Wanted: A Blameless Man

"There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.

Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.

His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very any servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one of his day, and the would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; Job said perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts."Thus Job did continually."

Job 1:1-5

A great opening to this book if your name is Job don't ya think? This book opens up telling you about this guy named Job who apparently, at least according to the Word of God, is a heck of a guy. 3 things in particular stick out in these 5 verses that we should desire for our Christian lives to look like.

1.) Job was a Blameless man.

Now when we look in the first verse of the book the first thing said about Job (other than where he's from) is that he is a blameless man. It's not that Job is a perfect man by any means but blameless carries the idea of being a complete man. An upright man who fears the Lord. A guy who instead of treading on the fine line of sin and trying to get as close as possible to the line between sinning and not acknowledges the power of the Lord and instead turns away from evil. He runs from it as far in the other direction as possible instead of entertaining it. So it's not a shock to me that we have our next point......

2.) Job was a Blessed man.

Clearly the writer is showing that Job is a blessed man! He has many children which in his time was seen as a great blessing but even beyond that it goes on to describe the possessions he has. Oxen, servants, and donkeys. It even goes on to say that he was the greatest man of the east. God has blessed Job abundantly and with only the first verses at or disposal this story seems to make sense is a good one. Job is a good guy and God is being good to him. Everything is going according to plan so far and everyone in the story is benefiting from Job which leads to our next point...

3.) Job was a Blessing.

In verses 4-5 we see that Job's response to blessing in his life is an encouraging and great one. Job's response to blessing in his life is to bless others! We get this from him being a good dad!! The impact that his relationship with God had on his life carried over to his children's lives! Job choose to walk in a way that honored God! Job raised great kids that got along and that loved each other! He was the kind of Dad that was proactive! He would offer sacrifices for his children "just in case" they sinned and he did this continually! Job was a blessing to his children and as a result of his relationship with the Lord his children were blessed through Job! Not only in a financial way but also in having a great Dad.

The beginning of the book looks right. It has a Godly man being blessed by God! The man in turn shows what we are called to do with blessings from God and turn them into blessings for others! Job was blessed so he could be a blessing to those he loved! What a fantastically perfect picture of family and how the world would work in a perfect world!

Sadly, as we will discover through the rest of the book, the point of Job is to show us that not always when I do good do I get good! Sometimes in this life I'm going to do good and just get bad and in reverse their are others in this life that are going to do bad and get good!! How frustrating! It's almost like what's the point!?!?!

The point is this:

Our walk with God can not depend on how our life is going at the moment!

The beauty of this book however is that God see's how we live our lives! As we will see later in the book God takes just about everything from him even though Job is doing the right things! Job responds initially with worship and a great proverb. Wait a minute.... Job did good and got bad.....but God bragged about him to Satan afterward!! God was happy with Job but Job got a terrible result? See Job was a wise man and knew that God had given him everything and had the authority to take it! Job knew that he served a good God even though it didn't seem like it because his relationship with the Lord was good! Sometimes God brings pain in our lives for purpose! Sometimes by doing good we get what looks like pain at the time but results in beautiful joy! We find out through the rest of this book that Job's relationship with God was good and he hadn't sinned against him but yet he still got bad! In his first reaction Job hits it out of the park!

When our walk with God is being worked on daily it's easier to see God the way we should.....He's good no matter our circumstances!!

Job's perspective is where it needs to be at first! God's plan for my life is bigger than what I can see now and as I trusted him in the good times I am to trust him in the bad because the God we serve is good!No matter our circumstances God has not changed and is always good!