How strong is your faith?

[lakefrontgirlmi]

I beleived Jesus was the human manifestation of the creator. I still do. There is historic evidence for this. I had no trouble admitting I was a sinner. I asked him to save me and it was very sincere. Perhaps he has saved me from the hell to come but not from the destruction of my marriage, career, ability to enjoy life with my sons and health. My condition prevents me from even attending church..

As for Job. He was a great man but I, nor anyone else I know has the same kind of connection that Job had to his creator as the Old Book told it. The more I live and the more I watch whats going on even in the Christian world (people I love the most), it all seems more phoney by the day. I was a phoney. I acted like I had a relationship with a personal God. There is no evidence. I'm tired of acting. I have more peace with being honest. The truth is that I wanted very much to have what so many Christians claim to have but I never got it because its ungettable do to the fact that it does not exist. Many claim to have it and perhaps its healthy for them to believe it. We invent this "personal relationship" thing because its extremely painful to try to deal with the fact that we are really alone. All we have is each other and ourselves. I think thats why I like what Christ taught. He taught us to love one another. Maybe in that indirect way, he does touch us. But I am sure that supernatural events are not in the plan. I have never witnessed what I would call a true supernatural miricle. I have never heard God speak and I question the sanity of those who say they have. I believe they are phoney or just a good hearted person who is delusional. The only person that can get me past this mess is me. Before I waited on God. Its better for me to start living in the real world.

Dan

You may be saved from hellfire, but you do not claim your victory! Don't be too sure on the former, either, for lukewarmness will get us separated from Christ as well.

Your saying that you have more peace now that you have resigned yourself to being "honest"...I believe that is a false peace that the devil is giving you! So typical! The devil is telling you lies and causing you to think that we must STRIVE! The truth is, there is no striving! Just resting in Jesus and His precious promises!

Everything you say about being alone is just exactly what Satan it telling you and you are lapping it out of his palm. He is showing you others and causing you to sit there and make armchair judgments on who? The people of GOD? Phony he says? Hardly! While there are hypocrites among us, that is no reason for you to think you must emulate hypocrisy! What stupid logic Satan has! Please--you are never alone! Either you are joined up with Jesus, heading for glory, or you are joined up with Satan, heading for destruction. There you WILL be alone. FOREVER. Yuck.

Do not rely on yourself for your own deliverance from this--you are dust, and unreliable. Trust only in Jesus Christ, who took your pain, sin and sorrow upon His very body and lives again for you...so you can also live! What a gift!

He took my pain? No I don't think so. I'm in a truckload of pain and have been for quite some time.

No its still here. All of it.

I\m not anti-Christian by the way. I think most Christians are under the same delusion I was. We all have moments of hypocrocy. me included but I feel less hypocritical by simply telling the truth. I use to go around saying things like "God is with me through this" or "he's just trying to teach me something". Thats crazy.

Dan

I think what youre going thru is something many Christians go thru...questioning all of it. The problem is, you want that closeness like others have with God, you want to hear Gods voice, but youre not allowing Him to do it in HIS time. We dont get what we want when we want, but when its His time for us to have it all. I personally have been thru so much tragedy, as most of us have in this world, however my faith in Jesus as my personal Savior is what got me thru it all. I was much like you questioning things at one time only because I thought I was happy, really truly happy like Id never been before. How wrong I was! It took 4 years for me to really understand I was the one trying to fix my life and make me happy and letting the wrong influences make me happy....I wasnt letting Jesus live THRU me to show me what real happiness is. Hearing God speak to you isnt always like people say, its not always a voice but when you allow Him to work and answer you in His time, you KNOW its Him speaking to you! Ive never heard a voice and often wondered about that myself....but in a time of desperate need there He was...answering ME! I dont like saying "I dont know how to explain it", because youre questioning all of it, but it is there on His time, not yours. I do believe you need patience, questioning isnt giving God any patience at all. (Im terrible with patience) There is no "fine line" between making yourself happy and truly happy, true happiness comes when you are willing to surrender and really let God take over everything in your life, constantly praising Him and lifting Him up. God IS with me thru this, its true and no matter how much you try to see your life as happy....its sad when you know in your heart where youll end up if you turn away from Him. I know in my heart, for a fact youre not the only one questioning things, and Im not sure where it is in the Bible but there is scripture about questioning it when your faith is low. Then it goes on to say "if you have even the faith of the size of a mustard seed you have enough". How true it is. I will keep you in my prayers that your faith be regained in a multitude of size and that you see the whole "questioning God" ends soon and you have returned, it only takes one step to return! God is with you, you just cant feel or see Him if youre trying to fix everything on your own!!! God Bless YOU!

[Robin55]

I think that this is an excellent discussion and one that is so very important, especially in this day and age. One problem that seems to persist is that we sometimes forget that this life here on Earth is not the be all and end all of us. What we do here and how we conduct ourselves helps to determine where we will go but also what kind of work we will do in Heaven. Oh yes! This life is not the end, we will live on but we need to decide where we want to be in Heaven. Our troubles, our pain, all of that will be washed away when we go to meet Jesus. I, too, have much pain in my life. I have fibromyalgia, severe arthritis in many places, bulging discs in my neck, chronic migraines, COPD, as well as not being able to conceive a child. I lost my mother in January to lung cancer and I could go on and on. But see what I finally learned is that God doesn't make us suffer. We have free will, He gave us that. He didn't tell my mom to put those cigarettes in her mouth and smoke them. He didn't tell her to drink alchohol to the extent that it was abused. Satan is alive and well, my friends. Sorry if I'm digressing there a little, but it's true. Our faith needs to be steadfast. We can't just expect God to do something because we want it. He created us, not the other way around. He's not the guy behind the counter at MacDonald's saying, "Would you like fries with that?" Nope just doesn't work that way. But through all of our suffering, we can know that God loves us and wants the best for us even if we don't know what is best for ourselves. We may not receive our reward here on Earth, but rest assured, we will be rewarded in Heaven. This life on this planet is not the end of things, not by a long shot. So for Dan and all who are out there who are sick at heart and discouraged and suffering, remember and believe that as much as you are suffering here, you will have just as much reason to rejoice when you are taken to Heaven. But you must believe that it will be so. The things of this life will pass away but the things of Heaven are eternal. I don't mean to be redundant but we don't seem to get things until we've seen or heard them several times. God Bless you all and He will, even if it's not in the way you exactly want. God loves you and so do I.

[holys]

i get my courage and strength from god..Fait is such a key issue big time...you really need it fighting the princeapalities of darkness..without faith you wont get threw it..In Jobs such case...great topic thank you so much

[taylor30]

1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.

Job's First Test

6 One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,

and naked I will depart. [c]

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

may the name of the LORD be praised."

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Most of us know what is it to have friends we even call them best friends, but what do you do when you got in trouble like you could lose your job, get sick, what if you lose everything you have?

The enemy loves to test us and see if our faith in God is real even if we lose everything.

Satan thought Jobs faith would not be strong enough to stand the test if he could send them trouble.

The enemy is very real and he loves to test us too.

He even told God he noticed how good and upright Job was and he told God that it problaly wouldn't last if God would take eveything away from him.

Satan thinks its easy for a Christian to love God when everything is going good in their life but he doesnt think it will last if we lose our health or belongings or anything we care of.

I read this sentence that Adversity destroys superficial faith and thats a fact, but adversity for born again Christians strenghten our faith ,knowing who's in controle. How much do we trust that He will work everything thing out for good to them that love Him?

How much faith do you and I have ,would we stand the test?

Can you think of circumstances when it was difficult to keep trusting God?

Jesus said we only need a mustard seed of faith. It is NOT the amount of faith that is important, it is the object of our faith. The so called Christians who fall away from the faith didn't have small faith, they had misplaced faith. God says those who endure to the end are saved, BUT he also says HE will preserve their faith and not LET them fall away. True faith in Christ, no matter how small, CAN NEVER be destroyed.

[AnotherSinner]

1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.

Job's First Test

6 One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,

and naked I will depart. [c]

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

may the name of the LORD be praised."

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Most of us know what is it to have friends we even call them best friends, but what do you do when you got in trouble like you could lose your job, get sick, what if you lose everything you have?

The enemy loves to test us and see if our faith in God is real even if we lose everything.

Satan thought Jobs faith would not be strong enough to stand the test if he could send them trouble.

The enemy is very real and he loves to test us too.

He even told God he noticed how good and upright Job was and he told God that it problaly wouldn't last if God would take eveything away from him.

Satan thinks its easy for a Christian to love God when everything is going good in their life but he doesnt think it will last if we lose our health or belongings or anything we care of.

I read this sentence that Adversity destroys superficial faith and thats a fact, but adversity for born again Christians strenghten our faith ,knowing who's in controle. How much do we trust that He will work everything thing out for good to them that love Him?

How much faith do you and I have ,would we stand the test?

Can you think of circumstances when it was difficult to keep trusting God?

....Do not or have not really shared this with anyone before.....

Over a year ago, a family issue cost me my job. Around that same time, my husband too had lost his job. These were frightening days, ones even now...that are hard to bear remembering.

By God's good grace, my hubby's family took us in. Still, there was the issue of getting there. In those days we had no vehicle. Giving up everything had it been a necessity, we were about

ready to do. Somehow though.....God provided us with the friends who had the means to get us there. It took us nearly a year to recover and find our own home as well as jobs. In that time,

while we were looking for our own place to live and jobs to get us back on our feet, we ended up pregnant with our youngest (who just turned one) who was born....strangely enough a week

after we moved into our own place.

Faith was hard to come by then...it wained and wavered....did not fully lose it, but did come close. In a way, I feel when I do bible study that I am really a Peter....I have faith in abundance

when I first step out of the boat. The minute though I see those raging waters, I doubt and start to sink.....

Thank you for posting this...we all could use a little reminder. Know I sure needed it.

May God Bless You

Dani

[Guest susantexas]

I would like to say

faith is great

love is greater

not ever to knock faith,

of course,

but in my life I see that ....

there are priorities set out in scripture

has anyone else experienced this,

when the devil uses scripture to try to confuse you,

subtly mixing up the priorities?

like in the wilderness,

the devil approached Jesus with thoughts in the spiritual realm,

but Jesus knew the priorities of the scriptures

Edited April 2, 2012 by susantexas

[Reformed-cross]

As a young Christian I used to think about how strong my faith was. I had read alot of stories of Christians that in times past endured tremendous persecution and were beaten and starved to death. I thought many a time on just what I would do in the same situation. I thought I would pass in flying colors.

Today after alot of years living for Christ I have come to the realization that my faith is mine only because God keeps that faith alive in me. Through all the hardships, losses, family trials and sins of my own making I dont think I have strong faith.

I think I have a strong God.

In my dark days a scripture came to mind again and again. With alot of tears and agonizing heart-break I would go to prayer and seek the Lord. When I prayed, (my own evaluation of my faith which I thought was really important) I found out to be insignificant. Gauging my future with my own estimation of my faith was less than useless it was vain. As I looked up to heaven I had only the feeling of distance in my heart from God. I felt beaten to a pulp and so discouraged I couldnt ever put it into words. Here's the thing, trying to explain that to someone is also less than useless. Trite answers came and they only compounded my pain. I didnt feel disappointed in my well-wishers because they didnt have what I needed. I needed God himself. Unless God poured his love into me, I wasnt going to be satisfied. What I wanted was not going to come from men in the form of advice or counsels I had to have a meeting with God, one that brought me to a decision. The scripture that I received

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

I resigned myself that if I was going to be ruined by the situation I was in, and that if I were to lose everything I had received of him I was going to permit him to do so. Its not as though I was actually giving God permission to do anything, but I was permitting God to do so with a heart that said "I will trust in him". I wanted my Father to know I would be willing, not just to suffer but to have a heart that will suffer out of love for him. The hardest thing that I confronted in seeking to place myself upon that altar was that as a sacrifice I was unclean. If my heart was to sacrifice itself out of love for Jesus Christ at least it could be clean and pure. Well, I didnt have any of that. Part of the reason for this terrible condition I was in was due to my own sinfulness and selfish quests. But inwardly I had a driving need to submit to God even if it meant I was to be slain. I didnt expect to be killed I expected to have my life ruined and my family turn from me and my Church get rid of me and all the future I could imagine turn very dark. I went to prayer again and again and again I poured out my heart and I seemed to double over in pain I wept as hard as I could. I wish I could say it was just a short while and all was cleared up. No, I spent about 5 years going through this. Then after a reprieve for around 5 years It seemed necessary again to spend a great deal of time with my Father in prayer. After a few more years of weeping and heart ache I emerged from it. It all came to a point where I was in prayer walking in the woods, I knelt down and told my Father "I cannot live without you, I cannot put anything before you" If you want my life, I offer it to you to do with as you please however you please, I am yours." I had said this many times before and meant it every time, but this time I received a vision. I saw a well of blood, that blood was for me to drink of. I knew that what I had seen was the unending cleansing and purifying I could receive of God through Christ. My Father had provided for me purity and cleanness and with it reconciliation. When I looked up, I looked over the top of some large Firs. Immediately I froze, I knew that I was in the presence of an Angel I could sense the Spirit of God all around me I didnt move for about 20 minutes. I wept again for joy that I was accepted by my Father, that I was loved and I belong to him. My person is not great or important or even needed, but lacking all those things I was wanted and loved and that broke my heart more than I can describe.

Here's the blessing, as I prayed I knew that my Father in heaven was going to give me what I should pray about, he would show me what I needed to do, He was going to give to me what I asked and that instead of empty vain self-evaluations of myself I knew something vastly superior that I was accepted in the beloved Christ and that I was God's son.

R.E.

[Guest]

Amen~!

[grandma dolittle]

G :rolleyes:

1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular custom.

Job's First Test

6 One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb,

and naked I will depart. [c]

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;

may the name of the LORD be praised."

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Most of us know what is it to have friends we even call them best friends, but what do you do when you got in trouble like you could lose your job, get sick, what if you lose everything you have?

The enemy loves to test us and see if our faith in God is real even if we lose everything.

Satan thought Jobs faith would not be strong enough to stand the test if he could send them trouble.

The enemy is very real and he loves to test us too.

He even told God he noticed how good and upright Job was and he told God that it problaly wouldn't last if God would take eveything away from him.

Satan thinks its easy for a Christian to love God when everything is going good in their life but he doesnt think it will last if we lose our health or belongings or anything we care of.

I read this sentence that Adversity destroys superficial faith and thats a fact, but adversity for born again Christians strenghten our faith ,knowing who's in controle. How much do we trust that He will work everything thing out for good to them that love Him?

How much faith do you and I have ,would we stand the test?

Can you think of circumstances when it was difficult to keep trusting God?

Angel, The last ten years has tested my faith and for a while I thought my name was Job. My husband left me with two teenage sons we had adopted. One was autistic and didn't understand why his dad left. A truck ran though the wall of my house, my oldest son had a wreck, broke his back, my youngest (the one with autism) was sent to prison for vandalism. I held on by a hair until my cousin died of cancer and I lost it. I sunk deep in depression, until I fell on my knees and begged God to help me through this. He gave me peace. I put all my children in his hands and refused to worry about them. I am alone now, but I have God and he walks beside me holding my hands. many times he has held me in his arms while I cried, then he gave me sweet peace and contentment. As Paul says, we need to thank God for our problems because they bring us closer to him. Satan still camps on my porch, but I will not allow him in my house.

Edited April 10, 2012 by grandma dolittle

[Reformed-cross]

I don't see Job as an example we should follow. When things go wrong, fall apart, get destroyed in our lives, it's not the time to ask why. Even if your life style caused your own problems, which is normally the case, you can't deliver yourself, nor is your own righteousness going to be good enough to get God to move on your behalf.

Job not once called out to God for Help, not one time. He complained, and spouted off all his good qualities. He clapped for himself in front of his friends, I am a good man, why me?

The question should never be why am I going though this, the Question should be, what am I going to change so that I am more focused on God's Word, focused on God, focused on Jesus.

Was Job really in Faith?

I have a lot more question about Job, but don't want this going to long.

Blessings.

Job was faithful, so faithful that God bragged on him. Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

Listen if God said that about any of us, we would all be eternally thankful. The best that Satan could do is claim that Job served God for mercenary reasons....."you bless him".

If I read my bible right, Id say God permitted Satan to attack Job because he knew what was in Job's heart and Satan was about to find out. Job was about to find out. God was going to prove Satan wrong, that Job's worship and service was not mercenary but true and righteous.

I think what the real problem is...(rhetorically speaking) that we understand his pain and boils...those things are common to us all. But what is not common to us is the kind of covenant God and Job were in. There was no New Covenant, No mediator and Christ who has brought in a better covenant and better promises and a better hope. Job had theology that didnt contain all that we know now.

His friends assumed Job had sinned because...."God blesses the righteous and curses the sinful"....so...since Job was afflicted Job must have done something to cause this horrible calamity.

That is why Jobs friends were on a long fishing expedition to find out just what Job did to deserve such terrible disaster. They never caught anything because Job maintained his innocence.

So, if youre wondering why Job seemed busy defending his innocence and righteousness its because he couldnt find the 'key' that opened the door to such disaster. Job's theology which was the same as his friends didnt provide an answer to the hidden workings behind-the-scenes that brought on this trial. Afterwards when Job understood the 'meeting God and Satan had' and that God had power to give blessing and to take blessing, he understood the secondary causes that effected his life, but moreso he saw God in a way that he didnt understand him before. A God that does not afflict needlessly or capriciously; God permitted this thing for the purpose of demonstrating that God can build a man to withstand terrible hardship. A mans life is in God's hands and he decides when and how it shall end. When Job received his final prosperity it was because God had covenanted to bless Job and all that he had irrespective of Job's ability to understand and assertain the reasons behind God's workings.

To Jobs correction his seeming attitude of "Im righteous, I deserve God to give me an account" was met with 70 some questions that called Job into account and put him to the test. Job realized his demand was unwarranted and finished with a hand over his mouth saying nothing.

Again, it seems to me that God was more interested in displaying God's own working in Job's heart by permitting this terrible loss and the horrific suffering in which his sons and daughters were killed and this livestock taken. Its just as easy to conclude...."Jobs blessing from God was due to his obedience and uprightness". God gave Job temporal blessings in order to display the covenant God and Job had. We do not see overt displays of New Testament grace at this stage of Jobs book. We find Job's life condition matching the covenant blessings Job received. We later find that his life conditions didnt match the covenant promises God gave to Job. This caused Job great heartache as well, Job wasnt able to match up his life of obedience and his calamity in life. This of course led Jobs friends to argue with Job about his innocency.

Remember too Job appealed directly to God for his situation and didnt get caught up with secondary causes.

Satans attacks=secondary causes.

Did Job have faith? Yes, plenty for the revelation and truth that was given to him at the time.

R.E.

Edited April 12, 2012 by Reformed Evangelist