Recently when I chatted with friends, they told me it always rained in India these days, which has caused floods. The disaster may come at any time and they felt not peaceful in the heart. Besides, the rain also caused many inconveniences. For example, the traffic was quite inconvenient when going outside; on the way back from the church, man would be showered all over; man can't play outside because of the rain, having to stay at home, which would be boring; the clothes that were washed couldn't get dry, and it had a smell of must. Brothers and sisters, facing the unpleasant weather, how do you think about it? Will you complain about it? Would you see this situation in a different mood? I thought of biblical story of job. He learned to know God from all things. No matter he was in a good or bad environment, he would quiet before God to seek God's will to have real faith in God. Even if when he was in trials, he still praised God's name.

 Job’s Attitude Toward Trials

1 The Scriptures provide the following account: “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshipped.” This was Job’s first reaction after hearing that he had lost his children and all of his property. Above all, he did not appear surprised, or panic-stricken, much less did he express anger or hate. You see, then, that in his heart he had already recognized that these disasters were not an accident, or born from the hand of man, much less were they the arrival of retribution or punishment. Instead, the trials of Jehovah had come upon him; it was Jehovah who wished to take his property and children.

2 Job was very calm and clear-headed then. His perfect and upright humanity enabled him to rationally and naturally make accurate judgments and decisions about the disasters that had befallen him, and in consequence, he behaved with unusual calm: “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshipped.” “Rent his mantle” means that he was unclothed, and possessed of nothing; “shaved his head” means he had returned before God as a newborn infant; “fell down on the ground, and worshipped” means he had come into the world naked, and still without anything today, he was returned to God as a newborn baby.

3 Job’s attitude toward all that befell him could not have been achieved by any creature of God. His faith in Jehovah went beyond the realm of belief; this was his fear of God, and obedience to God, and he was not only able to give thanks to God for giving to him, but also for taking from him. What’s more, he was able to take it upon himself to return all that he owned, including his life.

Adapted from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

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