Job’s friends hadn’t yet begun to flap their jaws with their religious tripe and empty clichés. They did begin on a good note, by sitting beside Job for seven days and nights without attempting to give him advice.
Their presence no doubt was an encouragement to Job. That much was their duty as friends, dear people. They were there to keep quiet and be available for Job, so he didn’t have to feel alone under such duress. He needed their moral support, not their oral retorts.
Would that the story concluded on such a high note. Alas, but it didn’t. We will continue the tale on the morrow. For the present let’s spend some time alone with Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Have you ever had it so rough that you wished you were dead? Hope not, but it can happen. Life has been known to throw some fast curve balls, and it’s hard not to strike out when it happens.
I’ve known this from personal experience. At times I have to watch myself that I don’t succumb to despondency. On such occasions I almost become convinced that I was born under a bad sign—but such thinking belongs to astrology, and I don’t subscribe to astrology.
Once there was this man named Job. He was a man of like passions as all men. His social estate was one of wealth and status. He wasn’t supercilious about it though. He aided the weak and less fortunate, helped the widows and orphans, and in general served his community with distinction.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the supermarket one day. Without warning his property perished through supernatural causes. Oh, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
As if the loss of his livelihood wasn’t enough, his seven sons and three daughters were dispatched to eternity in the blink of an eye. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
One would think it couldn’t get any worse for Job at that moment…but it did! His wife turned on him and told him God was against him. To listen to wifey, he should get it over with. Stop clinging to his righteousness. Curse God and die!
She had some swell advice, don’t you think? Especially coming, as it did, at such a time in Job’s life. The only positive Job could cull from the situation by then was that the worst was over. I mean, what else was there that could go wrong, right?
Wrong! Job still had his health. Oops! I shouldn’t have said it. I jinxed him. Job lost his health too. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit. Egads! Won’t it ever end? God, help me!
Such was the mess in which Job was embroiled, when we get to the story at chapter 3. Oh, no, I forgot a crucial detail to the story. Job still hadn’t reached rock bottom. He still couldn’t catch a break.
Job’s three “friends” arrived to “comfort” him, and they brought a young dude along with them who meant well but hadn’t the experience to actually do well. This young guy did have enough sense, though, to zip the lip and let the adults speak first. Alas for poor Job. He would’ve been the better if they had kept quiet too.
But we’re getting ahead of the story because, as chapter 3 commences, Job’s friends hadn’t yet begun to flap their jaws with their religious tripe and empty clichés. They did begin on a good note, by sitting beside Job for seven days and nights without attempting to give him advice.
Their presence no doubt was an encouragement to Job. That much was their duty as friends, dear people. They were there to keep quiet and be available for Job, so he didn’t have to feel alone under such duress. He needed their moral support, not their oral retorts.
Would that the story concluded on such a high note. Alas, but it didn’t. We will continue the tale on the morrow. For the present let’s spend some time alone with Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Grief and Relief – Part 2
Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, “A boy is conceived.” [Job 3:3]
Job went through hell on earth. Then his three friends arrived to comfort him. They began well, sitting down beside Job for three days and nights, speaking nary a word but being there so Job didn’t feel alone. That much was a good thing.
Job soaked up their presence and endured all the longer through his grieving process. In grief we begin by being overwhelmed and wiped out. After some time this changes to anger and we lash out, even if it’s only against the air. We are reeling in the pain without any recourse for bringing it to an end, so we let off steam by blurting out our frustration. The worse the grief, the more severe the venting.
This is where chapter 3 comes in. Job sat with his three friends and their companion for seven days and nights. He was doubled over with emotional devastation inside him, unable to cope with all that had transpired in his life of late.
Remember, his life was one of wealth and status. Now it was all gone, including his ten children and his health. He no longer had a life for all intents and purposes. That much is a given, when it comes to survival in this world. Instead of helping others and feeling good about himself, Job now had nothing about himself to feel good and he found himself in desperate need of being helped.
The fermentation welling up inside him at last popped the cork and erupted into a lava flow of frustration. He rued the day of his birth, wishing he had never been born. Even more, he pronounced a curse on the day of his birth, wanting to get even with that day by casting it into the eternal infernal place!
This is real stuff, dear friends. If you’ve never faced anything so severe, praise the Lord! I am happy for you. But don’t get cocky like Job’s three friends did with him, thinking you could never have it so bad. Such thinking is wrong on several counts, the most compelling one being pride.
Suchlike thinking means we see the sufferer not as the victim but as the instigator of his woes, as deserving whatever he gets. But not us! Oh, no, we aren’t bad enough to deserve that! We’re good old boys.
Such was the mentality of Job’s three friends, falsely so-called. Small wonder, then, that their help did more harm than good—scratch that; their help did all harm and no good. As friends go, those three rascals were no good!
When we face the obstacles and roadblocks life puts in our way, especially the extremely severe type which leave us ruing the day of our birth, let us find our comfort in the only place it is guaranteed. Job did. The Book of Job concludes with Job bowing to the Lord and giving Him the glory. In consequence of his repentance the Lord gave Job his deliverance.
Friends may come and friends may go, but the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. He knows a thing or two about suffering—I mean REAL suffering—and He can empathize with us no matter how severe a struggle we have to endure. We cannot honestly say that about our friends.
So let’s not sing a pitiful country song about trying to find friends in all the wrong places. Let’s find Him Who is a true Friend indeed. He is to be found in the only right place, viz., in prayer and Bible alone with Him.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. I cannot bear my burdens alone. Sing it with me, won’t you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Job went through hell on earth. Then his three friends arrived to comfort him. They began well, sitting down beside Job for three days and nights, speaking nary a word but being there so Job didn’t feel alone. That much was a good thing.
Job soaked up their presence and endured all the longer through his grieving process. In grief we begin by being overwhelmed and wiped out. After some time this changes to anger and we lash out, even if it’s only against the air. We are reeling in the pain without any recourse for bringing it to an end, so we let off steam by blurting out our frustration. The worse the grief, the more severe the venting.
This is where chapter 3 comes in. Job sat with his three friends and their companion for seven days and nights. He was doubled over with emotional devastation inside him, unable to cope with all that had transpired in his life of late.
Remember, his life was one of wealth and status. Now it was all gone, including his ten children and his health. He no longer had a life for all intents and purposes. That much is a given, when it comes to survival in this world. Instead of helping others and feeling good about himself, Job now had nothing about himself to feel good and he found himself in desperate need of being helped.
The fermentation welling up inside him at last popped the cork and erupted into a lava flow of frustration. He rued the day of his birth, wishing he had never been born. Even more, he pronounced a curse on the day of his birth, wanting to get even with that day by casting it into the eternal infernal place!
This is real stuff, dear friends. If you’ve never faced anything so severe, praise the Lord! I am happy for you. But don’t get cocky like Job’s three friends did with him, thinking you could never have it so bad. Such thinking is wrong on several counts, the most compelling one being pride.
Suchlike thinking means we see the sufferer not as the victim but as the instigator of his woes, as deserving whatever he gets. But not us! Oh, no, we aren’t bad enough to deserve that! We’re good old boys.
Such was the mentality of Job’s three friends, falsely so-called. Small wonder, then, that their help did more harm than good—scratch that; their help did all harm and no good. As friends go, those three rascals were no good!
When we face the obstacles and roadblocks life puts in our way, especially the extremely severe type which leave us ruing the day of our birth, let us find our comfort in the only place it is guaranteed. Job did. The Book of Job concludes with Job bowing to the Lord and giving Him the glory. In consequence of his repentance the Lord gave Job his deliverance.
Friends may come and friends may go, but the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. He knows a thing or two about suffering—I mean REAL suffering—and He can empathize with us no matter how severe a struggle we have to endure. We cannot honestly say that about our friends.
So let’s not sing a pitiful country song about trying to find friends in all the wrong places. Let’s find Him Who is a true Friend indeed. He is to be found in the only right place, viz., in prayer and Bible alone with Him.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. I cannot bear my burdens alone. Sing it with me, won’t you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Grief and Relief – Part 1
Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, “A boy is conceived.” [Job 3:3]
Have you ever had it so rough that you wished you were dead? Hope not, but it can happen. Life has been known to throw some fast curve balls, and it’s hard not to strike out when it happens.
I’ve known this from personal experience. At times I have to watch myself that I don’t succumb to despondency. On such occasions I almost become convinced that I was born under a bad sign—but such thinking belongs to astrology, and I don’t subscribe to astrology.
Once there was this man named Job. He was a man of like passions as all men. His social estate was one of wealth and status. He wasn’t supercilious about it though. He aided the weak and less fortunate, helped the widows and orphans, and in general served his community with distinction.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the supermarket one day. Without warning his property perished through supernatural causes. Oh, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
As if the loss of his livelihood wasn’t enough, his seven sons and three daughters were dispatched to eternity in the blink of an eye. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
One would think it couldn’t get any worse for Job at that moment…but it did! His wife turned on him and told him God was against him. To listen to wifey, he should get it over with. Stop clinging to his righteousness. Curse God and die!
She had some swell advice, don’t you think? Especially coming, as it did, at such a time in Job’s life. The only positive Job could cull from the situation by then was that the worst was over. I mean, what else was there that could go wrong, right?
Wrong! Job still had his health. Oops! I shouldn’t have said it. I jinxed him. Job lost his health too. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit. Egads! Won’t it ever end? God, help me!
Such was the mess in which Job was embroiled, when we get to the story at chapter 3. Oh, no, I forgot a crucial detail to the story. Job still hadn’t reached rock bottom. He still couldn’t catch a break.
Job’s three “friends” arrived to “comfort” him, and they brought a young dude along with them who meant well but hadn’t the experience to actually do well. This young guy did have enough sense, though, to zip the lip and let the adults speak first. Alas for poor Job. He would’ve been the better if they had kept quiet too.
But we’re getting ahead of the story because, as chapter 3 commences, Job’s friends hadn’t yet begun to flap their jaws with their religious tripe and empty clichés. They did begin on a good note, by sitting beside Job for seven days and nights without attempting to give him advice.
Their presence no doubt was an encouragement to Job. That much was their duty as friends, dear people. They were there to keep quiet and be available for Job, so he didn’t have to feel alone under such duress. He needed their moral support, not their oral retorts.
Would that the story concluded on such a high note. Alas, but it didn’t. We will continue the tale on the morrow. For the present let’s spend some time alone with Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Have you ever had it so rough that you wished you were dead? Hope not, but it can happen. Life has been known to throw some fast curve balls, and it’s hard not to strike out when it happens.
I’ve known this from personal experience. At times I have to watch myself that I don’t succumb to despondency. On such occasions I almost become convinced that I was born under a bad sign—but such thinking belongs to astrology, and I don’t subscribe to astrology.
Once there was this man named Job. He was a man of like passions as all men. His social estate was one of wealth and status. He wasn’t supercilious about it though. He aided the weak and less fortunate, helped the widows and orphans, and in general served his community with distinction.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the supermarket one day. Without warning his property perished through supernatural causes. Oh, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
As if the loss of his livelihood wasn’t enough, his seven sons and three daughters were dispatched to eternity in the blink of an eye. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
One would think it couldn’t get any worse for Job at that moment…but it did! His wife turned on him and told him God was against him. To listen to wifey, he should get it over with. Stop clinging to his righteousness. Curse God and die!
She had some swell advice, don’t you think? Especially coming, as it did, at such a time in Job’s life. The only positive Job could cull from the situation by then was that the worst was over. I mean, what else was there that could go wrong, right?
Wrong! Job still had his health. Oops! I shouldn’t have said it. I jinxed him. Job lost his health too. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit. Egads! Won’t it ever end? God, help me!
Such was the mess in which Job was embroiled, when we get to the story at chapter 3. Oh, no, I forgot a crucial detail to the story. Job still hadn’t reached rock bottom. He still couldn’t catch a break.
Job’s three “friends” arrived to “comfort” him, and they brought a young dude along with them who meant well but hadn’t the experience to actually do well. This young guy did have enough sense, though, to zip the lip and let the adults speak first. Alas for poor Job. He would’ve been the better if they had kept quiet too.
But we’re getting ahead of the story because, as chapter 3 commences, Job’s friends hadn’t yet begun to flap their jaws with their religious tripe and empty clichés. They did begin on a good note, by sitting beside Job for seven days and nights without attempting to give him advice.
Their presence no doubt was an encouragement to Job. That much was their duty as friends, dear people. They were there to keep quiet and be available for Job, so he didn’t have to feel alone under such duress. He needed their moral support, not their oral retorts.
Would that the story concluded on such a high note. Alas, but it didn’t. We will continue the tale on the morrow. For the present let’s spend some time alone with Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Grief and Relief – Part 2
Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, “A boy is conceived.” [Job 3:3]
Job went through hell on earth. Then his three friends arrived to comfort him. They began well, sitting down beside Job for three days and nights, speaking nary a word but being there so Job didn’t feel alone. That much was a good thing.
Job soaked up their presence and endured all the longer through his grieving process. In grief we begin by being overwhelmed and wiped out. After some time this changes to anger and we lash out, even if it’s only against the air. We are reeling in the pain without any recourse for bringing it to an end, so we let off steam by blurting out our frustration. The worse the grief, the more severe the venting.
This is where chapter 3 comes in. Job sat with his three friends and their companion for seven days and nights. He was doubled over with emotional devastation inside him, unable to cope with all that had transpired in his life of late.
Remember, his life was one of wealth and status. Now it was all gone, including his ten children and his health. He no longer had a life for all intents and purposes. That much is a given, when it comes to survival in this world. Instead of helping others and feeling good about himself, Job now had nothing about himself of which to feel good and he found himself in desperate need of being helped.
The fermentation welling up inside him at last popped the cork and erupted into a lava flow of frustration. He rued the day of his birth, wishing he had never been born. Even more, he pronounced a curse on the day of his birth, wanting to get even with that day by casting it into the eternal infernal place!
This is real stuff, dear friends. If you’ve never faced anything so severe, praise the Lord! I am happy for you. But don’t get cocky like Job’s three friends did with him, thinking you could never have it so bad. Such thinking is wrong on several counts, the most compelling one being pride.
Suchlike thinking means we see the sufferer not as the victim but as the instigator of his woes, as deserving whatever he gets. But not us! Oh, no, we aren’t bad enough to deserve that! We’re good old boys.
Such was the mentality of Job’s three friends, falsely so-called. Small wonder, then, that their help did more harm than good—scratch that; their help did all harm and no good. As friends go, those three rascals were no good!
When we face the obstacles and roadblocks life puts in our way, especially the extremely severe type which leave us ruing the day of our birth, let us find our comfort in the only place it is guaranteed. Job did. The Book of Job concludes with Job bowing to the Lord and giving Him the glory. In consequence of his repentance the Lord gave Job his deliverance.
Friends may come and friends may go, but the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. He knows a thing or two about suffering—I mean REAL suffering—and He can empathize with us no matter how severe a struggle we have to endure. We cannot honestly say that about our friends.
So let’s not sing a pitiful country song about trying to find friends in all the wrong places. Let’s find Him Who is a true Friend indeed. He is to be found in the only right place, viz., in prayer and Bible alone with Him.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. I cannot bear my burdens alone. Sing it with me, won’t you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Job went through hell on earth. Then his three friends arrived to comfort him. They began well, sitting down beside Job for three days and nights, speaking nary a word but being there so Job didn’t feel alone. That much was a good thing.
Job soaked up their presence and endured all the longer through his grieving process. In grief we begin by being overwhelmed and wiped out. After some time this changes to anger and we lash out, even if it’s only against the air. We are reeling in the pain without any recourse for bringing it to an end, so we let off steam by blurting out our frustration. The worse the grief, the more severe the venting.
This is where chapter 3 comes in. Job sat with his three friends and their companion for seven days and nights. He was doubled over with emotional devastation inside him, unable to cope with all that had transpired in his life of late.
Remember, his life was one of wealth and status. Now it was all gone, including his ten children and his health. He no longer had a life for all intents and purposes. That much is a given, when it comes to survival in this world. Instead of helping others and feeling good about himself, Job now had nothing about himself of which to feel good and he found himself in desperate need of being helped.
The fermentation welling up inside him at last popped the cork and erupted into a lava flow of frustration. He rued the day of his birth, wishing he had never been born. Even more, he pronounced a curse on the day of his birth, wanting to get even with that day by casting it into the eternal infernal place!
This is real stuff, dear friends. If you’ve never faced anything so severe, praise the Lord! I am happy for you. But don’t get cocky like Job’s three friends did with him, thinking you could never have it so bad. Such thinking is wrong on several counts, the most compelling one being pride.
Suchlike thinking means we see the sufferer not as the victim but as the instigator of his woes, as deserving whatever he gets. But not us! Oh, no, we aren’t bad enough to deserve that! We’re good old boys.
Such was the mentality of Job’s three friends, falsely so-called. Small wonder, then, that their help did more harm than good—scratch that; their help did all harm and no good. As friends go, those three rascals were no good!
When we face the obstacles and roadblocks life puts in our way, especially the extremely severe type which leave us ruing the day of our birth, let us find our comfort in the only place it is guaranteed. Job did. The Book of Job concludes with Job bowing to the Lord and giving Him the glory. In consequence of his repentance the Lord gave Job his deliverance.
Friends may come and friends may go, but the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. He knows a thing or two about suffering—I mean REAL suffering—and He can empathize with us no matter how severe a struggle we have to endure. We cannot honestly say that about our friends.
So let’s not sing a pitiful country song about trying to find friends in all the wrong places. Let’s find Him Who is a true Friend indeed. He is to be found in the only right place, viz., in prayer and Bible alone with Him.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. I cannot bear my burdens alone. Sing it with me, won’t you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Grief and Relief – Part 1
Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, “A boy is conceived.” [Job 3:3]
Have you ever had it so rough that you wished you were dead? Hope not, but it can happen. Life has been known to throw some fast curve balls, and it’s hard not to strike out when it happens.
I’ve known this from personal experience. At times I have to watch myself that I don’t succumb to despondency. On such occasions I almost become convinced that I was born under a bad sign—but such thinking belongs to astrology, and I don’t subscribe to astrology.
Once there was this man named Job. He was a man of like passions as all men. His social estate was one of wealth and status. He wasn’t supercilious about it though. He aided the weak and less fortunate, helped the widows and orphans, and in general served his community with distinction.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the supermarket one day. Without warning his property perished through supernatural causes. Oh, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
As if the loss of his livelihood wasn’t enough, his seven sons and three daughters were dispatched to eternity in the blink of an eye. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
One would think it couldn’t get any worse for Job at that moment…but it did! His wife turned on him and told him God was against him. To listen to wifey, he should get it over with. Stop clinging to his righteousness. Curse God and die!
She had some swell advice, don’t you think? Especially coming, as it did, at such a time in Job’s life. The only positive Job could cull from the situation by then was that the worst was over. I mean, what else was there that could go wrong, right?
Wrong! Job still had his health. Oops! I shouldn’t have said it. I jinxed him. Job lost his health too. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit. Egads! Won’t it ever end? God, help me!
Such was the mess in which Job was embroiled, when we get to the story at chapter 3. Oh, no, I forgot a crucial detail to the story. Job still hadn’t reached rock bottom. He still couldn’t catch a break.
Job’s three “friends” arrived to “comfort” him, and they brought a young dude along with them who meant well but hadn’t the experience to actually do well. This young guy did have enough sense, though, to zip the lip and let the adults speak first. Alas for poor Job. He would’ve been the better if they had kept quiet too.
But we’re getting ahead of the story because, as chapter 3 commences, Job’s friends hadn’t yet begun to flap their jaws with their religious tripe and empty clichés. They did begin on a good note, by sitting beside Job for seven days and nights without attempting to give him advice.
Their presence no doubt was an encouragement to Job. That much was their duty as friends, dear people. They were there to keep quiet and be available for Job, so he didn’t have to feel alone under such duress. He needed their moral support, not their oral retorts.
Would that the story concluded on such a high note. Alas, but it didn’t. We will continue the tale on the morrow. For the present let’s spend some time alone with Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Have you ever had it so rough that you wished you were dead? Hope not, but it can happen. Life has been known to throw some fast curve balls, and it’s hard not to strike out when it happens.
I’ve known this from personal experience. At times I have to watch myself that I don’t succumb to despondency. On such occasions I almost become convinced that I was born under a bad sign—but such thinking belongs to astrology, and I don’t subscribe to astrology.
Once there was this man named Job. He was a man of like passions as all men. His social estate was one of wealth and status. He wasn’t supercilious about it though. He aided the weak and less fortunate, helped the widows and orphans, and in general served his community with distinction.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the supermarket one day. Without warning his property perished through supernatural causes. Oh, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
As if the loss of his livelihood wasn’t enough, his seven sons and three daughters were dispatched to eternity in the blink of an eye. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit.
One would think it couldn’t get any worse for Job at that moment…but it did! His wife turned on him and told him God was against him. To listen to wifey, he should get it over with. Stop clinging to his righteousness. Curse God and die!
She had some swell advice, don’t you think? Especially coming, as it did, at such a time in Job’s life. The only positive Job could cull from the situation by then was that the worst was over. I mean, what else was there that could go wrong, right?
Wrong! Job still had his health. Oops! I shouldn’t have said it. I jinxed him. Job lost his health too. Again, nature was the agent of destruction, but behind the scenes Satan was the culprit. Egads! Won’t it ever end? God, help me!
Such was the mess in which Job was embroiled, when we get to the story at chapter 3. Oh, no, I forgot a crucial detail to the story. Job still hadn’t reached rock bottom. He still couldn’t catch a break.
Job’s three “friends” arrived to “comfort” him, and they brought a young dude along with them who meant well but hadn’t the experience to actually do well. This young guy did have enough sense, though, to zip the lip and let the adults speak first. Alas for poor Job. He would’ve been the better if they had kept quiet too.
But we’re getting ahead of the story because, as chapter 3 commences, Job’s friends hadn’t yet begun to flap their jaws with their religious tripe and empty clichés. They did begin on a good note, by sitting beside Job for seven days and nights without attempting to give him advice.
Their presence no doubt was an encouragement to Job. That much was their duty as friends, dear people. They were there to keep quiet and be available for Job, so he didn’t have to feel alone under such duress. He needed their moral support, not their oral retorts.
Would that the story concluded on such a high note. Alas, but it didn’t. We will continue the tale on the morrow. For the present let’s spend some time alone with Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Grief and Relief – Part 2
Let the day perish on which I was to be born, and the night which said, “A boy is conceived.” [Job 3:3]
Job went through hell on earth. Then his three friends arrived to comfort him. They began well, sitting down beside Job for three days and nights, speaking nary a word but being there so Job didn’t feel alone. That much was a good thing.
Job soaked up their presence and endured all the longer through his grieving process. In grief we begin by being overwhelmed and wiped out. After some time this changes to anger and we lash out, even if it’s only against the air. We are reeling in the pain without any recourse for bringing it to an end, so we let off steam by blurting out our frustration. The worse the grief, the more severe the venting.
This is where chapter 3 comes in. Job sat with his three friends and their companion for seven days and nights. He was doubled over with emotional devastation inside him, unable to cope with all that had transpired in his life of late.
Remember, his life was one of wealth and status. Now it was all gone, including his ten children and his health. He no longer had a life for all intents and purposes. That much is a given, when it comes to survival in this world. Instead of helping others and feeling good about himself, Job now had nothing about himself of which to feel good and he found himself in desperate need of being helped.
The fermentation welling up inside him at last popped the cork and erupted into a lava flow of frustration. He rued the day of his birth, wishing he had never been born. Even more, he pronounced a curse on the day of his birth, wanting to get even with that day by casting it into the eternal infernal place!
This is real stuff, dear friends. If you’ve never faced anything so severe, praise the Lord! I am happy for you. But don’t get cocky like Job’s three friends did with him, thinking you could never have it so bad. Such thinking is wrong on several counts, the most compelling one being pride.
Suchlike thinking means we see the sufferer not as the victim but as the instigator of his woes, as deserving whatever he gets. But not us! Oh, no, we aren’t bad enough to deserve that! We’re good old boys.
Such was the mentality of Job’s three friends, falsely so-called. Small wonder, then, that their help did more harm than good—scratch that; their help did all harm and no good. As friends go, those three rascals were no good!
When we face the obstacles and roadblocks life puts in our way, especially the extremely severe type which leave us ruing the day of our birth, let us find our comfort in the only place it is guaranteed. Job did. The Book of Job concludes with Job bowing to the Lord and giving Him the glory. In consequence of his repentance the Lord gave Job his deliverance.
Friends may come and friends may go, but the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. He knows a thing or two about suffering—I mean REAL suffering—and He can empathize with us no matter how severe a struggle we have to endure. We cannot honestly say that about our friends.
So let’s not sing a pitiful country song about trying to find friends in all the wrong places. Let’s find Him Who is a true Friend indeed. He is to be found in the only right place, viz., in prayer and Bible alone with Him.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. I cannot bear my burdens alone. Sing it with me, won’t you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Job went through hell on earth. Then his three friends arrived to comfort him. They began well, sitting down beside Job for three days and nights, speaking nary a word but being there so Job didn’t feel alone. That much was a good thing.
Job soaked up their presence and endured all the longer through his grieving process. In grief we begin by being overwhelmed and wiped out. After some time this changes to anger and we lash out, even if it’s only against the air. We are reeling in the pain without any recourse for bringing it to an end, so we let off steam by blurting out our frustration. The worse the grief, the more severe the venting.
This is where chapter 3 comes in. Job sat with his three friends and their companion for seven days and nights. He was doubled over with emotional devastation inside him, unable to cope with all that had transpired in his life of late.
Remember, his life was one of wealth and status. Now it was all gone, including his ten children and his health. He no longer had a life for all intents and purposes. That much is a given, when it comes to survival in this world. Instead of helping others and feeling good about himself, Job now had nothing about himself of which to feel good and he found himself in desperate need of being helped.
The fermentation welling up inside him at last popped the cork and erupted into a lava flow of frustration. He rued the day of his birth, wishing he had never been born. Even more, he pronounced a curse on the day of his birth, wanting to get even with that day by casting it into the eternal infernal place!
This is real stuff, dear friends. If you’ve never faced anything so severe, praise the Lord! I am happy for you. But don’t get cocky like Job’s three friends did with him, thinking you could never have it so bad. Such thinking is wrong on several counts, the most compelling one being pride.
Suchlike thinking means we see the sufferer not as the victim but as the instigator of his woes, as deserving whatever he gets. But not us! Oh, no, we aren’t bad enough to deserve that! We’re good old boys.
Such was the mentality of Job’s three friends, falsely so-called. Small wonder, then, that their help did more harm than good—scratch that; their help did all harm and no good. As friends go, those three rascals were no good!
When we face the obstacles and roadblocks life puts in our way, especially the extremely severe type which leave us ruing the day of our birth, let us find our comfort in the only place it is guaranteed. Job did. The Book of Job concludes with Job bowing to the Lord and giving Him the glory. In consequence of his repentance the Lord gave Job his deliverance.
Friends may come and friends may go, but the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. He knows a thing or two about suffering—I mean REAL suffering—and He can empathize with us no matter how severe a struggle we have to endure. We cannot honestly say that about our friends.
So let’s not sing a pitiful country song about trying to find friends in all the wrong places. Let’s find Him Who is a true Friend indeed. He is to be found in the only right place, viz., in prayer and Bible alone with Him.
I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. I cannot bear my burdens alone. Sing it with me, won’t you?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Numbers: Volume 4 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
