Dealing With Trials 2

In our first look at Job, we learned that calamity can fall upon anyone, even the most righteous of men. It is safe to say that it is easy to worship God when all is well in our lives. In fact, I believe most of us tend to stray from God during times of prosperity because of all of the great things that distract us of our need for Him. Times can change in the wink of an eye, and when they do we find ourselves in a place of questioning God. As we continue to look at Job, we discover one vital asset that God had blessed him with, his integrity. It's Job's integrity that kept him loyal in worshiping God and not blaming him. Even Job's wife said, "Are you holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die" (Job 2:9). Now when a man's wife says he has integrity, we know it is true!

In his book "The Life You've Always Wanted" John Ortberg wrote, and I quote, "A test is a difficult experience through which a person's true values, commitments, and beliefs are revealed. Even though it is painful, testing is an act of love. Suffering serves to test our faith" (Ortberg, p.213). God continues to test Job and in this test He allows satan to attack Job's health as we read in Job 2:1-10 (cited from BibleGateway.com): On another day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. ² And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
³ 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. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”
⁴ “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. ⁵ But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
⁶ The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. ⁸ Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
⁹ His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
¹⁰ He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
In verse four, satan accuses God of protecting Job because of his righteousness. He is basically telling God that He is not worthy to be worshiped and that He has to pay (reward) people to worship Him. The accuser (satan) claims that if God were to stretch out His mighty hand and strike Job's flesh and bones, that this would finally prompt Job to curse God and bring about his death. God again grants satan's request and allows him to afflict Job with disease, but he must spare his life. Interesting to me that his life was to be spared. If God had allowed Job to be killed, he would have gone home to spend all of eternity with God at that moment. Although this would have been a victory over satan, it was not the one that God wanted. This reveals to me the true test of Job's integrity. Death would have been the easy and most preferred way out of Job's suffering, and as we read through the following chapters of Job, he questions his very existence. Again, Job does not know what is going on in Heaven between God and the devil. God is proving a point of faith here and that is why this oldest of stories is in the Bible. Job's faith was tested during great times of suffering.
I believe that we all have something to learn about the purpose of suffering. The apostle Paul boasts about his faith during his time of suffering in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29. He goes on to boast of his weakness in chapter twelve of 2nd Corinthians and he is given a gift. God allowed a thorn of satan to be placed in Paul's flesh to remind him that his weakness made God more powerful. Paul then says, "Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:8,9). Job's suffering was no different than Paul's. Their suffering glorified God because of their faith in God. I have been through periods of suffering in my life and it was in those times that I truly discovered the strength of my faith in God. I believe that some of the most Godliest people on this earth are those who have suffered greatly. There is not one story in the Bible that does not express some sort of suffering that had to take to place to glorify God. Moses suffered. Noah suffered. Abraham suffered. David suffered. Jesus suffered. All of these men had one thing in common during their time of suffering, and that was their faith in God.
Job suffered. He lost it all. It was his integrity during great adversity that gave him the ability to persevere. His wife questioned his integrity. She doubted God and gave up on her husband commanding him to turn over and die. In Job's righteousness he replied, "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" Again, all is well during good times, but those days are few. There are trials of life ahead for each of us, and everyone of those trials are predestined to strengthen us and prepare us for something greater that awaits us. Most of these circumstances are brought on by our own fallen nature, and God allows these things to happen because He ultimately knows that they will lead us to Him. Job recognized this and honored God by surrendering to Him. He never accused, nor did curse God for the calamity that took place in his life, and the Word says, "In all this, Job did not sin in what he said" (Job 2:10).
My friends, my question is this, "What will you do when you are faced with a trial?" "Who, or what, will you turn to for help?" "Will you turn to your friends, your family, or perhaps your religion?" If you can trust Jesus during times of prosperity, then He has to be enough during times without. He is all we need.
In closing, I would like to share some words of inspiration quoting from Henry Blackaby, "I have come to the point in my life that, if the assignment I sense God is giving me is something that I know I can handle, I know it is probably not from God." Though the trials in life may seem huge and impossible to manage, God has a God-sized victory already in place for you. He is there, waiting to give you strength to persevere, and His grace is sufficient.