Year One, March 4

Many Are the Afflictions of the Righteous1

Job 1:13-22

13Now there was a day when [Job’s] sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

Satan’s timing was crafty. When troubles come on us when we are celebrating, they have a double bitterness. The brightness of that unforgettable day’s morning made the darkness of the night all the darker.

14and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Job did not lose his property because he was being neglectful. The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were watched over. This proves that all of our care and diligence cannot protect our property unless the Lord is the true protector of it. To lose the oxen that plowed his fields and the donkeys that carried his burdens was a huge disaster, but we do not find the man of God making one word of complaint. Some people would have been in a bad mood if only one ox had died.

16While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Job’s trial increased. The first came from man. The second came directly from heaven. The hand of God was seen more clearly and the sting of the loss would have been all the more painful to the holy soul of Job. Furthermore, in that culture a man’s wealth was in his flocks and Job went from rich to poor with no warning. But he did not complain. Some who profess to be Christians would have been terribly upset if only one lamb had died.

17While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Each messenger finishes his report with the sad words, “And I alone have escaped to tell you.” Satan knows how to beat up a person with terrible news and sadden their heart by repeating the blows. Three companies of servants had been destroyed along with all of his livestock, yet he did not say a word. Job’s heart was so focused on God, that he was not afraid of evil news. What an example he is for us!

18While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” (This last attack was the greatest and most direct against Job. If anything could break a man, this would. Great debaters work from the weakest arguments to the greatest. In the same way, the archenemy weakens Job with smaller afflictions and saves his heaviest assault for the last. Even through the heartbreak of losing his whole family at the same time, Job’s faith did not break down.)

20Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (The greatness of Job’s faith is clearly visible. Certainly no one, besides the Son of Man in Gethsemane, ever rose to a greater height of accepting the Lord’s will for themselves. Instead of cursing God, like Satan said he would, he blesses the Lord with all his heart. How thoroughly beaten the evil spirit must have felt. May the Holy Spirit help each one of us to be victorious over the evil one in the same way. Job did not offend God in either his heart or his words. He understood the holy wisdom of accepting whatever the Lord had in store for him. He did not become upset with his God.)

22In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. (Grace made him more than a conqueror over Satan.)

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¹ Psalm 34:19