by Eric Ludy

Editor’s Note: Okay, for those of you who still haven’t gotten up the guts to read “The Bravehearted Gospel,” here’s a little excerpt from the second chapter of the book.  The second chapter is one of my favorites, and the little piece of it that you now have before you is only one-third of the chapter.  So, I’m by no means giving away the farm here.  The title of the chapter is “The Job No One Wants - after all, who really wants to end up nailed to a piece of wood?”  Enticing, isn’t it?

 

It’s considered by many that the book of Job is the oldest book of the Bible.  Whether it was written before Moses, no one knows, but the story itself seems to have taken place long before Moses’ time.  Anyone who has spent time studying the book of Job knows that this book, whereas it is a profound declaration of God’s power and glory - is a rather uncomfortable book to read.  Why?

Because we are all afraid of being Job. 

Just listen to this story:

And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.  And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil?

Now, why in the world God is spending even a moment of His time bantering about with Satan is one of the befuddling things about this story, however, what usually grips our attentions is this whole notion, “hast thou considered my servant Job?”  That could easily read, “hast thou considered my servant, Eric?” or “hast thou considered my servant, Hillary?” or “has thou considered my servant (insert your name here!)?” 

It’s funny, but whereas most of us would love to be noticed by God, applauded by God, and selected by God for the most important tasks, there is a very large part of us that does not want God bringing up our name in conversation, especially with Satan, the enemy of our souls.  After all, for those of us familiar with the story, Job goes on to lose everything – his children, his estate, his livestock, his health, and his dignity, all because of this crazy conversation that in all of our minds was ill-conceived on God’s part in the first place.

Long and short, there isn’t hardly a one of us on planet earth that wishes to be Job.  Sure, he sounds like a wonderful man, but most of us are willing to forgo the “wonderful” description to avoid the “misery” that this man incurred.

I have spent a lot of time thinking, studying, and praying about this man’s life.   I recognize that there is a part of me that wishes to back away from being made available to God in such a manner.  There is part of me that wishes to remain anonymous in Hell.  There is a part of me that just utterly resists the notion of publishing my address on Satan’s bulletin board with a message that reads, “Bring it!”

But this cowardly part of me is growing lesser and lesser with every passing month.  And there is another part of me that is awakening, finding its legs, and discovering its growl.  There is an ever-increasing Bravehearted part of me that is wanting precisely what Job had. 

In fact, if I could say it succinctly, I want to be just like Job. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not wishing for the enemy to have unhindered access to my children, my estate, my livestock, my health, and my dignity – but I am wishing for my All-powerful God to have unrestricted license to do with my children, my estate, my livestock, my health, and my dignity anything that He deems fit – for His glory!

The book of Job is a book about God’s glory.  We always look at it as a book about an abused man.  But this whole drama isn’t about a man, but about this man’s God.

Satan had tarnished both God’s glory and His honor.

Satan was seeking to undermine the faith of the inhabitants of Heaven in their Sovereign King.

Right there at the beginning of the book Satan claims that followers of God, such as Job, only follow Him out of lust and not love.  Before all the hosts of heaven Satan threw down the gauntlet, saying that God’s servants only serve because God bribes them with health, wealth and prosperity; thus implying that God was not loved as a benevolent master but was rather, little more than a well-to-do dictator who bought the favor of His subjects with His coin. 

Who would answer this challenge? Who would rise to the occasion and wipe the spit from off God’s face?

The answer is – Job.

After all, who else could really do it? Job was the subject in question. Did He serve God for love? Or did he serve for profit?

“Remove your protection from him and he will curse you to your face!” Satan screamed.

But God knew Job. He knew his servant. And he knew the stuff that he was made of.

“Everything he has and everything he is I will place within your hands.” God replied. “But you are wrong. Job is perfect. And he is upright in all his ways. And though you bring all the weight of the world down like a hammer upon him, he will shun evil and he will choose good. You will fail. And he will defeat you.”

God wagered his entire reputation on the faithfulness of one man.

That man was Job.

And he – was God’s champion.

The grandstands of heaven must have hushed with the awe of holy angels as they silently watched while, Satan, the Prince of the Principalities and the Powers of the Air, brought his worst against tiny Job, God’s lone defender in this cosmic conflict.

Those watchers from the portals of glory must have leaned in with anxious expectation as the end of round one was called. Job’s estate lay in ruins, his livestock gone, his wealth taken, and his children dead. Satan stood back panting and winded with effort as he waited to hear the doubt-filled cry of outrage and angst that must issue forth against God from the soul of a man who has suffered the loss of so much within the space of so few hours.

But to the grinding of Satan’s teeth and to heaven’s everlasting joy, the Bible records that Job, God’s man - though beaten and bloody, though vexed and tempted to curse God and die - Job fell down upon the ground and worshiped God saying, “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD..”

The shouting in heaven must have sounded like peals of thunder.

Not only had Job valiantly taken everything that Satan threw at him and not cursed God, but Job had actually blessed him!!

To many an onlooker Job may have seemed to have been struck down without cause. But in reality it was Job who had struck the mortal blow against Satan and against his lies about God and about his children.

With no small grief, God had allowed this man to be spent, without him even knowing why, so that both heaven and earth would know with certainty, from the moment of Job’s triumph over Satan unto the end of the ages, that God is no dictator, and that His servants serve Him for loves sake and for loves sake alone.

Down through the years, many have looked upon Job’s suffering with wagging heads and called it pointless. But heaven knows better.

Job was heaven’s champion.

Job stood when everything in him wanted to fall.

Job had the manly stuff.

Do we?

Could our God lean as heavily upon us? Could we be trusted with such a sacred task as defending the honor of God? Are there those among us of whom God could say, “Satan, you may do your worst but he will not bend; you may bring in your biggest guns she will not break; they have built their house upon a rock and they shall not be moved. They shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint. For I know them. They are my sons, they are my daughters, they are my servants, and they will not fail me”?

This is the stuff that changes the world.  This is the stuff of the Bravehearted Gospel

For more Eric Ludy stuff visit one of the following websites

www.ericludy.com where he’s dishing out the manly stuff in blog and podcast form

www.discipleship.setapartlife.com where you can find loads of Ludy audio files

www.store.setapartlife.com where you can find all his books, music, and more

www.kiddos.setapartlife.com where you can find out the latest about the Ludy kiddos