Rejoice When Your Character Is Assaulted

Down through the ages, the story of Job has been used to provide comfort to people in times of sorrow and sickness. From the story of Job people have interpreted it as if God allowed Satan to afflict Job, therefore He “allows” sorrows, suffering, poverty, and sickness to come upon His children. But this is not the case, God was not responsible for Job's calamities - Satan was!

Open your Bible to Job chapter 1 and your notebooks to a clean page, as we look at an overall theme of: How to respond to trials and tribulations. The title for todays message is: Rejoice when your character is assaulted.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.

Job 1:1-3

These verses give us the character that will be assaulted. This is a character of a man, from the writer’s perspective, which we will see is also God’s perspective; that Job is a morally upright person – not perfect, but a good man who loves God. This fear that Job has of God is not dread, but that he has a correct perspective of God as holy and righteous. As born-again believers we too need to have that kind of fear of God. Since Job had this perspective, he shuns evil – literally meaning he turns away from it. Sometimes we Christians give way to our thoughts of evil, but notice that Job does even contemplate evil, he just walks away from it. Understand that sin does not force you to do anything, but it is you who gives way to it, just as Cain did when killing his brother. God said this to him while he was contemplating his evil desire.

So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

Genesis 4:6-7

You see, we can rule over sin by walking away from it, like Job. We are also told in scripture that if we resist the devil he will flee for a season.

To get a better picture of how Job’s character is further laid out in our opening verses, understand that paper or coin money were not used during the time of Job, and so one’s character equated to whether you were married, the number of children and possessions. He was blessed to have ten children, and it is the number of animals that make him wealthy. The sheep (seven thousand) were used for clothing and food, the donkeys and camels (five hundred and three thousand, respectively) were used for transportation and hauling; camels for long distance and donkeys for short distance. Note that the donkey is prefaced with the word “female.” This is important because historically, the female donkey was preferred to the male because of its milk and because it was better for riding. The oxen (five hundred) were used for plowing, food, clothing, and milk. Because of all these things, Job was considered one of the greatest men in all the people of the East. This is a pretty big statement since the East spoken of is the entire area where Saudi Aribia is, including Joran, Israel, and Yemen.

We’ve looked at Job’s physical character, now let’s look at his spiritual character.

And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them,

and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.

Job 1:4-5

It seems that Job’s kids like to party it up. Notice that each son would have a day they would party on, each time inviting their sisters to eat and drink wine. With the wine flowing at these parties and their judgement being clouded, Job may have feared that his children may have taken the nae of the Lord a little too lightly. By their actions they are dishonoring God. So, Job intercedes for his children, getting up early and offering a sacrifice for each child. It is my hope that each of us do the same for our children, offering up an individual prayer for each, as opposed to giving a blanket prayer for all. Job’s spiritual character was also good because he did this offering for his children all the time. Christians should have the same thoughts of others as Job did for his children “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” So, take the time to pray for others. How to respond to trials and tribulations – by way of prayer.