THEY THAT WORSHIP HIM - 11. JOB

'Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord  gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:20-21 NKJV).

       There is the story of an American multi-millioneer who left the details of his burial before he died. At his burial, two peasant farmers watched from a distance as an elaborate musical funeral parade in white brought the remains of the rich man to the cemetry. He was dressed in white three-piece suit with white shirt, tie, socks, shoes, hat and gloves all white, and a large white-coloured cigar stuck in his mouth. He was seated in a white vintage limousine driven by his chauffeur, also dressed in white. They came to his specially designed electrified white marble vault, housed in a white-painted mausoleum. The chauffeur drove the limosine right to the top of the white marble vault, stepped out and lowered the man's body in the car by the touch of buttons into the long vault, then electrically rolled over it a white marble slab on which were placed white flowers. Then the parade turned around and receded just as they came, all in grand style. One of the farmers watching the wholefanfare  jumped up, clapped excitedly in the air and shouted, "Wow, what a way to live!". His friend replied, "Sharrap Joe, are you blind? That man is dead, D-E-D, dead!"

The Preacher [King Solomon] said, "Vanity on vanity, all is vanity", and Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there"! In a single day, Job's farmland was raided twice, his possessions ravaged, his workers killed and fire struck and burned up all that was left. Next, an adverse wind swept through the house where all his children were gathered feasting, wrecked the house and killed them all. Worse still, he himself was struck with a terrible virulent skin disease. His wife, overwhelmed by the sudden disaster, charged Job to curse God and die. And to add salt to injury, his friends came and accused him that his predicament was caused by secret sin. But Job declared,  "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord”.  Even though  Job did not know that God was testing him to see how devout he was through the disaster, still he trusted God. The preacher says, 'When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble...' (Eccl. 7:14, Lam.3:38).  God wanted to show Satan that no matter how he tried, he couldn't harm the souls of those who shun evil and truly worship Him. His hedge of protection surrounds them. In fact, while still in the midst of this adversity, God instructed Job to pray for his friends who wrongfully reproached him. He obeyed! And consequently the Bible says, '...the Lord restored Job’s  losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before...' (Job 42:10-11 NKJV). What an exemplary life of worship!

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