“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe.” – Winston Churchill
I was recently reading quotations for a class of mine. We had to pick an inspirational quote. I really don’t write quotes down, so I browsed online for quotes. This one really hit my eye.
“This World of sin and woe.”
It is kind of crazy to think about it. A world full of sin and woe. Job lived in an extreme world of woe. In Job 1:13-18, Job is quickly stripped of all his property. From the mouths of 4 messengers came more bad news than most of us probably have experienced our entire life. The first passage reads:
“13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” - (Job 1:13-15 NIV)
For a little backstory, Job was a very well of man in the land of Uz. In Job 1:8, God calls Job ”blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil”.
“He feared God and shunned evil”.
That right there is VERY hard to do. Not only did Job probably have many things to worry about given all his property, he also had seven sons, and three daughters. Through all of these things that in the modern day would probably have us give in to the pressure of the world, he is called upright, blameless, and fearful of God, by God.
In Job 1:6-12, God and Satan talk.
“One day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [b] also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.”
8 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.”
9 ”Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 ”Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” – (Job 1:6-12 NIV)
In God’s eyes, Job is a man who fears him, and has enough faith, that he will let Satan test him. In the next few passages, it tells about how Job loses his oxen and donkeys, his sheep, his camels, and his sons and daughters. Like I said, probably more bad news than most of us will ever hear in our lifetime. But through all this destruction that he hears about, he doesn’t yell and complain. Instead Job gets up, tore his robe, shaved his head, and began to worship God:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.” – (Job 1:20)
I think this truely shows a man whos entire life, his kids, his sheep, and his servants, have been devastated. Yet, the last verse in Job, Job 1:22 is:
“22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing”
Through these first trials, Job never sinned out of anger. That right there is truely remarkable. The fact that most of his life is crumpled into tiny peices, Job still stayed faithful to God. Not only did he stay faithful to God, Job realised that God did not do anything wrong.
Tying this back to the main point, both Job way back then, and We, now, live in a world that is filled with woe. Thousands of people live with absolutly nothing, and many others lose things close to them. But the fact is that God will never give you more than you can handle. Through all of the woes of this world of sin and woe, you will never have too much on your plate.
“The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.” – Unknown
