Life Lessons in Job

The fruit of godliness will develop in our lives as we grow in our personal knowledge and understanding of God. Godly living turns from evil and seeks to understand God’s perspective in every circumstance of life.

• Seek to walk before the Lord blamelessly, fearing God and rejecting evil.
• Recognize that simply hearing about God is not enough. Intimacy and a personal encounter enable us to perceive and know Him for ourselves.
• Pursue diligently an understanding of God’s perspective when trying to apply truth to a given situation. Though Job’s friends spoke truths, they wrongly applied them and falsely accused Job. They did not speak rightly about God nor did they understand His perspective; as a result, they provoked God’s wrath.
• Avoid resentment, unforgiveness and envy. Believe that they are self destructive attitudes
• Embrace the LORD’s correction. Consider it a blessing. Know that it evidences the LORD’s love for you

Dynamic devotion is cultivated within the rich soil of knowing,  understanding, and trusting in the character and nature of God. The Book of Job does not answer the “why” question, but it does answer the “who” question.We may not understand why we go through trials and suffering; but by trusting in who God is, in His love, righteousness, and power, we can say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

• Remember that God knows you; He knows what you can handle and will not allow you to be tested beyond what you can endure (1 Cor. 10:13).
• Rejoice that Jesus Christ is our Mediator and Advocate with the Father (1 Tim. 2:5; 1 John 2:1).
• Put your trust in who God is based on who His Word has revealed Him to be.
• Place your hope and trust in God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things; the loving, righteous, all-powerful, and just One.

As we begin to see and understand the holiness and purity of God, we begin to understand our own need for holiness and purity.

• Commit yourself to keeping your eyes pure. Be careful to look upon things that honor the Lord and are consistent with holiness.
• Humble yourself before the Lord, just as Job did. He encountered God’s majesty and holiness, and it left him deeply aware of his sin and inability to justify himself (see Is. 6:1–7; Rom. 5:18–21).
• Commit yourself to moral purity. Keep your eyes, hands and body pure from sin

Faith is the confidence of things not seen. Job’s circumstances made it appear that either Job had sinned or God was unjust. Neither conclusion was accurate; and faith brought Job through his trials, enduring patiently to the end. He learned God’s sustaining grace and experienced God’s merciful restoration (see Heb. 11:1; James 5:10, 11).

• Believe God is for you, even in the midst of intense trials.
• Recognize there may be a satanic source involved in suffering and affliction; but also remember, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4)!
• Do not be like Job’s “friends.” Do not assume that someone’s illness or trial is a result of sin or judgment. Encourage the downcast; strengthen the weak; comfort the afflicted.
• Hold fast to Jesus, your Redeemer. Be comforted knowing He is able to redeem any circumstance (Rom. 8:28).
• Understand that honest struggle on faith’s journey is more honoring to God than religious sounding talk or mere religious observance.
• Pray for those who misunderstand you. God restored all that Satan had taken when Job prayed for those who had falsely accused him.
• Forgiveness is a key to restoration (Matt. 5:44; Rom. 12:14).
• Know and understand that fear shows lack of faith in GOD and HIS promises
• Rely on the LORD’s protection against verbal attacks and do not fear them
• Believe that GOD honors faith that is stronger than death

Knowing that GOD has sovereign control as creator and sustainer of both the physical and spiritual universe must govern the way we think. GOD is intimately involved with our lives in a way that eludes our grasp. Any wisdom that leads to truth comes from HIM. The only way any man can know and understand GOD is by specific revelation. Understanding GOD’s true nature will lead us to a hope in redemption and eternal life.

• Choose to trust GOD’s absolute sovereignty in any adversity
• Understand that while GOD may allow us to be tested HE sets strict limits on the tests
• Believe that the LORD examines all your ways
• Know that GOD’s works are often unfathomable by the human mind
• Know that our case is hopeless without CHRIST
• Understand that GOD is the creator of all men
• Understand that GOD is totally righteous in what HE renders to man and totally free from wrong doing
• Know and understand GOD as creator and sustainer of the universe
• Learn that HE not you determines what is right

The true knowledge of GOD leads to humility. Humility is not the self deprecation with which many of us are often acquainted. Rather it is the refusal to trust oneself for fulfilment of needs, looking instead to the LORD

• Understand that man’s own righteousness is a vain hope
• Believe that only CHRIST’s imputed righteousness can allow us to stand before GOD
• Diligently avoid any form of self righteousness. Understand that it makes one unteachable and unshapable in GOD’s hand

The wise person lives in view of what he knows to be true about GOD, the world and himself. His approach to GOD is humble and self effacing, refusing to accuse GOD of any wrong doing in adversities. Therefore the wise man is able to patiently embrace and endure suffering, knowing that GOD’s loving hand will prevail beyond it. Also the wise man knows that although we are to seek to live righteously, our righteousness can not earn GOD’s favour. Grace is a gift not a debt

• Understand that to accuse GOD of any wrongdoing is the sin of blasphemy.
• Refuse to question any of GOD’s workings
• Do not be surprised at trouble. Know and accept that it is part of human life which faith overcomes
• Recognize the value of the wisdom of those older than you
• Resolve yourself to the fact that GOD is the final word in all matters
• Understand the transitory and trouble filled nature of human life
• Understand that adversity is a fire by which GOD is seeking to purify your life
• Discern whether present adversity, opposition or restraint is part of the LORD’s discipline