In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
The verse records the response after everything was stripped away, with possessions and children lost and bodily affliction so severe as to make him abhorred by relatives and friends. Those losses and afflictions were allowed as a testing of a servant, with Satan permitted to show wrath in opposition to the servant and his work. They were not the result of a sinful course of life, nor a sign of being forsaken.
In all this there was continued loyalty, blamelessness and uprightness, with integrity and faithfulness to God preserved. There was no turning against God, no sin by murmuring, and no accusation of wrongdoing or folly against Him. Friends wrongly blamed the sufferer and misrepresented God, but the charge was denied and self-defense was maintained, and in due time faithfulness was rewarded by being lifted up and given greater favor than before.
Close connection with God does not bring prosperity in earthly things but may bring sore trial and affliction, so moral value before God cannot be discerned by outward appearance. The steadfastness shown in divine strength witnesses to the faithfulness of the promises and to abiding presence and sustaining grace. Calm repose in God in the darkest hour, tempest-tossed and severely tried, trusting that the Father is in control and looking beyond temporal things to the worth of eternal riches, is a work of faith, and the experience stands as an example of one whom God tested and tried.
Applied to believers, trusting God involves accepting loss while affirming that He does all things well. Violence against God's people in Satan's opposition to their work should not be treated as wholly unexpected, and all that a person has may similarly be taken away. The verse warns against accusing or blaming God when His government or providence is not understood, and against presumptuously judging His ways and works as seen in His people, since every deed is recorded and answer will be required for such charges. The sufferer belongs with those heroes of faith who, though unknown and unacknowledged by the world, are enrolled as citizens in the record books of heaven and have promise of an inheritance of greater value than any earthly riches that will satisfy the soul, with a final reward as heirs of God in exalted greatness and enduring eternal glory.
The verse records the response after everything was stripped away, with possessions and children lost and bodily affliction so severe as to make him abhorred by relatives and friends. Those losses and afflictions were allowed as a testing of a servant, with Satan permitted to show wrath in opposition to the servant and his work. They were not the result of a sinful course of life, nor a sign of being forsaken.
In all this there was continued loyalty, blamelessness and uprightness, with integrity and faithfulness to God preserved. There was no turning against God, no sin by murmuring, and no accusation of wrongdoing or folly against Him. Friends wrongly blamed the sufferer and misrepresented God, but the charge was denied and self-defense was maintained, and in due time faithfulness was rewarded by being lifted up and given greater favor than before.
Close connection with God does not bring prosperity in earthly things but may bring sore trial and affliction, so moral value before God cannot be discerned by outward appearance. The steadfastness shown in divine strength witnesses to the faithfulness of the promises and to abiding presence and sustaining grace. Calm repose in God in the darkest hour, tempest-tossed and severely tried, trusting that the Father is in control and looking beyond temporal things to the worth of eternal riches, is a work of faith, and the experience stands as an example of one whom God tested and tried.
Applied to believers, trusting God involves accepting loss while affirming that He does all things well. Violence against God's people in Satan's opposition to their work should not be treated as wholly unexpected, and all that a person has may similarly be taken away. The verse warns against accusing or blaming God when His government or providence is not understood, and against presumptuously judging His ways and works as seen in His people, since every deed is recorded and answer will be required for such charges. The sufferer belongs with those heroes of faith who, though unknown and unacknowledged by the world, are enrolled as citizens in the record books of heaven and have promise of an inheritance of greater value than any earthly riches that will satisfy the soul, with a final reward as heirs of God in exalted greatness and enduring eternal glory.