Have you considered my servant?

The story of Job inspires me. This is one of the historical people with whom I'd most want to have lunch. Wouldn't you just love to ask him about what kinds of things he was thinking and feeling through all that happened to him? I wonder if he saw himself as some sort of spiritual giant...do you think he meant to be a significant person? I'd love to talk to him.

Job has this defining moment in his life, recorded in some detail, which I can hardly fathom. He receives four successive visitors, each on the heels of the last, bringing news of calamity. His wealth is lost, his investments are incinerated, his business has vanished, his children all perish in a freak of nature. I read the account with a sense of being hit in the gut. How should a man stand up under such horror? He doesn't, of course. The text tells us that he falls to the ground and WORSHIPS. He worships God, from Whose Hand all has been dealt.

I am in awe of such faith. I want to be like that, in much the same way I want to be like the martyrs. I want to be like them in theory. To be like them in any tangible way requires the kind of mind numbing realities that these people actually endured. I find, when I am honest with myself, that I do not really want to be like them at all. I want to be comfortable and pampered. Can I not give God Glory in that?

The question must be asked: How far will I follow Him, this God I claim? I must ask it of myself, sure. But He will ask it of me, too. Perhaps today is the beginning of that story. If it is, am I ready? Would I say, with Job, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord"?