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