Christ Church Daily Devotion Feb 19 2024

Job, a righteous man, faced numerous hardships including the loss of his possessions and the affliction of painful sores. His wife advised him to curse God and die, but Job remained faithful and questioned why bad things were happening to him. Job's friends provided unhelpful advice and accused him of sinning. Despite his struggles, Job maintained his relationship with God and never doubted His existence. The lesson from Job's story is to keep faith during difficult times and understand that God is with you. Welcome to Christ Church's Daily Devotion for February 19th, 2024. Today we will be reading from the book of Job, chapter 2, verses 7 through 10. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die. He replied, you are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble? In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. This passage sets the stage for what is to come. Job, a righteous man, had lost his herds and flocks, his property, and even his children. Now, Job has been afflicted with painful sores all over his body. In this passage, Job's wife encourages him to curse God and die in order to be free of his pain. Later, Job's friends would come, as so many of us do, to offer less than helpful advice and counsel. At times, Job's friends would even be accusatory as they were convinced that Job had sinned and brought his troubles upon himself. Job maintained his faith, but he questioned God really hard. I smile when I hear people say that someone has the patience of Job. If we read Job's conversations with his friends and his exchanges with God, we see that he was not at all patient. He was faithful, he was long-suffering, and he was forbearing, but he was not patient. He knew that he had not sinned to bring on these troubles. He did not understand how such bad things could happen to a good person, and he demanded answers from God. Not once, however, did he question God's existence or show any weakness in his faith. Through it all, he maintained his relationship with God. Your personal worship option today is, if you are going through a difficult time, resist the feeling that God is punishing you. God will be with you in this, and you may need your relationship with God now more than ever. Take a lesson from Job and keep the faith.