Covid-19 has reminded us that we do not have everything under control, and that this is a fallen world. The Lord is sovereign over all, but we have to be careful about inferring from providential calamity a specific cause or culpable group. Speaking generally about a specific calamity in Luke 13, Jesus said this about those who perished in it: “Do you think they were worse offenders than those in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
So the Lord gives a general application from a specific event to us all. We live in a world of suffering, which points us to our greatest need; to be reconciled to God. Such reconciliation only comes from Christ. His resurrection proved he overcame death and there is life in him for all who call on him.
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. However, there is condemnation for those outside Christ, and the fallen nature of this world points us to a final judgment the Lord often warns about in his word.
In this world, those who belong to the Lord Jesus suffer from plagues just as those who reject him do. There are times we see faithful, godly people with deadly disease wasting away and wicked people seemingly going unscathed through this world. But a final accounting comes in due time.
The directive for the Lord’s people is to live by faith through all circumstances, good or bad. We see an example of a godly person suffering terribly in Job. Our passage this week gives us Job’s response to losing practically all he possessed and his children in one day.
We read in verse 20: “Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped.” This is both an expression of great bereavement in tragedy and one who knows the Lord. Job “worshipped.”
He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” We don’t owe our existence to ourselves; neither can we attribute our possession and whatever we have to ourselves. It all originates from the Lord. Job acknowledged God’s sovereignty over his life and all he has. This is worship.
Job also believed knowing the Lord was life in the truest sense. Jesus said in Luke 12: “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. All the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows you need them. Instead seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Jesus was saying fellowship with God is life. This only makes sense to those who know him. To know God and his Son the Lord Jesus is the treasure for God’s redeemed people. Then everything else is enjoyed in the context of fellowship with God. Those who know Christ may lose much in this world, but can never lose him.
Job is in a battle for his allegiance. He isn’t aware the devil is assaulting him to pull the Lord down from the throne of his heart, but that is what is happening. Recall that in chapter 1:6 we saw Satan in the Lord’s court to present himself before the Lord. Others come to worship the Lord; he comes for a different reason.
Satan claims as his own those who don’t bow to the Lord. And those who do, he is determined to turn back from the Lord. In Psalm 84 we read of one like Job: “How lovely is your dwelling place O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”
The “courts” of the Lord is where the Lord dwells, where he reigns. In the believer, it is in his heart in this world, while he makes a pilgrimage to the heavenly presence of the Lord. The Lord’s reign is his joy. This the devil cannot abide. So there is conflict; and at times, very difficult conflict.
We don’t know how we would react if put in Job’s situation. If we are believers in Christ, we would like to be able to respond as he did, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” And if the Lord strengthens us, we can. So we must be aware of the battle, be watchful, and pray.
