Job 3:

23 What I fear has happened to me;

What I dreaded has happened to me.

24 I have no rest, but only turmoil 

Many charismatic preachers are strongly convinced that Job had at one point entertained certain fears in his mind. This was, they affirm, why he suffered such recorded calamities. However, in the volume of the book of Job, no place was this mentioned as the reason for the sufferings of the man. Nowhere in the bible is it said that his calamities came upon him because of his secret fear. As a matter of fact, the fifth chapter of James’  epistle, verse eleven zeroed in on patience as party to the cause. Patience as a virtue the believers should cultivate in the face of an all-out-war of Satan against them. Ye have heard of the patience of Job,… Why do modern preachers come up with this “revelation” of the fear of Job? It’s because there must be an explanation why not only the unbelievers, but also the believers suffer in this world, sometimes, the believers more. So, it’s their revelation: As a man thinketh in himself so he is. 

In examining the story of Job, what we see is not the story of a man who was cowering with fear of some calamitous days that would bring complete devastations to him, just barely sparing his life. The testimony of God of Job in His statement to Satan is that of lofty and absolute trust, and of the man’s unfeigned love and faith towards Him. The Lord asks his interlocutor, “Have you considered my servant Job?” Then he praises him, “There is no-one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1:6-8).

 

In the third chapter of the book, Job, under the crushing force of sorrow and physiological pains, he begins to curse his existence in anguish of the moment, and he mentions his fear. Of course, the only way of knowing God’s blessing in those days was to feel His hands: provisions, preservation, good health, wealth… But the man Job had journeyed far with the Lord and was above all these things. He wasn’t interested in God only for what he was getting from the Lord’s hands; he was in love with Him – this was beyond self-serving love. His was the type of love the Lord expects from the matured believers in Christ. Faith in the Lord Jesus can only be effectively expressed through love. Faith, according to Pastor James of Eternal Life Embassy in Ondo says that “faith does not take the option of easy deliverance.” Think about that, think about the three Hebrew children of Daniel’s story in the fierce face of threat of sure death from Nebuchadnezzar, If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known to thee,O king, that will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image… (Daniel 3: 17-18). This unreserved love is what characterises the faith believers in Christ. They’re not those who will abandon faith in Christ for the present comfort; gone so far with the Lord that they have long forgotten about the loving structures of this world. The book of Revelation gives a graphic description of the fighting spirits of these believers: They overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death (Revelation 12:11).

Job was in this passage on the way to being upgraded to higher revelation of the Lord. He’d experienced the Lord who provided abundantly for his beloved ones. He’d seen clearly the Lord who protected, preserved and screened from evil those who served Him well, especially through the deep revelation of the knowledge of the blood that was shed from the foundation of the world, the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things. No wonder we see, as the story of Job proceeds, a brilliantly illumining revelation, forged in fire of affliction, yet unknown, burst on the earth: I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth…. I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearn within me (Job 19: It’s worth noting that this story took place before or just around the days of Abraham. This revelation is one of the clearest of death and resurrection in the bible. And so, to think of the story wholly, I’m glad Job actually went through such upheavals to attain this revelation. This is apart from the fact that God eventually vindicated him. Job’s love of God was unquantifiable.

As pointed out earlier, Job was to be upgraded from satisfaction with milk to bones. This required such experience that no man had ever gone through: sufferings. Sufferings are not to be feared but to be embraced as they can bring us to greater dimensions of the revelation of God from one level to another. In suffering for Him, the Lord, we fulfil a heavenly mandate. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him (Christ), but also to suffer for his sake (Philippians 1:29). The believers are not exempt from the difficulties of life. Those who run with this kind of mindset easily cave in when they come face to face with tough situations of life. We have seen ministers of Christ who committed suicide because their faith failed them. We have seen many who departed from the faith when expectations didn’t come to pass. Some have blasphemed and some have lost their faith because their milk was taken away.

When things contrary to expectation started to thud like hails on Job, he was devastated because he certainly believe that God was against him, that God was not happy with him. He couldn’t understand where he had erred from the love of God. His children perished, his wealth disappeared, his relations deserted him, his human capital took a flight, he rose up, tore his garment and shaved, and worshipped God. He acknowledged the vanity of life. “Naked,” he said, “I came..” But the fear of his heart was the fear of failing the mark of the high calling of God’s love. Failing the love of God was and is more painful than phsical lost.

If Job had been in my days, he would have been able to confess with Paul: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?….No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us