Job passed the test!

Job 40- Job 42

So finally, God spoke. Job was rebuked. Reading these verses, you will see God questioning God, asking Job to speak up and ask God whatever he wanted to ask or complain. Job kept silent...and reading through, you can see that God used many illustrations to depict that He was in control. So God said  this to Job: If you can do all these, then I will admit that you have power your own life. You can save your own life!...Obviously, God wasn't very happy. So Job admitted his mistake, that he had spoken like a person without knowledge and he repented.

However, God was even more unhappy with the three friends. Why so? See, Job did not spoke of God wrongly, he only complained. He was not happy with what he was going through and he was complaining and questioning God. The three friends on the other hand, judged God, and said....if Job were to be going through all these sufferings, surely he must have sinned. Because God won't do such thing to a good person. In other word, they tried to predict how God function, and God was displease. Because they spoke incorrectly about God's loving nature! God will surely punish you if you sin! God will make you suffer! But how many of us today know, that our God is not like that? God will guide you to understand your mistakes....sufferings are consequences of the wrong things we do sometimes. And in the case of Job, it wasn't even sin!

So, never take whatever you speak about God lightly. Know your God, and speak rightly about Him! So God wanted an apology for the sins these three friends had  done (it can be considered blaspheme when you speak falsely of God). Therefore, they were suppose to sacrifice animals....and the most eye opening thing would be, God would only accept one man's prayer. Job's prayer. God will only accept the prayer of a righteous man. Hence, that is the reason why everytime when we come before God, it is important to ask for forgiveness! See, God wanted Job to pray for them in order to forgive the three friends' sins. So some of you may be asking! But Job did wrong too! He complained! Well, he complained, he doubted, he was emotional....but he STILL kept his integrity. He did not sin. He did not turn his back against God, let go of God, curse God, nor say anything falsely against him. That make him righteous (at least that was what I perceive reading throughout the book).

And because he clung on to God, God doubled everything he ever had. His family, his money, his possession, and he even get to live long and full in age to see his generations after generations being born. What pride and honor! Saying this, I remember one thing that a very close friend of mine mentioned in one of our conversations...that when we FOCUS on God and God only, despite of what is going on around us, things may be on our side, things may not be. But when we put God as our Only Focus....God completes everything. Whatever we lack, God will complete it for us! Just like Job, God restored, complete him, and bless him with abundance just because this man, chose to keep his integrity through his sufferings. Note that when you keep your integrity, it doesn't mean you cannot be emotional when you are going through problems. After all, we are human with flesh and feelings! Keeping your integrity means, even when you are emotional, you still choose to do the right thing.

So, what would you do now, when you face circumstances in life? =)