A Job for Job

(excerpt from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

God assigned Job the job of demonstrating desperate dependency amid plenty and loss. Our lives are driven by the desire to be successful, and many viewed the life of Job as being a grand success with his ten children, leadership positions, and vast possessions. But when Job was stripped of the people, positions, and possessions, his friends and neighbors would have been hard pressed to label him as a success while he sat on the ash heap mourning his unspeakable losses. However, God does not define success in the same manner we perceive it. “The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7 NLT). God’s definition of success is submitting faithfully to His plan for the purpose of glorifying God. In the books of Kings and Chronicles, each king is evaluated on the basis of his commitment to God. Either “he did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight,” or “he did what was evil in the LORD’s sight.” Job’s success stemmed from his commitment and willingness to unreservedly submit to the Lord.

As we are introduced to Job, he is characterized as a man who exhibited a relevant relationship with God. Submitting faithfully to God, he lived consumed by his connection to God. Every facet of his existence and the concerns of his heart evidenced a dependency on Elohim and an authentic desire to please Him. The community recognized Job as a man who was blameless, full of integrity, and one who feared God and stayed away from evil.

God was intricately involved in Job’s life because Job invited God into his life. Although we may not readily embrace this truth, when we invite Christ into our lives it is for better or for worse. The invitation for God to become part of our lives grants Him permission to transform our sinfulness into godliness through whatever means He deems necessary. God’s divine enabling shaped Job’s identity, molding a lifestyle that had a profound influence upon his society and moved people to take note of God.

The moral character of God held Job constant even though his mortal condition was completely in chaos. Overwhelmed by his limitations, he could only find comfort in total self-abandonment through trust. Delimited by his dependency, Job had no other choice but to interpret the nature of his anguish through the moral attributes of a holy, righteous, just, and good God who is full of truth. All of Job’s philosophical ponderings, including his frustration and confusion, were delineated by his dependence on God, making him more desperate than ever. In Job’s agony his dilemma was to understand life’s new normal consistently with the truth about God.

More than just an experience with suffering, God was perfecting Job’s relationship with Him. In the kiln of trials we must yield as God conforms us into the image of His Son. It is in the dark places that the metal of a relationship is hammered into the form God desires it to be. Crisis ignited the flame, which provided the necessary heat to forge Job into deeper desperate dependency on God. Suffering draped the backdrop and created the context and the impetus through which purification could occur. God views our limitations not in terms of how much we can withstand, but in terms of what will it take to bring His children closer to Him and produce simultaneously His likeness within us.

After a fresh encounter with God and His sovereignty, Job could see with new eyes the awesomeness of God. God is relevant to every area of life because He alone “causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Rom. 8:28 NLT). Instead of striving to understand why, we should endeavor to know who God is. As we grow in our knowledge of Him we can move more easily past the barriers that obstruct a trusting relationship.

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NLT).

Perhaps we are pawns on the chessboard of the Master, but we can choose to be participants and be confident that He has placed us as part of His strategic plan. Our sovereign God designates each person’s position—some to be kings, some to be queens, others to be bishops, knights, and pawns. But we are all mere servants of our great God and stewards of the ministry of Jesus Christ. In God’s government, even kings are pawns. He sets them up and takes them down to accomplish His purposes. God can do whatever He wants and, yes, we are supposed to be okay with that.

Are you willing to live for the glory of God? Many will equate this question with achieving excellence. Yes, they proclaim, I will be successful for His glory. However, God’s definition of success is submitting faithfully to God’s plan for the purpose of glorifying Him. God created and designed you so He could be in a relationship with you. Everything that happens is for the purpose of leading you into a deeper relationship with Him. Are you ready for that kind of adventure?