Job Book Study - TheStorySample

Nostalgia

This whole chapter is one of nostalgia for the good times of the past. It is the first part of a train of thought that carries through to the end of chapter 31. The past is contrasted with the pain of the present (chapter 30) and a plea of innocence (chapter 31).

Job had been an eminent leader in his community. He was respected as an arbitrator (v 7), looked up to as a person of wise judgment (vv 7-10), and known for his compassion (vv 11-18). He enjoyed the admiration of everyone. People listened when he spoke. He lived as a king (vv 21-25). He was distinguished. He was influential.

His error is found in v 18. “I felt certain that I would live a long and happy life, then die in my own bed.” (CEV) At the height of his prosperity, he was confident that it would go on like that for the rest of his life.

How easy it is to think like this. When everything is going well, we are often so busy with the present that we probably don’t even think that it may be different in the future. I’m reminded of someone I had lunch with a while ago. Her career was on the up and up. She had won prestigious awards. The whole of our lunch hour, she told me about her dreams and how she planned to attain them. She had it all worked out. The next time I heard about her, she had been diagnosed with MS.

This is not to be dramatic or alarmist. But it is the mark of a wise person to recognize that anything might happen. It might be illness, either your own or of someone close to you, or an accident. Some people’s plans have been ruined by changes in the economy. Disasters can come out of the blue.

Respond in Prayer

Dear God, please help me to get my priorities straight. I want to be like Paul, whose ambition was to know Christ, "for whose sake," he wrote, "I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him. . . . I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." (Philippians 3:8-11).

Annabel Robinson

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®).