The Biblical Story of Job: The 3 Main Manifestations of Job’s Fear of God
By Zhou Ming
Whenever the words “fear God” are mentioned, most people will think of the story of Job in the Bible. Job feared God and shunned evil, he stood witness for God during his trials, he earned God’s praise and blessings, and he lived out a worthy and meaningful life which is much admired by us today. Now, let’s review the Book of Job and have a detailed look at the ways in which Job manifested his fear of God, and this will help us to gain some new understanding and entry into the truth of fearing God.
1. Job Had a God-fearing Heart and He Did Nothing in His Life That Displeased God
It says in the Book of Job 1:5: “And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”
Job possessed great wealth and was called the greatest of men among those who dwelt in the east; he was the equivalent of a modern millionaire. To us, it seems as though Job lived such a life of luxury that it must have been fitting for him to hold feasts occasionally, and it would not have been considered over the top for him to live a luxurious and extravagant lifestyle. And yet Job held no feasts and he did not even attend the feasts held by his children. Perhaps some people will be a bit confused by this, and will wonder whether Job was just too old-fashioned and conservative? In fact, Job made such strict demands of himself and he always kept on his best behavior in life, and this behavior bore a direct link to his fear of God. As human beings, we have no power to overcome sin, and if we attend feasts, we then become possessed by the desire to eat, drink and be merry, we can become covetous of physical pleasures, we can be apt to shun God, lose our normal relationship with God and even do things which displease God. Job was clear in his heart on this point, and therefore he preferred to live a simple and plain life rather than do anything that may displease God. It is clear that this kind of behavior was not Job being old-fashioned and conservative, but rather it was him taking the way of fearing God and shunning evil to heart. He paid no consideration to his flesh and paid no heed to enjoying a high-quality material life. Instead, the motives behind everything he said and did were to satisfy God’s will and not to do anything that might displease God.
Job was not only afraid of straying from God’s way, he also worried that his children would displease God by their frequent feasting. From this, we can see that Job did not indulge his children’s sins because of their family attachment, but instead he despised and loathed his children’s merry-making, for he knew that God hated it also. Whenever a feast was over, Job would dispatch a servant to tell his children to sanctify themselves, and he often offered burnt offerings for their sake. It is said in the Bible, “Thus did Job continually.” This shows even more that Job feared God with his heart; his behavior and expressions of his fear for God were not just skin-deep, much less were they practices brought about by occasional feelings of high-spiritedness or by some transient arousal of emotion. Instead, he took the way of fearing God and shunning evil to heart, and he began with the little things. As the word of God states: “Job did not go and look in on his sons occasionally, or when it pleased him, nor did he confess to God through prayer. Instead, he regularly sent his sons to be sanctified, and sacrificed burnt offerings for them. The word ‘continually’ here does not mean he did so for one or two days, or for a moment. It is saying that the manifestation of Job’s fear of God was not temporary, and did not stop at knowledge or spoken words; instead, the way of fearing God and shunning evil guided his heart, it dictated his behavior, and it was, in his heart, the root of his existence. That he did so continually shows that, in his heart, he often feared that he himself would sin against God and was also afraid that his sons and daughters would sin against God. It represents just how much weight the way of fearing God and shunning evil carried within his heart” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II”).
Source From: A Guidebook for Faith
Read these articles of spiritual warfare to learn about these Christians’ true experiences of relying on God to overcome Satan’s temptations and bear witness.
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