Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil?” JOB 1:8 (CSB)

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What’s your problem? Everyone has one. At least one. Job was a man who minimized complications through right living. God described him as a man of perfect integrity, who was deeply reverent, and who always made the right choices. 

He lived a life God could bless. The first three verses of this book tell us how blessed Job was. He honored God and God honored him. God gave him a heart, a mind, and a will that worked together to turn him into “the greatest man among all the people of the east,” (verse 3). 

Through no fault of his own, he lost it all. If you lost all you had today, what would be left? For Job, he still had his integrity, he was still deeply reverent, and he still made the right choices. He had a bottom line that did not move whatever his circumstances. We find it in verses 20-22:

Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will leave this life.
The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD.

Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.

Everybody has problems. Problems reveal character. What do your problems reveal about you? 

Looking back, some of my problems revealed a trust in things that could not carry the weight of what I assigned them. Some of my problems showed me that I needed to grow up. Some of my problems demonstrated that I was not as smart and capable as I thought I was. On and on it goes to this day. 

Our troubles make us lean more into God or more away from him. Job leaned more into God. He went through a long, difficult period of loss and pain. He emerged with greater integrity, deeper reverence, an unending commitment to doing the right thing the right way in the right timing for the right reason. 

He honored God. He lived a life God could bless. God blessed him. As overly simplistic as those three sentences are in summarizing this book, they are a good place for us to process our problems today. 

• Is my problem an integrity issue?
• Is my problem related to my relationship with God?
• Is my problem a matter of the choices I make? 

Whatever causes our problems, God our Father has remedies and solutions. Adam and Eve had a problem. They hid from God. God found them and remedied their problem. Job had a problem and he went straight to God in complete trust and dependence. His problem did not improve for a long time. He did not understand all he was going through. He asked hard questions. God showed him something about himself more wonderful than anything he had ever imagined. 

God redeemed all he allowed. 

I wonder if Solomon had been pondering Job when he wrote

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not rely on your own understanding;
in all your ways know him,
and he will make your paths straight.
(Proverbs 3:5, 6)

Job’s path wound through the valley of the shadow of death. He emerged still in step with his Shepherd. 

Whose path will I choose today? God’s and Job’s, or one of my own determination? 

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I will walk with God and trust his heart even when I cannot trace his hand.

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Our Father, I trust you with all of my heart. I will trust you even when I cannot figure out what you are doing or when it appears from my perspective that you are not doing anything at all. I want to know you and experience you and to help others do the same. Lead me on the right path for your name’s sake. Amen.