"You have heard of the patience of Job..."

Many contend that Job is the oldest book in the Bible. Some contend that the events recorded in Job might have taken place around the time of Abraham’s death. We do not know. But we do know that it is a book of unique events, mostly extreme, but all in some way or another experiences of all saints of God.

The record is that of amazing prosperity, amazing pain, amazing patience, amazing persecution, and amazing perseverance. That is the Book of Job, from which I wish to gain some insight and share some encouragement.

Saints suffer. Anyone teaching that saints do not suffer does not know or rightly divide the Bible. Many believe that healing for the saint is in the atonement and that all we must do is confess our healing. In the first place, and the most basic premise is that we have been redeemed from the curse of the law, BUT we have not yet been redeem from the curse of the fall, which bring physical death. Our bodies are not yet redeemed although our soul is redeemed. “All creation trembles awaiting the redemption of our bodied.”

Our suffering and light afflictions are all a part of learning to share in the “fellowship of His sufferings”. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all. The issue is not dodging difficulty, but being delivered from it as we walk through it.

I remember getting a call from a dear friend and brother in Christ who told me that his grandson and his girlfriend had been killed in an auto accident. It seems the vehicle ran off the mountain road and into the river where both drowned.

That is enough to rock your world, but this man has seen his wife all but die from cancer twice, a son on drugs, another son in jail, a daughter with rheumatoid arthritis and two others sons saved and preaching. He remains steady, stable, and spiritual. Job lost must more.

In fact, I know of no one who suffered more (other than Jesus) and yet said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him…for I know that my Redeemer liveth…” He, as no other, was but a step away of “sweating drops of blood resisting.” That is what Jesus along did.

In the following days we shall focus upon the premise of Job which I believe is threefold: 1. God Protects His people, 2. Satan persecutes the people God protects, and God uses Satan’s persecution to purge, prune, purify, and perfect His saints.
Remember, “Don’t be weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap, if you faint not…pray that you faint not.”

BLESSINGS!