The Biblical Story of Job: The 3 Main Manifestations of Job’s Fear of God (Part 2)

3. Job Had a God-fearing Heart and He Rebuked His Wife—He Knew Clearly What to Love and What to Hate, and He Possessed a Sense of Justice

After Job’s whole body broke out in painful boils, Satan once again tried to tempt Job by means of his own wife. As it says in the Bible: “Then said his wife to him, Do you still retain your integrity? curse God, and die. But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:9–10). Confronted by his wife’s urging, why did Job rebuke her so sternly?

God’s words say, “Seeing the torment he was suffering, Job’s wife tried to advise Job to help him escape his torment—yet the ‘good intentions’ did not gain Job’s approval; instead, they stirred his anger, for she denied his faith in, and obedience to Jehovah God, and also denied the existence of Jehovah God. This was intolerable to Job, for he had never allowed himself to do anything that opposed or hurt God, to say nothing of others. How could he remain indifferent when he saw others speak words that blasphemed against and insulted God? Thus he called his wife a ‘foolish woman.’ Job’s attitude toward his wife was one of anger and hate, as well as reproach and reprimand. This was the natural expression of Job’s humanity of differentiating between love and hate, and was a true representation of his upright humanity. Job was possessed of a sense of justice—one which made him hate the winds and tides of wickedness, and loathe, condemn, and reject absurd heresy, ridiculous arguments, and ludicrous assertions, and allowed him to hold true to his own, correct principles and stance when he had been rejected by the masses and deserted by those who were close to him” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God is the truth, the way and the life and He represents all positive things; all things that deny God or resist God pertain to Satan and are negative things. Job feared God and shunned evil and he loved positive things. He was utterly upright, he could differentiate between love and hate and God took the uppermost place in his heart. He could not tolerate anyone denying God, judging God or blaspheming against God, and whenever he saw someone denying God, there arose loathing in his heart, and his own family was no exception. He still had to hold fast to the way of fearing God and shunning evil, stand on the side of justice and truth, and not be afraid of displeasing anyone. Therefore, when his wife asked him to abandon God and deny God’s righteousness, Job did not let his feelings for his wife sway him in any way, but instead coldly rebuked his wife for being a foolish woman. By doing so, he once again overcame the temptation of Satan and he stood firm in his testimony to God.

Above are the manifestations of Job’s fear of God, and from them we come to understand that fear of God is not something that can be claimed with mere words, but instead it requires us to focus on our entry in the people, events, things and environments God arranges for us, and it requires us to emulate Job. In our daily lives, for example, we must take heed to shun all manner of temptations: There are some places of entertainment or places which can cause our hearts to become debauched and to shun God that we must not go to or have any contact with, and by avoiding these places we will be protected; when trials befall us, such as if a disaster occurs at home or a family member falls on hard times, then no matter what God does, we must never misunderstand God or blame God, but must be able to submit to His sovereignty and arrangements; when we are harassed and deceived by people, events or things, we must always uphold truth and justice, not be constrained by anyone else, and not go along with anyone’s defiance of God to the point where we even abandon God and walk away from Him. Job is our benchmark for our entry into the truth of fearing God. If we can all be like Job and bring the truth of fearing God and shunning evil into our lives, practice it and enter into it, and begin with the little things, then we will also frequently receive God’s guidance and blessings, and we will become God-fearing people.

Source From: Eastern Lightning

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