Job's Wife: Life Lessons of Old!

I have always loved the Old Testament.  I love stories about people much like us that had a promise and still had issues walking in it.  I like it because it gives me hope!  See, there is nothing new under the sun, so the things that we read about in the scriptures and wonder "How on earth did they miss God?" .. it still happens today.  We can be so caught up in our life that we miss lessons of old, and also misinterpret their intentions, but celebrate our own.  But God still works in us as He did in them, to will and do His good pleasure.  There have been quite a few people in the Old Testament that I have learned from, a few quite recent. In these next few blogs,  I want to share what I learned from them with you. 

JOB'S WIFE (Job 2:9)

Job was an upright man that the drew the attention of God and thereby also the attention of the enemy.  Satan told God that Job would curse him to His face if he was not so blessed.  God said... (I paraphrase) "Game On!"  In the process Job lost family members, property, cattle,  money and more but he never cursed God.  Then when the enemy said. "If you touch his body, he will curse you.."  God said "Try it, but don't kill him."  In that process Job went through so much, his body was covered with boils, his friends assumed he sinned and tried to get him to repent and his wife (who was also going through with him), when she saw his despair she said "Why don't you just curse God and die?"   Job was shocked and replied "You speak as a foolish woman!  Can we get receive good from God and  not honor Him when things are bad?"  The scripture say in all that he went through, Job never cursed God.  At the end he AND HIS WIFE, had more than they had before. 

BAD ADVICE OR A CHALLENGE?

Job's Wife! For years, we have heard messages about this foolish woman!  We have heard about the bad advice she gave her husband, that lacked faith and trust in God, and how her he rebuked her.  But is that all we get from this?  There has to be more!

Let's look at this story a little differently.   See all of us have someone in our circle that gets on our nerves; some of us are married to them.  These are people who know about what we can handle, they know how we wimp out in the heat of the battle, and they can spot fear or insecurity at a distance.  For those of us who can complain and do nothing, I believe we need someone like Job's wife in our corner.  See, God never said she was foolish, He didn't judge her for her words and based on what we can see in scripture, she was probably the same wife that Job recovered all and was blessed with more kids with.  So maybe her actions were not all bad, what if her words provoked him?

We need people to make us see ourselves when we are going through.  It is kind of like saying "If you are going to whine and be so troubled about it, just curse God and get it over with!"  Some words though they sound foolish will put a fire under you!  It is like having someone complain about their marriage and a friend says "If you are going to complain, just get a divorce and call it a day!"  That to someone who is trying to please God and make their marriage work sounds foolish.  It can make them stop and think... 'I have a lot that is good here and some that is bad.. will I only expect the good and throw away what I have built?'  That in itself is foolish!   

LESSON FOR TODAY

Our takeaway is this... not everything is good advice, not everything is bad advice.  Sometimes we have to look at ourselves and our situations and realize it may be bad, but it is not as bad as it could be.  At least we have our health, or our job, our friends, our family, our LIFE!  Sometimes we find peace in the midst and we can always rely on the fact that God has been good and He has not given up on us!   If you know someone who is going through that needs to hear from words of encouragement, challenge them to look deeper, look at what God has done already. Use your words to provoke to good works and to build up, even if they sound hard.

If you are the person who is struggling, look into your life and find what is good in your situation. Know that God does not allow us to go through beyond what we are able.  You are obviously strong enough for this, you may not think so, but you are.   Find the lesson and learn, know that God is faithful and He will not only bring you out, but He will bring you out with more!  Don't be foolish by complaining, or cursing God and  throwing away His opportunity to bless you!  

"The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the former part....

Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.  After this, Job lived 140 years; he saw his children and their children to the forth generation.  And so Job died, and old man -full of years."   Job 42:12,15,16