The Rugged Road

"What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me." Job 3:25

The common way to look at this verse is to say, "see Job brought his trouble on himself. His fear made it happen." Such thinking is not an accurate assessment of Job's story. Look at Job 2:3, God is speaking to satan, "... you incited me against him without any reason. " According to God there was nothing Job did to bring the calamity he experienced.

That is really the central theme of the entire book of Job. Is Job serving God just because God blesses him? We can ask the question more broadly, does anyone serve God for his own sake, or is it always a "quid pro quot" relationship between God and man. Do we give to get? Do we seek God only because of what we hope he can do for us? What value is there in knowing God if he does not bless us with good things? These are the type of questions the story of Job answers.

In that context then, what did Job fear? What was he talking about in Job 3:25. One clue is in chapter 1, verse 5. Job was concerned that his children might have sinned, and so he interceded for them. Another clue is in Job 1:1, "This man was blameless and upright; he feared God." Job seemed to believe that serving God would protect his family. We know from reading the story, that God removed whatever protection there was and disaster struck. Job clearly thought there should have been some "quid pro quot". Job clearly thought he had done what he should to please God and that this should protect him from evil, but it did not. Instead, the very thing Job
did not want to happen, the thing he feared, did in fact happen.

We have to get away from the idea that faith in God is some kind of superstition. We are told by some that if we just pay our tithe we will not only never have a financial problem but we will prosper beyond our wildest dreams. This is just not true. Job learned and we who follow Christ must learn that sometimes bad things happen to good people - FOR NO APPARENT REASON. No one has God in their back pocket in this regard.

Jesus promised us trouble, persecution and rejection for his name sake. He did not promise us sun shine without rain. Paul taught that trouble produces patience in us. Peter taught we should learn to endure unjust treatment and remain quiet just like Jesus. Paul talked about his being ship wrecked, enduring famine, beatings, and yes some times he even prospered. The thing is we need a perspective on circumstances that is balanced scripturally. There is no "quid pro quot" with God.

Quid pro quot is Latin for "this for that". It is the idea that we do something, or say something and God is then bound to carry out our will. Such thinking is evil, because it dethrones God. It may be startling news to many Christians in America but God has never surrendered his throne to us.

I do not want to suffer, or experience loss any more than I already have but if God puts me in the hot seat like Job I hope and pray he will also provide the grace to endure it. The more I read Job, the clearer it gets to me: God's purpose is to refine us to change us into the image of Christ the lamb, not prosperous to our own hurt.

If you find yourself feeling like Job "I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest but only turmoil."(see Job 3:26) remember that you are walking on Holy ground.