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This is a non-WLC article. When using resources from outside authors, we only publish the content that is 100% in harmony with the Bible and WLC current biblical beliefs. So such articles can be treated as if coming directly from WLC. We have been greatly blessed by the ministry of many servants of Yahuwah. But we do not advise our members to explore other works by these authors. Such works, we have excluded from publications because they contain errors. Sadly, we have yet to find a ministry that is error-free. If you are shocked by some non-WLC published content [articles/episodes], keep in mind Proverbs 4:18. Our understanding of His truth is evolving, as more light is shed on our pathway. We cherish truth more than life, and seek it wherever it may be found. |
Imagine being in Job’s position, dear one. How would you respond? What if a flood, a fire, a tornado, or another destructive force sent by Yahuwah left you in poverty and childlessness by the time you returned home from church today?
The chapter discusses Job’s immediate response to this heavy trial. First, he reacted with grief. We read in verse 20: “Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head.” These actions were a visible expression of his sorrow. Note that it is not wrong to grieve when Yahuwah sends trials into our lives. There is a time for everything – also a time to weep! When affliction comes, we need not think we cannot cry, nor that we must be strong for the sake of those around us. Job grieved, and so may we. In our sorrow, we may weep. But we may not blame Yahuwah foolishly!
Second, Job responded to his trial by worshiping Yahuwah. We read in verse 20 that, having torn his mantle and shaved his head, “he fell down upon the ground and worshiped.” These phrases reflect his posture and attitude in worship. He lay face down on the ground, a position indicating the humility of a man who recognizes his helplessness and relies solely on Yahuwah
Third, Job confessed, as we read in verse 21: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: Yahuwah gave, and Yahuwah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Yahuwah.” Through these words, Job indicates that he bears his suffering patiently. Especially from this confession of Job, we must take a lesson. Let us examine it further to make it our own in times of affliction.
The core of Job’s confession is this: “Yahuwah gave, and Yahuwah has taken away.” Job acknowledges that what has befallen him is the work of Yahuwah, showcasing the sovereign power of Yahuwah.
To this confession, we might respond by saying, “No, Job, you are mistaken; this was not so much the work of Yahuwah as it was the work of Satan.”
Indeed, the chapter examines Satan’s role in Job’s affliction. We learn that one day the sons of Yahuwah, referring to the angels, came before Yahuwah in heaven. They gathered to worship Yahuwah and receive commandments from Him, which they were then required to fulfill. However, along with the good angels, Satan also appeared in heaven. Before the death of Christ, Satan was allowed to enter the presence of Yahuwah's glory.
Yahuwah noticed Satan and addressed him. Knowing that Satan’s goal was to destroy Yahuwah’s kingdom, overthrow all of Yahuwah's works, and establish himself as the true power of the universe, Yahuwah asked Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, for there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and upright man who feareth Yahuwah and escheweth evil?” (Verse 8). It was as if Yahuwah was asking Satan, “If you truly believe you can overthrow my kingdom, Satan, have you observed that Job is a faithful child and citizen?”
In response, Satan acknowledged his inability to turn Job away from Yahuwah. Because Yahuwah had granted Job such great wealth, Satan argued that Job would remain faithful. He indeed questioned the motive behind Job’s love and obedience, suggesting that Job would serve whoever made him prosperous and content.Yahuwah understood this as a challenge. If Job served Yahuwah not in the power that Yahuwah gave him as a regenerated child but only because Yahuwah made him rich and happy, then Job was not indeed a faithful child and citizen after all. Therefore, Yahuwah would demonstrate to Satan that Satan’s argument is wrong. Since Satan had argued that Job served Yahuwah because Yahuwah gave Job riches, Yahuwah permitted Satan to take all those possessions away.
In a sense, then, Job’s trial was the work of Satan. It was Satan’s idea that Job be afflicted as he was. It was also Satan’s work because he was given the power to accomplish it – though subject to the power and will of Yahuwah. So we might say to Job, you are wrong! You are wrong to say that Yahuwah has given, and Yahuwah has taken away! And we might say, when trials befall us: Yahuwah did not send them!
But we would be mistaken. Job is correct. Job admits that Yahuwah is the ultimate cause of everything that has occurred. He does not need to comprehend the hows and whys of his suffering to make this admission. He did not have to be aware of the conversation between Yahuwah in heaven. He simply needed to understand that Yahuwah is the only sovereign who accomplishes all that He has determined in His counsel! Because nothing comes to us except what Yahuwah directs and sends, both Job and we can affirm the sovereign power of Yahuwah: “Yahuwah hath given, and Yahuwah hath taken away.”
Perhaps the first part of Job’s confession comes easily to us: “Yahuwah has given.” Sometimes, we overlook this fact: all things come from Yahuwah, yet we often credit ourselves with the power to amass our riches, build our homes, and raise our children. However, Yahuwah frequently reminds us that all our physical and spiritual labor is accomplished through Yahuwah's power. Our children are gifts from Yahuwah, and our resources are blessings from Him. Although we may acquire possessions through hard work, the strength to do so and the blessings upon our efforts come from Yahuwah. Yahuwah provides all things.
The text now teaches that what is true for giving is also, and always, true for taking. “Yahuwah hath taken away.” Yahuwah gives to His people according to His purpose and counsel, demonstrating His sovereign power and love. When He takes away our loved ones or possessions, that too aligns with His purpose and counsel; it also demonstrates His sovereign power and manifests His love for His people in Christ.
Never say, beloved, that Yahuwah gave and Satan took! Yahuwah intended for me to keep my possessions and loved ones, but a force greater than Yahuwah took them away! Instead, confess the sovereign power of Yahuwah! He alone is God! He can do as He pleases! And He will act in all things to glorify His name!
But why does He take it? Why does He take what is so precious to us? He does so in His love!
Job believed in Yahuwah’s faithful love. He understood that the afflictions Yahuwah sent were given in love.
Satan tried during this affliction to make Job believe that Yahuwah hated him. He did this first by sending these afflictions on the first day of the week. We surmise that it was the first day of the week because we are told that Job’s children were feasting in the house of the eldest brother and that each brother hosted this feast in turn each week. The feasts followed a weekly cycle, and this cycle was beginning anew. Now, at the end of the cycle, we are told that Job sacrificed for all his children. Either the night before or the morning of this day on which Job suffered his calamities, he had offered burnt offerings and sin offerings, partaken of the means of grace, and left with renewed assurance of Yahuwah’s love and favor for him and his children. Satan used this timing of events in an effort to make Job question Yahuwah’s love. Just as if you or I had heard the most comforting sermon, eaten at Yahuwah’s table, and sensed anew the forgiveness of our sins, only to return home and discover that great calamity had befallen us – with Satan wanting us to ask, what kind of love is this?
Second, note that while the camels, oxen, and donkeys were stolen, the sheep were destroyed in a different manner – by the fire of Yahuwah descending from heaven and consuming them. These sheep were the animals Job would have primarily used for sacrifices to Yahuwah. Thus, Yahuwah destroyed them through an act of judgment! Remember, when fire comes down from heaven in Scripture, it signifies the judgment of Yahuwah. Recall the fire of Yahuwah that rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Understand that Yahuwah will send fire from heaven on the day of judgment to eradicate this world and all its wickedness. Now, Satan wants Job to ask, “Why has Yahuwah judged me by burning my sheep? Does He hate my sacrifices?”
In the third place, all of Job’s children are destroyed. Job also knew about the covenant. Although Job may not have understood it as clearly as we do, he realized that Yahuwah’s covenant continues through the generations. At this point, Job might have thought, “Yahuwah has no covenant with me. He merely destroyed it.” In similar ways, Satan directs our attention to the calamities Yahuwah sends into our lives and tries to make us think that Yahuwah hates us.
To some extent, Job understood this faithful love of Yahuwah. By using the name Yahuwah, Job indicated that his afflictions originated from his personal God, the only God. These afflictions did not stem from the gods of the Chaldeans or the idols of the Sabeans; they came from Yahuwah, the God who loved Job! Furthermore, by invoking the name Yahuwah, Job demonstrated that he recognized Yahuwah’s steadfast love. In this context, the work of Yahuwah in sending afflictions contrasts greatly with Satan's role in them. It's important to remember that temptations and trials are essentially the same, arising from similar circumstances. However, Satan leverages those circumstances as temptations to undermine Yahuwah’s grace in us and foster hatred towards us. In contrast, Yahuwah uses the same circumstances as trials to strengthen our faith and godliness rooted in His love for us.
The afflictions that Yahuwah sends His people always come from His love. He has no other motive for sending trials upon us. Through these trials, He prepares us for our place in glory! Trials and afflictions, therefore, come only upon Yahuwah’s children – they are a gracious gift to sinners like us, which required the death of Christ on the cross to earn them for us.
Such is Job’s perspective as well. There is not even a hint in the text that Job has considered the possibility that Yahuwah might now hate him, or that Yahuwah had turned from him, or that Yahuwah’s love shown in the past was only feigned. In fact, if Job had even thought that Yahuwah now hated him, he would have been charging Yahuwah foolishly! But he did not do this. In saying, “Yahuwah hath given, and Yahuwah hath taken away,” Job meant to convey, “Yahuwah did this in His love. He loves me!”
Our confession must be the same in our trials. Yahuwah is unchanging. He has already shown His love for His church by sending Christ to die on the cross. Yahuwah will never hate the church! He has also displayed His love for each of His children by working the benefits of salvation in our hearts through the Spirit of Christ. Yahuwah will never hate us! Everything He sends is done in love. He sends even grievous afflictions in love. In love, He corrects, chastises, refines, and purifies us, just as gold is tested by fire. But always, it is in love.
Would you believe it? Could you confess it if you arrived home from church tonight to find your possessions stolen and loved ones dead? By the power of Christ and with the true knowledge of Yahuwah, we can! And to do so, we must also believe in Yahuwah’s great wisdom.
Yahuwah’s wisdom is His ability to direct all that happens so that He reaches His goal. His goal, as we know, is the glory of His name in the salvation of His church. When Yahuwah sends afflictions into our lives, one of two things is true: either Yahuwah has entirely forgotten about His goal, putting it in jeopardy, OR everything that happens to us in life, including our afflictions, serves that goal. Which do you think it is, beloved? Would Yahuwah ever jeopardize His own goal? Not our God; He is a wise God.
Our text indicates in two ways that Job believed in Yahuwah as a wise God. First, we read, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged Yahuwah foolishly.” Literally: “nor charged Yahuwah with folly.” This means that Job did not say of Yahuwah, “He is a fool.” He did not attribute folly to Yahuwah. Since the Spirit draws our attention in the text to what Job did NOT do, we immediately think of what he DID do – he recognized the wisdom of Yahuwah.
Secondly, to indicate that Job believed in Yahuwah's wisdom, we read: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there." Here,” there " means “back to that place again.” Of course, Job does not imply that he will return to his mother’s womb; rather, he means he will return to the dust of the ground. Job had in mind the words Yahuwah spoke to Adam: “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.”
Through these words – “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither” – Job conveyed his feelings of unworthiness regarding the possessions he once had. He entered the world with nothing and could earn nothing from Yahuwah. All of Job’s children and wealth belonged to Yahuwah. Now Yahuwah has taken them away in His sovereign control.
But with these words, Job also acknowledged Yahuwah’s wisdom. “I came naked,” he says. He came naked to serve Yahuwah, not himself! Because he came to serve Yahuwah, he did not need to be born with possessions. Yahuwah supplied Job daily with the possessions necessary for his service. And upon his death, he would not require possessions. Thus, Job perceives that Yahuwah’s removal of his possessions is a preparation for the day of his death. We should not necessarily conclude that Job believed the day of his death was imminent. He remained aware of that day and viewed Yahuwah’s taking of his possessions in light of it.
Do we recognize Yahuwah’s wisdom in our afflictions? How easily we are inclined to accuse Yahuwah of folly! We say, “How could Yahuwah do this to me? All my plans have come to nothing. I don’t understand how He expects me to serve Him now.” Or our attitude implies that Yahuwah has not treated us well. However, Job teaches us to recognize the wisdom of Yahuwah. Everything that happens to us occurs with the purpose of our death, our ultimate glorification, and Yahuwah’s glory!
Can you acknowledge the wisdom of Yahuwah? Do you grasp the revelation of His wisdom to save His people through Christ? Then, you also recognize that everything that happens to us in love illustrates the wisdom of Yahuwah.
When faced with afflictions, if we confess Yahuwah's power, love, and wisdom, we are prepared to proclaim what Job expressed next: “Blessed be the name of Yahuwah.”
Yahuwah always blesses His name by making human beings adore, magnify, and serve Him. Job’s desire, as expressed in the text, was for to enable Job and the four servants standing before him- who had witnessed and experienced such great calamities- to say nothing more than this: “Blessed be the name of Yahuwah!” is good in all His works and ways!
Beloved, let every man, woman, and child who hears of these calamities say today, “Blessed be the name of Yahuwah!” Adore this God! Fall on your knees upon the ground and worship Him! And when similar calamities befall you, sing of His greatness! Tell others who come to comfort you, “I will not question His motives or His ways; I will simply ascribe to Him all glory.”
In making his entire confession, particularly in his desire that Yahuwah’s name be blessed, Job demonstrated the preserving grace that Yahuwah continually offers His people. Here, we see that Yahuwah decisively thwarted Satan’s purpose. Satan stated, “he will curse thee to thy face” (verse 11). He orchestrated the details of Job’s afflictions to induce Job to question Yahuwah’s power, love, and wisdom, ultimately leading him to curse Yahuwah. However, far from cursing Yahuwah, Job proclaimed, “Blessed be the name of Yahuwah!”
Here is comfort for us in our trials. Do you wonder, beforehand, how you will ever bless Yahuwah’s name during a future trial? Rely on Yahuwah – His grace will empower us to do so! Or have you blessed Yahuwah’s name in past trials? His grace was magnified. To experience that grace, we must acknowledge His sovereign power, faithful love, and great wisdom. Through His power, love, and wisdom, He preserves and enables us to bless His name! In times of trial, Yahuwah’s children may sometimes accuse Him of folly. Then, He reveals His power, wisdom, and love by leading His children to repentance and sincere sorrow for their sins, showing us that what He did was for our good.
For Yahuwah will prevail! In the war between Yahuwah and Satan, Yahuwah will consistently achieve victory! We may experience and demonstrate victory in our afflictions by blessing Yahuwah’s name! When we recognize Yahuwah's love for us in Christ and pray for grace to glorify Yahuwah in our trials, He will enable us to say with Job, “Blessed be the name of Yahuwah.” Amen.
This is a non-WLC article by Rev. Doug Kuiper.
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team