Job 2:6-10
Shall We Accept Good from God, and Not in Our Troubled Times
6 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
Luke 18:1-8
Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Whether it is good times or bad times, God wants us to seek Him…Whether we are highly happy and elated or suffering and mourning –God wants us committed to Him… When times get tough God still wants us to seek Him and find Him...We must stay persistent like Job and the Persistent widow...And sometimes we must just survive and endure while clinging to God...
We see this type of commitment with Job…God wants us to choose to love Him freely, and thus we are given free will…He wants us to be committed to Him as Job was despite of good times and bad times…And even though Job suffered and endured and persisted we know that it was not a fun, happy time for Job but a very hard time of hardships and suffering…Job could have cursed God and died as his wife said to him…But still Job persisted and endured through his much troubled times…God must want us to persist and endure to and with Him as Job did…Job had lost so much and yet Job persisted and endured, so this is a lesson for all of us…Because in the end after Job lost family and friends and his wealth, God made all things whole again for him and gave Job an abundant life after his troubles and sufferings…