“Job scrapped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes.”
-Job 2:8
Job lost all his possessions. Everything that his world called wealth, he had lost completely. It surprised me when I came across this verse, why would Job trash a piece of pottery to scrape boils?
Was he tired of the images of his former wealth?
Was he angry?
Maybe he found more connection to a broken pot than a fixed one.
Maybe.
Just maybe. Job had lost his sons and daughters. Job had lost his wealth and now his health. And rather than cling to the few possessions that he had, he decided to cling to God. While Satan had taken everything, he had not taken God.
So what do you have left? What do you have lingering inside of you? Have you lost something? Maybe it’s not even a possession but you’re lacking in an identity?
God is all you have. When you have God, losing things hurts. Death, disease, and bankruptcy will leave you with pain. But know the value of having nothing but God.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The Whirlwind
“And God spoke to Job through a whirlwind”
-Job 38:1
How often do we come to God with our complaint and walk away humbled by who He is? I don’t think we do this often, if ever. I think we come and complain and then walk away as if everything is the same. The whole mindset of “getting it off your chest” has crept into the Christian today, but this doesn’t work if there is no humility and there is no love.
When God appeared to Job through the whirlwind, he was covered in blisters and sores. (in Job 2:8, he scraped the scabs with a broken piece of pottery.) Assuming that the scabs were still relatively pain or at least still sensitive when God appeared, I think it speaks to the heart of what God wants to do. Depending on your interpretation of this assumption – figuratively and literally.
Think of Job filled with sores and when the whirlwind collided with his body, he hurt more. That God had not come to wound Job, Job was already wounded but the presence of God coming would wound further the wounded Job. And by pressing against the sores or completely removing the scabs, God was wanted to make sure Job heals from this correctly and not alone.
What happens in our life that causes us pain? God will take us into it, to experience the pain again, so that we can experience the pleasure and goodness of who He is.
Boils leave scars. For the rest of his life, Job’s scars where a reminder to himself and those around him about the tragedy in his life. And a reminder of God restoring Job from nothing.
-Job 38:1
How often do we come to God with our complaint and walk away humbled by who He is? I don’t think we do this often, if ever. I think we come and complain and then walk away as if everything is the same. The whole mindset of “getting it off your chest” has crept into the Christian today, but this doesn’t work if there is no humility and there is no love.
When God appeared to Job through the whirlwind, he was covered in blisters and sores. (in Job 2:8, he scraped the scabs with a broken piece of pottery.) Assuming that the scabs were still relatively pain or at least still sensitive when God appeared, I think it speaks to the heart of what God wants to do. Depending on your interpretation of this assumption – figuratively and literally.
Think of Job filled with sores and when the whirlwind collided with his body, he hurt more. That God had not come to wound Job, Job was already wounded but the presence of God coming would wound further the wounded Job. And by pressing against the sores or completely removing the scabs, God was wanted to make sure Job heals from this correctly and not alone.
What happens in our life that causes us pain? God will take us into it, to experience the pain again, so that we can experience the pleasure and goodness of who He is.
Boils leave scars. For the rest of his life, Job’s scars where a reminder to himself and those around him about the tragedy in his life. And a reminder of God restoring Job from nothing.
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