How many of us come anywhere close to having the spirit and forbearance of Job? We moan and complain if the pizza delivery guy is 5 minutes late. I can't imagine losing my children, my health, and my posessions before I can stop to take a breath. Add to that a nagging wife and some well-intentioned, but misinformed friends and I think any sense of optimism I had would be long gone.
What does it take for us to put life in the proper perspective (God's perspective)? We are more like Job than we stop to think about - at least the pre-trial Job. We are wealthy beyond imagination (yes, most of us are in the top 1% of wage earners in the world). I can't speak for everyone, but I have a great family, good job, wonderful friends and so much to stop and be thankful for. To be perfectly frank - it scares me!
Job was selected by God because he was faithful, "there is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8). I, on the other hand, am seriously lacking in many of those areas. I don't think God is going to single me out because of my lily-white character, but he might decide I need a little lesson in humility and self-sacrifice.
My phone has been ringing a lot lately with opportunities to serve really worthy organizations. A humanitarian aid agency drilling water wells in Ethiopia and Sudan, a children's home working with our Native American populations and Christian schools that are training men and women to spread God's word across the continent of Africa. These organizations are struggling while I sit in my recliner with a cold Coke and a bag of chips, frustrated because they aren't showing my favorite movie in high-definition.
Like it or not, Job is right. "Naked we come from out mother's womb, and naked we will return." All the things we accumulate in this life are just things that will return to the dust. Those things that truly endure center around the lives that I touch, and the people that I serve.
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