“and said: “‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked will I depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away: may the name of the LORD be praised.”
~ Job 1:21
Hi James and Ellen,
He was called the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East. The guy lived east of the Jordan River in a land called Uz. The land of Uz stretched from where the Aramean people group guy and gals lived – which was north of the Sea of Galilee, to where the Edomite people group guys and gals lived – which was south of the Dead Sea. The guy had ten kids. Seven of the guy’s kids were boys. The guy owned 500 yokes or 1,000 oxen, 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 donkeys and a large number of servants. The guy was an upright, blameless guy who feared God and intentionally stayed away from evil. The guy’s kids liked to party. Their parties would at times last up to a week. After one of his kids had a party, the guy would sacrifice a burnt offering sacrifice for his kid – in order to purify him. It was very important to the guy that his kids did not have sin in their lives and that his kids had the right heart attitude toward God.
He is called the accuser. The accuser is constantly roaming planet Earth. The accuser has audiences with God. The accuser is always under God’s power. Even though God keeps the accuser on a short leash, the accuser still has the power to create stomach wrenching havoc. The accuser one day accused God of putting a protective hedge around the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East so that he would not be able to do anything to him. With the exception that he was not to lay a finger on the guy, God told the accuser that He was releasing him to do anything that he wanted to do to the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East. During a party that the oldest kid of the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East was having, Sabean Arabian guys attacked and killed – with the exception of one guy who escaped, the servants who were plowing the guy’s fields with yokes of oxen and who were responsible for caring for the guy’s donkeys. The Sabean Arabian guys took all the guy’s oxen and donkeys with them. As the servant who had escaped was telling the guy who was the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East that his oxen and donkeys had been taken and his servants killed, another servant arrived to tell the guy that fire had fallen from the sky and burned up all his sheep and – except for him as he was able to escape, all his servants who were caring for his sheep. While this servant was telling the guy who was the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East about what had happened, another servant arrived to tell the guy that three raiding parties that were made up of Bedouin Chaldeans had killed – except for him as he was able to escape, all his servants who were responsible for caring for his camels. The Bedouin Chaldeans – who would later become the nucleus of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian empire – which is Iraq today, took all his camels with them. While this servant was telling the guy who was the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East about what had happened, another servant arrived to tell the guy that a tornado like wind had swept in from the desert causing his house to collapse on all his kids and his servants who were in the house killing – except for him as he was able to escape, them all. It did not take long for the accuser to take almost everything away from the guy who was the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East – leaving the guy with only his land, wife and life.
What would you do if everything was suddenly taken away from you? No kid wants to think about not having a dad and/or a ma – or about having to survive living with other kids on the street – or about getting really sick – or . . . but . . . planet Earth is the accuser’s habitat. You are living on the accuser’s domain. God has released the accuser to do only what He has okayed him to do – absolutely nothing more. If God allowed the accuser to have awful things happen to the guy who was the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East, God will allow the accuser to have awful things happen at any time to you, your dad and/or ma, grandmaa, grandpaa, Aunt Lynn, Uncle Chris, . . . will you pull a Job – who was the greatest guy among all the guys who were living in the East, when God allows the accuser to cause something really awful – like what seems to be like what happened to Job as written in Job 1, to happen to you? Just as soon as Job internalized the awful news that he had received from the four servants who had escaped the accuser’s killing rampage, Job tore his robe, shaved his head, fell on the ground and began worshipping God. Verse 21 says, “and said: “‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked will I depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away: may the name of the LORD be praised.”’ The thefts of his oxen, donkeys and camels and the deaths of his kids was only the beginning of Job’s agonies. Your grandpaa cannot begin to relate to what the accuser got to put Job through. Your grandpaa knows that he would have a real hard time pulling a Job if something awful happened in his life or with anyone in his nuclear family. Your grandpaa does not like surprises. From the times that your grandmaa and grandpaa have gotten sick – such as with typhoid, malaria, hepatitis, dengue, etc., and from other difficult things that have taken place in their lives – such as like now feeling disappointed with a mission agency that . . ., your grandpaa is very thankful that the accuser – who is Satan, will always have God restraining him from . . .
Job 1 (770)