Personal Reflection: Faith // Job
Many of us have experienced some of the things that Job did: loss of a business, loss of our livelihood, loss of a loved one (let alone ten at once!), but never so swiftly and completely as Job did. Chapter 1 tells us, “While [the messenger] was still speaking, another also came,” – the blows fell hard and fast, with no time for recovery. And if that wasn’t enough, he was then afflicted with the loss of his health in a condition so severe that his skin was covered in sores and dirt and worms. Next, his wife criticizes his constancy, his faith in God, telling him to “Curse God and die”, to have it over with rather that to continue to trust God and be afflicted. And wasn’t that exactly what Satan desired? Wasn’t that his whole objective? Satan wanted to put so much pressure on Job that he would do just that, “Curse God and die”. And finally, his friends, who travel from some distance, presumably to support him, fail him in the moment. They don’t believe him or in his professed innocence. They believe all of his calamity is a direct result of his terrible sin.
So we find Job, wishing for death, wishing that God would put an end to his existence, to end his grief, his pain, and his days that “are spent without hope”. He wishes for death because he cannot see beyond his current circumstances. He feels he hasn’t the strength, mentally, physically, or emotionally, to continue. He is at his lowest and yet he holds on tenaciously to his faith and trust in God.
As this story continues, we will see that Job is rewarded for his constancy, for his never ceasing faith in God. The story of Job is an amazing example to us that in our pain and grief, our misfortune, and our loneliness, we can hold fast to our faith in God, and that the pressure Satan puts on us is no match for the power of God. We can be comforted in knowing that God is not the author of our misery, but is holding out life anew to us, our reward for trusting in Him. He is holding out eternal life, “where there will be no more death, no sorrow, no crying. There will be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Debra Christensen
has been married to Mark for 18 years. They are blessed to be the parents of three wonderful children. She spends her days teaching, creating, and sometimes crunching numbers. She enjoys early mornings, hiking mountain meadows, and clear rivers on a sunny day.
Bible in a Year: Mark 2
This Bible reading plan explores The Word based on the chronological order in which it was written, and is unrelated to the daily character devotions.
The Word of Promise audio Bible is used by permission. For more information and to purchase the complete audio Bible go to https://www.wordofpromiseapp.com/.
Mark 2
Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralytic
1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Matthew the Tax Collector
13 Then He went out again by the sea; and all the multitude came to Him, and He taught them. 14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.
15 Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. 16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eating with the tax collectors and sinners, they said to His disciples, “How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”
17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus Is Questioned About Fasting
18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”
19 And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
23 Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
25 But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”