Just Ask Job
Just Ask Job
In Job, chapter 1, two times in the first five verses, Job refers to God as Elohim, the generic Hebrew word for God frequently translated in the Old Testament using a small “g-o-d.” This knowledge, coupled with the life he lived, tells us that Job was a religious man with some concept of a deity, but something seemed to be missing. Could it be a personal relationship with God? Why do I ask that?
Skip ahead to Job 42, the last chapter in the book. Something had changed in Job’s life. He now refers to God as the Lord, the Hebrew word for “YAHWEH,” which is a very personal covenant name for God. How did Job go from a religious man who knew about God in chapter 1 to being a man who really knows God in chapter 42? Trials and Suffering. His children had just been killed, he lost his business, his possessions, and his health, all in a short span of time. Job responded by making allegations of being treated unfairly by his friends and by God. In chapters 38-41, God reminds Job, and us, that His wisdom is so superior and His sovereign control over everything is so complete that this is all we need to know in order to trust Him. Crushed beneath the weight of this realization, in Job 42:5, in utter humility, Job approaches God and proclaims the message we all need to hear, “I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.”
Beloved, Job teaches us that simply being religious isn’t enough and that God is willing and able to do whatever is necessary to bring us to the end of ourselves and into a personal relationship with Himself through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever trials and suffering you may be experiencing right now, what you need is not some program, or some medication, or even answers to your questions. What you need is to realize that, like Job, it’s not about what you know, but Who you know! Ultimately, this is all that really matters! Just ask Job!
This is Laine Wilder for Carry the Light Ministries, bringing you Insights From an Elder.
by Laine Wilder
author of “Insights From an Elder” for
Carry the Light Ministries
