Probably the first of the 66 books of the Bible to have been written, Job is very profound. It tells the astonishing fact that the God of heaven entrusted the honor and integrity of His throne into the hands of this weak, tortured man. If in his bitter sufferings Job had followed his wife's counsel and "cursed God and died" (2:9), he would indeed and in fact have pronounced an effective "curse" on God. He would have proved to the universe that God told a lie when in that great press conference in heaven God had claimed to Satan that Job was "a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil" (vs. 3). If Job had failed the severest test, Satan would have trumpeted all over the universe that "God is a liar, He is wrong, He has been defeated. Job cursed Him, I am right and God is wrong!" And how could God have remained on His throne if He had suffered this humiliation and been proved to be a liar?
The issue was extremely serious; it was no minor squabble between God and Satan. Read the Book of Job and see what it says. Astonishing as it may seem, the success of the great plan of salvation rested in the hands of Job--this sinner being saved by grace!
Some say that Job is only a novel, that God never really so trusted any sinner being saved by grace, that the real Sufferer is not Job at all, but Christ, His own Son. But that doesn't solve the problem: the fact still remains that God entrusted the honor and integrity of His throne and of the universe to this Man being tortured in Gethsemane and on His cross. And that Man's name is Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us (Matt. 1:21-23). And Christ had taken our weak, fallen, sinful nature. The ultimate issue was whether in His weakness Christ would pray in Gethsemane, "Not My will, but Thine be done" or whether He would pray, "I choose My own way, I refuse Your will, I refuse to go to that cross, I will let the world be lost, I will save Myself at any cost!"
No, Job is not a novel; it's real. He had the power to "curse God," or to "bless the Lord" and honor and vindicate Him. It's a solemn thought that you and I face the same alternative today--our will or God's. There is something far more important than saving our own poor little skin.
Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
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