Read Job 1:8. How was Job described by God Himself?
That’s pretty good, having even God call Job “perfect” and “upright” (Job 1:8), so perfect and upright that no else on the earth at that time could equal him. Again, these are God’s own words, verbatim, about Job.
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Even after Job faced one catastrophe after another, God repeated what He had first said about Job, that there was no one else on earth like him, perfect and upright and so forth, except that then a new element was added. Job was still all these things, “although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause” (Job 2:3, NKJV).
And though we get a powerful glimpse of Job’s perfection and uprightness in how he refused to let go of God despite all that happened and despite his unfortunate’s wife’s taunt, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9, NKJV), the book reveals another aspect of Job’s life before the drama here unfolded.
Read Job 29:12-16. What is depicted here that gives us even more insight into the secret of Job’s character?
Perhaps what’s most insightful here are Job’s words, “And I searched out the case that I did not know” (Job 29:16, NKJV). In other words, Job didn’t simply wait, for instance, for some beggar in rags to approach him for a handout. Instead, Job was proactive in seeking out needs and then acting on them.
Ellen G. White suggested, “Do not wait for them [the poor] to call your attention to their needs. Act as did Job. The thing that he knew not he searched out. Go on an inspecting tour and learn what is needed and how it can be best supplied.” — Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 151. This is a level of money management and stewardship of God’s resources that is beyond the practice of many of God’s children today.
| Read Isaiah 58:6-8. How can we take these ancient words and apply them to ourselves today? |
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