Most, if not all of us are familiar with the story of Job, who was a righteous man who suffered greatly at the hand of God after Satan dared God to afflict Job and all that he had, sure that Job would then curse God! God gave permission to test Job and Job lost everything, even to the point that his wife challenged him to curse God and die. Not only that, Job had three main friends (plus a younger man who spoke later) who came to comfort him but ended up accusing him instead.

To make a longer story short, there was a series of conversations with his “friends” and the younger man. Job did not receive a direct answer to his suffering, but he came to a place of trust and humility before God. Instead of demanding explanations, he acknowledges God’s greatness and repents for questioning Him. As a result, God restored Job’s fortunes.

The section of the Book of Job that stands out the most in the heart of this old soldier is God’s response to Job (CHs 38-41), followed by Job’s repentance and humility (CH 42).

God’s response to Job consisted of a series of profound questions that emphasized His power, wisdom, and sovereignty over creation. There are 21 questions. Here are just a few of them:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (Job 38:4)

“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom?” (Job 39:26)

“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?” (Job 40:2)

Why is this story so important to this old man? I’ll let A.W. Tozer, a Christian pastor and theologian answer that question. In his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, Tozer wrote:

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Tozer believed that a person’s concept of God shapes their entire life, including their faith, character, and decisions. He emphasized that a low view of God leads to weak faith, while a high and reverent view of God leads to true worship and transformation.

So What?

You might be wondering how it might apply a specific area of your life. I’m sure that many hours could be spent thinking about different areas of our lives and asking ourselves if they truly reflect a high view of God. I’d like to share just one example – personal evangelism.

If sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the lost world around us the main reason that God saved us (Matthew 28:16-20), it’s a good place to start. What does it mean to share the gospel with others with a ‘high’ view of God?

The short answer to that question is, in my view, “Get it right!” What does that mean?

I think it means that sharing the message of the gospel might not really begin with “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!” You could hear, “Well, I love me too and I also have a wonderful plan for my life!” You have just told your listener that God’s highest priority in loving us is the “wonderful plan” He has for us. Is it?

When the angel of the Lord told a nervous Joseph that the child Mary was carrying in her womb was God’s child and not another man’s, he also told Joseph “You shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”  You can read all about in Matthew, chapter 1.

It looks like the greatest demonstration of God’s love for us is God’s sending His Son to die for OUR sin! That probably should be the starting point of our sharing the gospel message with other. God’s wonderful plan for our lives is certainly ‘good’ news, but sending His Son to bear the punishment for OUR sin is the ‘greatest’ news of all!

I know it can be a bit scary to start sharing the gospel message with the bad news of sin instead of the good news of God’s wonderful plans for us, but shouldn’t we start our sharing of the gospel message where God started the gospel story?

So I’ll just leave you with the original question:

Be Blessed!