Seeds of the Kingdom 5th July 2022 Daily Devotional || By Ellel Ministries International
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TOPIC: Job’s Test of Faith
SCRIPTURE: Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no-one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.’ – Job 2:3, NIV
Seeds of the Kingdom 5th July 2022 MESSAGE
The question “Why?” is always asked by people about suffering. Sometimes it seems worse to watch a loved one suffer and be helpless to do anything than to be the one who is suffering. Job’s friends came to see him as they heard he was going through a bad time. ‘Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No-one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was’ ().2:13 Job
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Eventually Job’s friends concluded it must be Job’s fault and, despite his defence of himself, they abused him spiritually. They accused him of cruelty to others and of telling lies to them. They judged him severely and said God would punish him.
We are given the true story of Job’s character in the first verse of the book of Job, and so we know the injustice of their pronouncements. ‘In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil’ (Job 1:1).
No one seemed to be on Job’s side. In his worst moments he struggled to have faith that God was on his side. He just wanted to die. He never knew, as we do, that he was under spiritual attack from Satan. ‘Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,’ Job 3:20.
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I am so glad that he was vindicated by God in the last chapter of the book. His acts of kindness towards others had not gone unnoticed by God. They were valued and rewarded after the suffering ended. His friends were corrected and rebuked by God.
Although he was declared blameless, Job was not perfect, as only Jesus was without sin and perfect in His relationship to God the Father. When he had an encounter with God Himself, Job was full of repentance and realised he had believed wrong things about God. He humbled himself and asked for forgiveness. God accepted his repentance and commissioned him to be a priest to his friends. He was given the privilege of ministering to them for the forgiveness of their sins. There was a way back to blessing on his life. He had come through a massive trial of his faith.
There is a lot to learn about life from the book of Job. Suffering is universal and affects everyone of us. Some turn towards God in times of suffering, while others turn away from Him. It does not solve the mystery of why the innocent suffer. Atheists say that there can be no God because of this. Yet to ask the very question is to prove that deep inside human beings expect the universe to have a moral basis where compassion exists, justice is done, and evil is judged.
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Seeds of the Kingdom 5th July 2022 PRAYER
Dear heavenly Father, help me to stay close to You when suffering comes and when I do not understand why evil is so prevalent. Help me to focus on Your Kingdom purposes in this world and to remember to give You thanks and praise for Your love, Your mercy, and for the answers to prayer in my life and the lives of others. Thank You that Jesus came to bring light into the darkness, forgiveness of my sins and abundant life in Him. Amen.
Seeds of the Kingdom 5th July 2022 Daily Devotional written by Liz Griffin; lived for 20 years as an expatriate in South Africa, Bahrain and Japan, as her husband Paul worked for an international oil company. Paul and Liz became involved with Ellel Ministries in 1991 as part of the ministry team and were also on the full-time team at Ellel Grange for 16 years. Paul and Liz teach and minister to those seeking healing in their lives and together have written two books, ‘Anger – How Do You Handle It’ and ‘Hope and Healing For The Abused’.
