Written by Adetola Adeolu-Balogun, a LagosMums Guest Blogger
I always look forward to Sunday service, it’s a time to be refilled with The Word and enjoy God’s presence. This Sunday service was a blessing to me and it would be selfish of me not to share it with you, so sit back, relax and read on.
The devotional was taken from the book of Job 1:1-12.
A man called Job lived in a country called Uz. This man was good and honest. Job respected God. And Job refused to do evil deeds. He had
• 7 sons and 3 daughters
• 7000 sheep
• 3000 camels
• 500 pairs of oxen
• 500 donkeys and many servants
Job was the greatest man in the east, his sons used to hold birthday parties in their houses. They would eat and drink together, with their three sisters. Afterwards, Job prayed for them. At dawn, he took one animal for each child. He killed the animals. Then, he burned the animals as a gift to God. Job did this because he was worried about his children. He said, ‘Perhaps my children did something evil. Perhaps they insulted God.’ So, Job did these things often.
One fateful day, the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan, the accuser also came with them (I assume this is a kind of Monday meeting), God was so boastful of Job that He rubbed it in on Satan, and Satan accused Job. Satan was of the opinion that Job stayed faithful to God because of his wealth and comfort, and then it was decided to put him on trial by stripping him off of all his wealth, but there was an exception! V12 reads, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.
As always, my amiable Pastor Ayoola-Abolade defined his terms.
Process is defined as a series of acting directed towards a specific aim or series of circumstances ALLOWED by God to produce change or development in a person.
On this earthly sojourn, God did not promise us a smooth cruise all the way, however, He assured us that He will be with us through the rivers of difficulty and fire of oppression. Is 43:2. We will all experience our moment of waiting and delay; this period of wilderness varies from one individual to another. Some last for few days, and some for as long as they live, the most important thing to note during this period is that we must hold on tight to God. He will set a limit to how far the devil can push you, like he did to Job! During the delay,
• There is a focus/concentration on such a person to the extent that such a person cries to God for help
• God deliberately removes the hedge around such a person
• God gives permission to the devil
• He sets limits to the devil on how far he can push you
• At the end, your latter will be greater than your former ….if you hold on
The puzzling question is if Job was blameless and pure, why did God put him through the process?
When the Bible says that Job was blameless, it does not mean that he was absolutely sinless. It means that he was a God-fearing man who sought to do what was right before the Lord. Job’s awareness of his own sins is acknowledged by the fact that he sacrificed animals to the Lord as atonement for his sins as recorded in chapter 1.
Going through the next chapters, we leant that Job experienced fear and spoke too much, when you are experiencing adversity, don’t talk too much or blame one of your ancestors for your misfortune, as we all do. God allows such troubles so that we learn to trust God more (1 Peter 1:7). Even when we suffer, we love God deeply. And God gives joy to us (1 Peter 1:8).
For each test of Job, God wants to make you a better person and He indeed proves this by making your latter better than the former, He refines us during this process to take away those habits He does not want in our life. This is the part I love most, check out Mr. Job’s asset after he recovered from his financial downturn
• 14 000 sheep
• 6000 camels
• 1000 pairs of oxen
• 1000 donkeys
• 7 sons
• 3 daughters who were the most beautiful women in the entire country
Pastor closed by praying that God takes each of us through ‘the process’, do you think anyone echoed an Amen????
Till next Sunday, stay blessed!
photo source: facebook.com
