3-22-2025 Job & our Relationship with our Heavenly Father
Over a year ago, Father showed me Job 42:5. He showed me that my relationship with Him was not yet where I thought it was nor was it where He wanted me to be. How much He has shown me over the past year!
Job 42:1-5
When Father showed
me this passage, like Job’s, my eyes were really opened to my relationship with
Father. Off and on, I would share with
someone about the ‘sidewalk adage’.
Consider a boulevard. Most
parking spaces and traffic lanes allow about eight feet from side to side so a
two lane, each way, plus parking (six lanes) would be about forty-eight feet. Let’s say two men were walking on the
sidewalk, going the same way but on different sides of the street. Each man would be ‘aware’ of the man on the
other side of the street. They may even
acknowledge each other and they may try to communicate back and forth as they
walk. The man on one side of street,
speaking in a normal tone, would be doing okay (from his perspective) but the
man on the other side of the street might hardly hear him, if at all. Ergo, the voice level would have to be
raised, significantly, and even then they may not be very successful in
communicating. If one man walks towards
the center of the street, communication becomes better. But when both men wind
up on the same side of the street, communication becomes very clear and
understood. Get the picture?
Let’s look
another example. Some people believe
that President Joe Biden is the best thing since mom’s apple pie. Others believe that Donald Trump is the best
thing since mom’s apple pie and each group thinks that the other is worse than
dog poop. We know about both men by what
we read in the newspaper or magazine or what we see on TV or other social media.
Keep in mind that the media only shows
us what it wants us to see, that is substantiating its perspective. Maybe we don’t deal with the media but go by
what people we know tell us. So, the
question is “who has ever, actually, shook their hand or even met and got to talk
with Joe or Donald”? Most of us only
know what the world around us tells us. Written
and visual media can be manipulated to support the point they are
projecting. We may never know the
intention or truth unless we encounter the persons or situation in person.
So what did
Job say in his relationship with God?
“I’ve heard about You, but now I have seen You with my own eyes!”
Job grew up
learning about God. Most likely, he also
heard other people’s experience with God (testimony). The first two chapters of Job, God sets the
stage. God declared Job a righteous man,
that is he was abiding according to God’s law (Job 1:8, 2:3). Yet, Job experiences much hardship and
disappointment in losing his possessions and children. The next thirty plus chapters Job argues with
his friends about unrepented sin. Job
challenges the fairness of God then, for four chapters God takes the stage with
Job. God gets up close and personal with Job and puts things into proper perspective! Job comes to realize that, though he knew about God, he had never taken the time
to really get to know the Creator of all things. And Through his experience Job has now met
God ‘face to face’. He has come to know
God up close and personal. He has come
get a personal understanding and relationship with Father.
So, just
where is our relationship with God? Do
we know ‘all about’ Him or have we come to the point where we truly ‘know’ who
He is?
Job and his
friends knew the scriptures, that is what they said and they lived was by the
law. Yet,through his experience, Job
came to know the heart of our Lord!
True, we have
to come to ‘know about’ God before we can truly come to ‘know’ Him. Knowledge does come from hearing the Word,
then the Word must come through some sort of communication and that
communication may be through reading the bible or someone telling us about the
Word (a preacher). If we don’t read the
bible or if a preacher is not sent, where does that leave us? Usually with someone
telling us what they think we should know.
But how can we know what another person tells us unless he is truly sent
(by God) and then by hearing, we receive Jesus into our heart (Rom. 10:13-18). The day I let Jesus into my heart I knew that
‘then’ I was saved. I felt a huge burden
being lifted off of my body! I learned
later that this was the Holy Ghost confirming my salvation in my heart (2
Corinth. 1:21-22).
Yet still,
there is an obligation on our part. If
we love the lord, we will keep his commandments (John 14:15). That is, live the best that we can abiding in
His will. Did you catch that? I said in
His will! The words help us
understand His will so we can abide therein. Jesus brings us life and helps us to be
productive in our life (John 10:10). As we
seek and abide in His Will, He will provide for us. AND He desires us to continue (abide) in His
love (John 15:4-9). Coming to truly know
God first enables us to abide in His love.
Then as we abide in His love, we share that love with others (Matt.
28:19-20).
I’ve
discovered as I read the scriptures, my mind is being renewed (Romans
12:2). I’ve discovered that every time I
go back over scripture, Father gives me more clarity and a deeper understanding
of what that passage is slaying. My
prayer time has also expanded. Instead
of just ‘barking out’ my needs, I also sit back and listen to understand what
Father is trying to tell me. After all, the Holy Ghost will lead me into
all truth, right (John 16:13)? So I also
pray in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18).
Through
trials and tribulations Job came to know God personally. Consider Enoch who
loved God and whom God loved so that He took him, Enoch did not die a natural
death (Gen. 5:24). Even though we have
to wait for God to call us home, our
relationship with God is based on how much we love the Almighty. Are we seeking and abiding in His will? Are we loving with Agape Love? not neglecting ourselves but letting our ego
step aside and seeking Father’s will in all that befalls us.
So, just where
is our relationship with the Lord?
Amen