| Character Study by PKD Lee |
What is the character of Job from the book of Job in the Bible? What can we learn from him?
Job was highly successful and doing well in his life. He suddenly faced a topsy turvy world where everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. What does one do in such a situation?
Job did what I do – blame God. When we blame God, we are not meant to say outrageous things about God, but we are to try and understand why God would permit this, and what is the best way of fulfilling God’s purpose and the purposes of His kingdom in this situation.
While the book of Job does not record all the details, but the first two was what Job did – blame God and ask ‘why would God permit this?’ This offended his friends considerably, who said we cannot blame God and the reason for these disasters is our sin and our sin alone. While as a general rule, this is patently false, as we often suffer because of the sins of others, people tend to believe that it is due to our sins. So a long winding argument breaks out between Job and his friends on the nature of God and how to understand tragedies like he faced.
While the friends initially rebuked him for blaming God, later they began to accuse him of all kind of sins, to justify such a great tragedy in his life. In responding to his friends, Job makes some great statements, like expressing his faith in a life after death when he would face God and be vindicated. A Redeemer would be there to speak on his behalf. It shows that he was a person who trusted God completely in his life. While Job is angry with his friends and rebukes them, God asks him to intercede for his friends, so that they are not punished for their errors. Then, after Job intercedes for his friends, God restores Job’s fortunes.
So, what do we learn from this?
First of all, do not fall into the trap of thinking that the law of karma rules the world. It does not, and Job needs to be commended for that perspective. When we ask God, why have you permitted this, one of the possible reason could be that God is teaching me something, and I need to learn what it is. It could be about some careless or sinful behaviour of mine, it could be about the nature of God, or it could be on how to deal with situations. I do not blame karma.
Secondly, Job was angry because of the injustice he experienced from his friend’s behaviour. God says, do not be angry, rather intercede for them.
How have you dealt with injustices in your life?