Believe it or not, I have been waiting for this week of the Word Wednesday Challenge, the week when Job finally shows up on the rotation. Know what else? I’m even going King James this week. (I know. Blows your mind, doesn’t it?)
Job 13:15a (KJV)–Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of my all time, rock solid, top of the heap, favorite verses in the entire Bible. (I’ll pause while all of you say, “Huh?”) This verse has made me cry, made me smile, challenged me, and brought me as close to face-to-face with God as I am ever likely to be on this earth.
Why? Because this is the core of who I want to be. This is the verse I strive to attain. No, I’m pretty sure I’m not there yet, but I long to be. I want to be the kind of person who says, “No matter what happens, no matter how bad it gets, I will always trust God. Even if He kills me, I’m still going to trust Him.” To me, this verse is the epitome of our faith, the highest point of the mountain, the closest relationship possible with God.
Am I saying I want to have a life like Job’s? Uhm, nobody wants a life like Job’s. But has God brought me face to face with this verse? There have been moments when I felt like the sword was at my throat, and He asked me, “Will you trust me?” When I didn’t get to go to the college of my choice because I was too sick to leave my house… When my Aunt Shirley died… When I knew my husband would deploy after September 11th… Those are the moments when I’ve had the choice to trust him or not. Did I pass each of those? Nope. I for sure failed one of them for about ten years. But, like Peter after his denial, God gave me another shot to get it right. He’s grace that way, you know. And oh, how I want to love Him more.
So, flip through Job and tell us what you see. As always, you can leave a comment here or blog about it and drop a link below. Love reading your comments every week! And be sure to check back tomorrow, when there will be a short announcement about how we will tackle Psalms for Word Wednesday!
-JB
Jen says
Dang, this was a hard decision! SO many great verses, but the one I kept going back to again and again was Job 42:5.
“My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.”
Job prided himself on doing the right thing- even when all he had was taken away, he continued to praise God. But as it says throughout Scripture, “Pride comes before the fall.” I love how God put Job in his place in chapter 38- “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” And then He proceeds to ask question after question beginning with “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?” (38:4) and ending with “Does the eagle soar at your command?” (39:27). In today’s world, I think this is what it means to get “served.” LOL It’s not until God shows up to call him out that Job finally realizes how unworthy he really is. And then in chapter 42, he finally repents. No matter how much he tried to follow God in the beginning, it wasn’t until he had that personal encounter that he experienced a change of heart.
I think the main reason why this stood out to me was because it reminded me of my “stalled” years. I grew up doing all the right things, but until I experienced God for myself, I was talking-the-talk more than walking-the-walk. But the night God called ME out?!? Boy, were my eyes ever opened!
“My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.”
Jodie says
Love it! There’s a huge, huge difference between hearing of something with our ears and seeing it with our eyes. Never really considered this verse before, but you are spot on with it. It’s the difference between knowledge and relationship. And that’s a big difference.
Dawn Lucowitz says
Wow, Job is jam packed full of great lines and verses. As I was going back through to see what I underlined, I still struggled because there was some great stuff there. Having to choose, though, I’m going with Job 33:14 – “For God does speak – now one way, now another – though man may not perceive it.” The next couple of verse explained different ways God speaks to us.
I need to be reminded of this a lot. I feel like God doesn’t talk to me a lot of the time. But I know the problem is me not hearing and seeing what he is sharing with me all the time. I know he speaks to me through his word, and through many of the people he puts in my life. I know that he speaks to me through overwhelming feelings I get sometimes, but I don’t always realize it’s God answering prayer, or looking out for me in a tough situation. I know I always need to be tuned in for what God may want to share with me at any moment. I know I need to keep my heart right and my eyes fixed on the Lord and just be still.
I have been training for a half marathon for the last few months and it has absolutely been the most humbling and spiritual thing I’ve gone through. I don’t know that I feel anymore closer to God than when I’m listening to Christian music and running outside (even in the snow and cold)! It’s then that I can talk to and hear God most freely and rely on him most heavily.
Jodie says
That’s awesome. It took me a long, long time to figure out that God has about a million different “languages” to speak in. I used to complain that he never, ever talked to me. That’s because I was listening for an audible voice. But let me tell you, I’ve heard him in some incredible, off-the-wall ways. Glad that, out of those millions of “languages,” He always slows down and speaks ours!