What is your posture of worship? by Corbyn D.

Recently, I have been studying the book of Job with the Bible Recap Study and wanted to share with you ladies what I have learned.

Just to give yall a quick synopsis of this book: a man named Job, who was blameless and upright in the sight of God (Job 1v1), was a very blessed man who owned a significant amount of livestock, had a large family, and had a healthy relationship with the Lord. In the first chapter, readers of this book witnessed spiritual warfare that occurs between Satan and God in which God allows for Satan to take away most of Job's blessings because he believes that when this happens, Job will turn away from God. Being fully omniscient and sovereign, the Lord permits Satan to take away his family, home, and livestock. In all of this, we witness Job, who is in physical and emotional pain, draw nearer to God as this is all that is left for him to cling to. In this suffering, there is an introduction of three of Job's friends: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar (and later Elihu.) Long story short, these men mourn in silence with Job for about a week…and then they open their mouths. These 'friends' do not have many encouraging words for Job as they imply that this suffering was because he was unfaithful to the Lord. As if Job hadn't suffered enough, he has to listen to his friends tell him that he essentially inflicted this pain on himself. These three men even claim that their messages to Job come from the Lord. However, we know that this cannot be true as the Lord did not inflict pain on Job because of anything that he did. Instead, it was closer to being a test of faith that God knew Job would pass. So this scenario between the three friends and Job trying to defend himself continues for the majority of the book, and towards the end, Job starts to question God's character. Then the Lord speaks. He states who He is and then addresses the friends and Job directly. He reveals to them the exact state of their hearts. And then the Lord offered restoration. We see this as the Lord restores relationships and friendships. We also see this as the Lord' restored Job's fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.' (Job 42v10) And finally, we see where the Lord restores Job's heart.

So throughout this message, one of the things that inspired me the most was Job's worship posture. His immediate response to finding out that all of his possessions and family were gone in an instant was to fall and worship the Lord. Sure he was suffering. Honestly, I cannot imagine what he was facing, and I pray I never have to. But would my first honest reaction to this awful news be to focus my attention on the Lord? This scene put it into perspective for me and gave me something to think about.

Another message that stood out to me within the book of Job happens to be the encounter he has with his friends. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have a lot to say about this situation. They have a very fixed mentality that focuses on rewards/punishments being a result of actions. But because we can physically read of the interaction between Satan and God initially, we knew that many of their words don't hold true. This leads me to the point that…whatever God says about you speaks MUCH louder than what those around you say about you. God saw Job as righteous and blameless, but his friends insisted differently. How often do we let voices other than the Lord's classify us? That is not fair to your Creator, nor is it fair to you. My friends, rest in the fact that only His opinion of you is worthy…and He thinks you are worth dying for.

My final overarching thought for this story is that of restoration, like I mentioned earlier. In the last few chapters, we see how the Lord swoops into the account and just brings it all kinds of new life. Even after the unkind remarks, the friends communicated, the Lord offers them forgiveness through sacrifice. We see where through direct contact with God, there is a transformation of heart for Job. Finally, we physically see the thought of restoration being played out as Job not only got back what had been removed from his life but TWICE the number of possessions restored to him. Though the restoration story may end here for Job, it certainly does not end here for the rest of humanity. We see how the Lord restores eternal life to His believers all through the death of His beloved Son.

My friends, there is restoration for you, too. Your suffering may not look just like Job's, but:

1. Your posture of worship can mimic his.

2. You can turn your focus to the Lord.

3. You can find restoration in the life that Jesus gives.

If you have made it this far, congratulations! Thanks for reading what the Lord placed on my heart!