On special occasions, each of Job’s sons would personally host a meal for all of their siblings. Since there were seven sons and three daughters, this celebration continued for seven consecutive days according to the number of sons with the girls being included in the seven feasts. On the eighth day, Job would rise up early in the morning and offer 10 burnt offerings to the LORD for each one of his children. He did so in the event that one of his kids during the festive time sinned against God knowingly or unknowingly. He did this on a regular basis.
Why would Job do that? Simply put, he loved his children as any good and decent father, but he also cared for their spiritual well-being, unlike a lot of parents who fail to take it seriously. He wanted to make atonement for the possibility that one of his kids might have “cursed God in their hearts” (Job 1:5). He was so protective of his children in that regard that, ironically, Satan attacked Job on that very same issue (cf. Job1:11; 2:5). Interestingly, here we have Job fearing that his kids might curse God in their hearts during festive times while Satan was certain he could get Job to curse God in his heart during fiery times. One was prevention, and the other was oppression.
The biblical record does not say if Job and his wife ever attended any of these sibling-get-togethers; and yet, it would seem unnatural for the kids not to invite their parents or for them not to join in on festive occasions. the day the cyclone touched down, Job and Mrs. Job were not with their children. One day, from out of nowhere, Job’s world became thoroughly unraveled. He went from being the greatest of all the people in the East to losing all of his possessions, including the deaths of all ten of his children in one day’s time (Job 1:11-19). Should this qualify as one of those moments where the love of God is questioned?
Satan had employed the Sabeans, lightning, Chaldeans, a tornado, boils, Job's three friends, and his wife in an attempt to get Job to curse God. He couldn’t make Job do it, but he could create conditions to make it more conducive for Job to sin should he be so inclined given the situation. Such an evil objective may appear over the top with all of the deaths and destruction just to get one man to curse God; others may consider the whole mess as trite, petty, totally unnecessary, and ridiculous, like the situation with Adam and Eve not partaking of the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but the consequences proved otherwise. God’s offer of salvation to the world may be treated as laughable, but stepping into an eternity without Christ will convince the most diehard of skeptics that this is no laughing matter given the repercussions of unbelief.
I am of the opinion that the festivities may have started at the oldest son’s house (number 1) and worked their way down to the youngest (number 7). Divine interference may have prevented Job and his wife from going to the house of their oldest son on that fateful day (Job 1:4, 13), or they had attended but left earlier. This possibility would also be a divine intervention for God knew that a tornado was going to take the life of his children; Job and his wife must not be in the house when the tornado strikes. It stands to reason; what was the purpose of the test if Job was killed along with his children?
I think that Satan would have preferred to have killed Job outright and have been done with it (cf. Job 1:12; 1 Peter 5:8), but thankfully, it is not up to our adversary. God’s attribute of being all-knowing means He is fully aware of all of Satan’s desires and actions. Not only that, God is all-powerful which means He can force Satan to abide by His directives and caveats; the devil cannot circumvent God’s will concerning people, places, or things.
So, let’s see Job’s reaction upon receiving this terrible news,
(Job 1:20) Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped.
(Job 1:21) And he said: “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
(Job 1:22) In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Do you read anywhere in his reactions, “How could a God of love do this to me and my family? How could all the offerings to God for the sake of my kids result in this? My kids were good kids; they didn’t deserve this! I didn’t deserve this! Is this how I am rewarded for being blameless, upright, fearing God, and shunning evil in a wicked world? God, can you hear me? What have I done to deserve this!?” No. We have no intimations of any negative responses by Job, but what we do see is the understandable body language of mourning, “tore his robe, and shaved his head.”
In the midst of such devastating news, he did something remarkably amazing; something that could only surface from the sterling qualities of deep spirituality (found in Job 1:1),
(1) “and he fell to the ground and worshiped”
(2) “blessed the name of the LORD”
(3) “did not sin”
(4) “nor charge God with wrong”
This is not the response of a lost man or a carnal believer. He didn’t stand and shake his fist at God. He didn’t curse the name of Yahweh. He did not sin against God in his thinking or speaking. He did not charge God with wrongdoing. He didn't give up on God nor walked away. Why do you think God included Job’s story in Scripture? Paul stated it best in Romans 15:4,
“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”
One reason for its inclusion is because bad things do happen to God’s people, which makes Romans 8:28 appear spurious; doesn’t it? But nothing could be further from the truth. Who said living out the faith was easy anyway? I am afraid that far too often we let reality get away from us that we are engaged in a spiritual warfare that has been raging since man has been on earth. In Adam, we asked for it, and we got it. There are some bad actors set against us while in this world: our sinful nature, the devil and his demons, and the world system. All three are opposed to the will of God for our lives in the good times and the bad.
This article is not an attempt to convince you that a God of love would not allow this or that, because He does. I am saying that God doesn’t cease to be a God of love because bad things happen to us. You or I will never deal with bad things properly by failing to acknowledge God's sovereignty in any given situation and responding in such a manner that brings glory to Him because we are out of touch with Scripture or applying it inappropriately or not at all. Though Job didn’t have the Scriptures, which makes his spiritually positive responses even more amazing, rather than going south on God, he clung to the oral traditions concerning God and godly principles passed down from Noah to his sons and to their descendants.
We have the entire canon of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, and we can see the God of the OT is the same God of the NT. He is holy, and He is love (agape). This argument is based on Yahweh’s attribute of immutability or unchangeableness or eternal nature (e.g. Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8). How can we evaluate God and be ignorant of the Scriptures? If we refuse to learn the Word, live the Word, and love the Word, we have no basis on which to question God and are prone to question Him the more! Naturally, you have to believe that the Bible is the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.
Are we blameless? Are we upright? Do we fear God and flee from evil? Do we possess these spiritual qualities in our everyday living? Job did what he did because He knew God. He wasn’t perfect, but you can tell that he knew God and understood Him at least in the traditional sense as Noah. Some believers never obtain the knowledge of God and apply it like Job who didn’t have the luxury of any written revelation from God as we do. We have all of God’s revelation in written form, and yet, ignorance poses the greatest threat to Christianity today!
Why would a man like Job do what he did if he didn’t have an intimate relationship with God? It’s far easier to criticize or curse God in ignorance than do what Job did which required knowledge and applying that knowledge in the crucible! That poor boy was hurting in his heart and suffering physically while his three consoling friends insisted there was sin in his life. The devil saved the best for last by using Job's wife to get him to curse God,
“Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die” (Job 2:9)!
It appears that even his precious wife came to the conclusion there must be something about her husband that she is unaware of; she may have thought, “How else can you explain all of this! Why continue to drag this out any longer?” This is because the unexplainable is out of reach for them, and a lesson for us. We have insight into this matter because of revelation, but we really do not understand why this was such a big deal to test Job's integrity. This will become clear in eternity. We most certainly cannot ignore the Scriptures and have a distant relationship with Yahweh and expect to think, speak, and do the right things when a crisis hits the fan, and that is the bottom line in those menacing moments of questioning the love of God.
If you want to know what a person is really like, observe how they deal with adversity; God knows this, but he does it, not for His benefit but ours (Rom 8:28). In my estimation, the depth of Job’s sufferings was unparalleled in human history, barring the suffering of Jesus, of course.
One other thing, no matter what happens to us, we have no right as believers to question Yahweh over bad things happening to us or in the world. I do not mean to appear insensitive, but it is sin, my friends, when we demand answers and question His nature. God is not a God of love because He fits into our narrative of how we view love. Here is a picture of agape love (Rom 5:8). We must never ever lose sight of that great sacrifice for us or question His love for us. That question was put to rest at Calvary. We expect the world to question God at every turn, to resist, to obstruct, to curse Him, but submission to God’s will is the best course of action for believers because nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38, 39)!
How could a God of love allow this or that to happen to us? Because He loves us in spite of what our sinful nature, the devil or his minions, or the world are telling us. Instead of lending an ear to them, we need more than ever to read and heed God’s Word; know Him and understand Him; trust and obey Him, for there is no other way to dispel the devil's question to us on how a God of love could have allowed such a thing.
He is the God of love (agape) no matter what happens to us. Do you believe that? Job never found out the why of it all this side of eternity. As far as we know Job never asked God why or questioned His sovereign right to his life. God never volunteered to give Job an answer either. When Job arrived in glory, it all made perfect sense why God did what He did in his life, along with his twenty children. You might say it was an act of love at every turn, even in ours.
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15a).
Can we truly say that? God cannot love us anymore or any less which makes questioning His love for us while we are in the valleys a moot point; don’t you think? <><
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