1) Are you being sifted?
Jesus said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
Jesus knew Peter would deny him. He also knew he would return, because he’d prayed for him. Peter’s denial was the devil’s plan; God’s was purification.
In Job chapter 1, God allows satan to sift Job. The devil thought he’d won, but God had a better plan. Weeping may last the night, but joy comes with the morning (Psalm 30:5).
Jesus knows we will fail. But he has prayed for our return. Our suffering may be just be sifting.
2) We’re not copied in
Job had no idea how much God esteemed him, nor what the Lord was up to. Job had done his best, and it didn’t work out.
“You’re killing me!” cries the sacrificial pawn. It doesn’t see four moves ahead. God wants us to trust him.
Even the mighty prophet Elisha didn’t know the Shunammite’s son had died. “She is in bitter distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me and has not told me why,” he said (see 2 Kings 4:27). We’re not usually copied in to heaven’s emails.
3) Job’s friends were wrong
They spent 33 chapters counselling him. The Lord rebuked them, “You have not spoken of me what is right.” They could have fed him, tended his wounds, or chased off his mockers. We don’t need sermons when we’re hurting. It’s in our trials, we discover our true friends.
4) We wouldn’t get it anyway
When Job finally saw the Lord, he said, “Surely, I spoke of things . . . too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42:3). Suffering and healing are simply beyond our limited comprehension. The Lord, “has given us a desire to know the future, but never gives us the satisfaction of fully understanding what he does” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 GNV). Chill out! He has a bigger brain than ours.
5) Look what I did!
Job’s seven sons and three daughters partied big time. Afterwards, Job even offered sacrifices for them, in case they sinned. Wow. Could he have been tempted to glow at his perfect family, his rude health, and enormous wealth? All of us are at risk of sneaky “look-what-I’ve-done” hubris. MY family. MY business. MY investments. No, the Lord gave us all we have.
After the Lord allowed Job to be stripped to nothing, then rebuilt both his family and fortune, Job could only have said, “Look what the Lord has done.”