Perseverance

Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. Job 42:12-13

Job was a very wealthy nomad who truly loved God. But his life was plagued with calamities. In just a day, he lost his livestock, his servants, and all his children. Yet in the midst of it all, Job kept on worshiping the Lord (Job 1:20-21). Why did God permit Job to suffer under the most intense pressure? Perhaps the answer can be found in Job 42:5, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.” Instead of having a faith that was based on what other people said before, Job had a firsthand revelation of who God is. He personally encountered the Lord. Suffering may initially drive many of us to question God, but later to trust and know Him better. Psalmist David had similar experiences. His most famous psalm opens up with: “The LORD is my shepherd” (Ps. 23:1). Notice that God is referred to in the third person—”The LORD.” But when David walked through “the valley of the shadow of death,” God became especially close to him: “I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (23:4). It is often in the valley of trials and pressures that we get to know God in an intimate way.

Job started his life as a man full of fears and anxieties, someone who was not at ease with life or himself (Job 3:25-26). But now that Job “has seen” God and surrendered fully to Him, he no longer fears. He has no more questions. All his doubts have been relieved by the sudden vision of God in all His greatness. This was the greater good that God had always intended to accomplish through Job’s pain. And it is also the good He seeks to accomplish through ours.

At the end of his life, Job’s wealth in livestock was doubled. He had another 10 more children. With the fi rst 10 already in heaven, his family has, in fact, also doubled! James says that “the perseverance of Job has brought and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). God is a good God. Whenever we go through a crisis and we cannot see His hand, we must learn to trust His heart. That the end intended by the Lord is always for our good—materially and financially—but more than that, to transform us from inside out. And even if the rewards of faith in God may not come to us in this life, they will surely come when we step into eternity.