GREATLY FORBEARING JOB
“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
The righteous (or just) have no fear except the fear of God, and they are aware that no matter whatever happens all will change and again go well with them. Here are a few excerpts from the Book of Job the forbearing and enduring one.
Job, a and righteous man worshiped God faithfully and abstained from all evil and God’s many blessings made him quite prosperous. He had seven sons and three daughters. He also had 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, a very great household and a huge husbandry and was ranked among the most noble of men. His sons visited one another preparing banquets frequently bringing along with them their sisters. Job frequently offered up purifying sacrifices for his children in case any of them had sinned or done anything improper or thought evil in their minds.
The devil appeared before God, and God told about the beauty of Job. The devil attempted to attribute God’s gifts as the reason for Job’s pure and holy lifestyle. God gave the devil permission to use his wiles to pursue and change Job piety and began the attack which God gave him against Job. Through the devil’s work messengers came to Job one after the other, telling of very many losses including his servants who had been slain. While one servant was still reporting, additional servants came with even worse news; they came one after the other. They told of fire coming down from heaven which burnt up his many sheep. This continued until he lost everything. All his children were killed when a great wind came from the desert and blew their house down upon them all.
But Job never hesitated his faithful worship of God, saying about the many evils that came upon him: “I came forth naked from my mother’s womb and naked shall I return. The Lord gives the Lord takes away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so it has happened; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Then the devil went after Job’s body; he inflicted sore boils from his feet to his head and Job sat on a dung heap and scraped them. In all the events that fell upon him “Job did not sin before the Lord, nor did he impute foolishness to the Lord.” The Lord God blessed Job again even more than at the beginning. Then after he had suffered affliction for a total of 170 years, he died peacefully fully restored at 240 years. Job never neglected his frequent and faithful loving prayers to the Lord even under the most difficult circumstances, His love for the Lord was His life, and by this he set the example for all of us at all times.
The very moving story of Job in its entirety is well known and is especially taken to heart by those who are faithful to God in all their works. It is the Lord who we should love with all our hearts, and not just love the material possessions which He has bestowed upon us. Although they deserve our continuous gratitude and thankfulness. God loves us completely even if we oppose or deny Him, for His love is directed toward each one of us. Job prayerful and most faithful life which stemmed from his wonderful patience, endurance, and with great confidence and love for the Lord. He loved the Lord for Himself and there was nothing that could alter his great love. We must all love God for everything we have is God’s free gift, but the greatest gift of all is that He gives us our life and existence, our intellect and our love and good feelings, and the noble and joyous goal of being His own image, and there is nothing more He could have done than making us like God like himself, truly a noble destination!
We must remember that the Lord gives us everything enthusiastically and generously regardless and He continues this whether or not we return His love, and He helps everyone who seeks truth rejecting no one. He gives freely to all for He is good and the only Lover of man. The goodness of God and His many beautiful attributes are beyond our ability to even try to understand and describe..
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed is His holy name.
During the reign of Patriarch Menas (536-600) an extraordinary miracle occurred. A young Jewish boy, the son of a glassworker, went with some of his Orthodox companions and received Holy Communion with them. When he went home he told his father, who in a fury and great indignation he placed the boy in the furnace which he used for molding glass.
The boy’s mother had no knowledge of what the father had done to the boy. She unsuccessively searched seeking her missing child for three days as she went throughout the city weeping and wailing for her son. On the third day by the door of her husband’s workshop, she was crying out her son’s name. Recognizing his mother’s voice he answered her from within the coals and showed her that he was totally untouched by the fire. When asked how he remained unharmed, he told her. A woman in a purple robe had frequently come and visited me. She offered me water and supplied food the coals nearest me kept him cool.
The Emperor Justinian when hearing of this occurrence, placed the boy and his mother in the orders of the church and they were illumined and baptized, and the Emperor sentenced the glassblower to death for the murder of his son.
THE GLASSBLOWER'S SON
During the reign of Patriarch Menas (536-600) an extraordinary miracle occurred. A young Jewish boy, the son of a glassworker, went with some of his Orthodox companions and received Holy Communion with them. When he went home he told his father, who in a fury and great indignation he placed the boy in the furnace which he used for molding glass.
The boy’s mother had no knowledge of what the father had done to the boy. She unsuccessively searched seeking her missing child for three days as she went throughout the city weeping and wailing for her son. On the third day by the door of her husband’s workshop, she was crying out her son’s name. Recognizing his mother’s voice he answered her from within the coals and showed her that he was totally untouched by the fire. When asked how he remained unharmed, he told her. A woman in a purple robe had frequently come and visited me. She offered me water and supplied food the coals nearest me kept him cool.
The Emperor Justinian when hearing of this occurrence, placed the boy and his mother in the orders of the church and they were illumined and baptized, and the Emperor sentenced the glassblower to death for the murder of his son.
No comments:
Post a Comment