The True Christ

GREATLY FORBEARING JOB

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; 

blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

     Those who faithfully keep God’s laws have nothing to fear because everything will go well with them. God will never forsake the righteous.  The above quote is from the Book of Job, who suffered after being very well to do and bore his deprivation and physical suffering well, always remembering and offering his fervent prayers to the Lord.  

     Job had seven sons and three daughters; he had riches and honor before his friends and all people. He faithfully worshiped the true God, who gave him many possessions and He treated Job well. The messengers came one after another telling him of his sudden losses. He ended up with the loss all his possessions in a day. Instead of turning to God in complaint, he fell to the ground and offered his regular worship. And he said: “I came out of my mother’s womb naked and naked shall I return there.” Then his health failed him and his entire body became covered with boils that were very sore.  After a time Job’s wife urged him to deny God but the righteous man said to her: “If we have received good things at the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil things.”

His friends spoke up and chided him, saying that he was a sinner and proud of himself and of his possessions and deeds. However Job prayed ardently to God as he patiently endured his sores and tolerated his great misfortune.

     What happened is the Lord let all these misfortunes come onto Job testing not only Job who was His servant, but also Job’s relatives and friends whom God was testing and teaching. Then God restored Job to health and he ended up with twice as much wealth as he had before, also God gave him seven further sons and three daughters. Job therefore received much more than he had lost.

Job and all the faithful give thanks to God for everything He bestows for it all comes from the Lord. Also they give thanks to God for what He does not give them or what He takes away from them. Because it is God whom they worship and not just the goods they receive from Him. The faithful receiving things from God offer Him thanks, when God takes away, they bless Him: “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”

     In this faithless world, we the faithful must never neglect giving thanks to God for all that He gives to us, and if He does take things away, we must bless Him for He alone is good and the Lover of man.

     He who has strong faith will see that God cares for him and always will, especially during his time of suffering. Gratitude should be so strong within our souls that we are continually offer Him our thanks for His infinite mercy, loving kindness and great generosity.

     God used Job as a living example to teach us to be thankful for the good which we continually received from God, and if bad times should come, we should bless Him even more for it is God whom we should love and honor.

      Loving God is not a selfish love but is real and genuine love, which give our beloved God all the good we possess. What is the highest good in our possession? It is our soul for without our soul no other possession has value. That is why we offer our souls completely to God and there is something else. When we love God our love for our brethren and other men increases proportionately and soon our whole life is about love. If men would learn and practice divine love, there would be great improvements in the human race. With love peace and warmth comes to the hearts of men causing them to return that love as they live in peace and happiness.