JOB AND THE ACCUSER

 

JOB AND THE ACCUSER

 

The book of Job is a difficult story. It’s easier (for me) to talk about than Jesus’ comments on marriage and divorce (Mark 10), but it’s still difficult because it cuts against the grain of the American dream, and also the “me first” theology that many people hold dear.

A long, long time ago, God was meeting with a number of His “lieutenants” when Satan walked in, The Hebrew word “ha-Satan” means “accuser” and it is one of the few Hebrew words that came to us intact. Satan was known as “The Accuser,” and he was on top of his game when he appeared. He had been “going to and fro” on the earth and God asked if he had paid attention to His servant, Job, who was a man who obeyed God’s law and gave generously to others.

God was pleased with Job, but Satan said that Job would turn on God if God took away all of his wealth, Job was a very wealthy man. The Bible says he had 7 sons, 3 daughters, 500 oxen, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels… and many servants. Satan noted that It’s easy to praise God if you are on the top of the world. But God was sure that Job’s love ran deeper than that… so He took away Job’s family, servants, cattle, sheep, cattle and everything else! It was all gone… but Job remained steadfast. Well, the Accuser wouldn’t let it go! Job had not suffered enough personal pain, Satan noted, and he would surely turn on God if he did! Well, with a caveat not to kill Job, God gave Satan the “go-ahead” to prove his case. And  Job was attacked with sores from head to toe, and left with nothing… but a pile of ashes and three friends, who insisted that Job must have brought all of this on himself, by sinning!

It’s a challenging story- in part because God is involved in it, and in part, because it goes from riches to rags instead of from rags to riches. We believe that God will bless us if we’re faithful and reward us if we are “good.” And Job’s tale is our worst nightmare because a good person ends up losing everything! And so, what went wrong? Who’s to blame? Is it God, who according to Scripture, let: all of this happen just to show that Job’s faith was NOT based on circumstances? Is it Satan, who seemed to be “hell-bent” on challenging God from the outset? Is it Job himself, for reasons that we don’t know?

Well, the story doesn’t offer an easy answer. Bad things do happen to good people. Sad things do happen to believers. Faith cannot be based on what we want and what we have. In a time when many people expect God to meet their every need and wish, something is haunting about Job’s story. I’ve known of people who pray for a parking place as they’re driving around the parking lot. I’ve known people who pray for their teams to win, even though they know that their friends across the field are praying for the other team. Some people think that prayers aren’t answered… because the pray-er didn’t pray right,

But grace isn’t a permission slip or a reward of some kind. Other than the number of times we forgive other and the extent to which we love, care for, and invite those people who are “other,” or “different” than us, grace is hard to find here on earth. But it abounds in heaven. In fact, grace is the only hope we have! Do we work harder than our neighbors- maybe, maybe not- but we don’t work hard enough to get to heaven! We aren’t good enough to keep bad things from happening. Only God is! And recognizing this is what it means to have real faith and abiding love!