Job

This week the Biblical Growth Class I was teaching was centered around the life of Job from the Bible. Job went through unbelievable trials with the loss of his entire family, livestock, and possessions. Then he went through the loss of his health and the support of his wife. Ultimately Job had many discussions with his friends and with God that created in him a transformed, contrite, humble heart before God... he came to the point where he realized he had been living a holy and upright life for the sake of obtaining protection and blessings from God, rather than living that life as simply a way to honor and give praise to his creator. It was through Job's repentance that God opened the avenues of blessing and he was able to live long life and God doubled all that he originally had.

The theme of "we" that I talked about last week carries over into the lesson of Job. Job had to go through more than most of us feel we could ever handle, but ultimately his suffering was for the glory of God. But let's not also forget that God allowed Satan to kill other humans as part of this whole story. There was tremendous suffering by many individuals, but the glory God brought about was for all of creation.... when we consider our own suffering and how God might bring glory in and through us, I wonder if that might be a little short-sighted.... perhaps we need to consider how God might bring glory in and through others because of the sufferings in us. If we can somehow wrap our minds and hearts around this, then we can perhaps gain insight into what community is and how "we" are going through life's journey together.