“And he said: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21 NKJV)
“Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:9-10 NKJV)
“Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind: Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?” (Job 38:1-2 NLT)
I recently heard a new song in which the chorus quoted Job 1:21. Most of the song’s lyrics were right on, but like so many of us, the writer took Job’s statement “the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away” out of the context of the entire book’s teaching and unintentionally perpetuated religious deception. Yes, you read that correctly. Job was sincere in expressing what he thought was truth, but he was sincerely wrong. In the same way that Satan deceived Job in order to destroy his life, he has been deceiving much of the Church ever since.
When you read the Book of Job from start to finish it becomes very obvious that Job and his friends were blinded by their lack of knowledge and religious tradition. These are two areas that Satan uses to wreak havoc on those he hates, and he especially hates anyone who loves God. Look at the following verses:
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6a NKJV) “Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.” (Mark 7:13 BSB)
This idea that God is the one behind “bad things” comes from a flawed view of God the Father. Job thought that God was an angry God bent on destruction. He fully expected God to do all of the things that happened to Him as he was living in fear due to the sin of his children. Every day he was offering sacrifices on behalf of his kids hoping that their sin would be covered and hidden from God so that he wouldn’t rain down judgement and punish them. In his mind he was trying to appease the angry God that he served. To Job’s credit, even though his view of God was completely inaccurate, he still loved Him and served him to the best of his ability. He was a righteous man that opened the door to Satan through fear, and was set up for destruction by his “lack of knowledge” and “tradition” he had “handed down” to him. When Satan attacked Job, his initial response was, “What I always feared has happened to me. What I dreaded has come true.” (Job 3;25 NLT)
The first chapter and a half of the book of Job describes a conversation between Satan and God in which Satan accuses Job and then attacks him. Satan, having been given dominion by Adam and Eve when they sinned, was the god of this world. He used this authority that had been delivered to him to attack Job. God had given Adam and Eve legal right to ownership of the Earth when He delegated His authority and dominion to them in the Garden. They in turn gave it to Satan. Due to this, God was not able to stop Satan from stepping through the door that Job had opened through his fear. He was however, in a position to limit Satan’s attacks, which due to His great love and mercy He did. Being a good God, He had placed a hedge of protection around Job, however, Job’s fear gave way to Satan’s attacks.
Starting in Chapter 2, and running on for the next 36 chapters, Job and his friends go on and on with a whole lot of religious foolishness. They go around and around playing the blame game for Job’s condition. They blame everything, and everyone, other than the actual culprit – Satan. Finally in Chapter 38 God shows up and confronts Job.
God’s first words are paramount to understanding the book of Job. Chapter 38 verse 2 is in my opinion the most important verse in the entire 42 chapters of the book. “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?” God calls Jobs theology “ignorance.” The New King James Bible calls it “words without knowledge.” Other translations say, “unskillful words,” “empty words,” I like the Contemporary English Version, “Why do you talk so much when you know so little.” Isn’t that great?
Job obviously had a messed up view of things, and yet we have used his words to build a foundational doctrine in the Church which colors our flawed view of our Heavenly Father, and opens the door wide open for Satan. “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
In the final 4 chapters God corrects Job, He then opens Jobs eyes to the truth. Look at verse 5 of chapter 42, “I have heard of You by hearing of the ear. But now my eye sees You.” Job saw God as the good God that He is for the first time. Look at the result in verse 6, “Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job repented which allowed God to bless him by restoring double of everything that Satan had stolen. Verse 10 of Chapter 42, “And the LORD restored Job’s captivity (losses) when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
Tomorrow we will begin to unpack all of this as we expand on…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 70: “Time to turn over the apple cart.” Part 5: The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Really?