Job

Job 13.5 ‘Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom!’

Loving people means selflessness for their best interest… to listen is to love.

There’s a lot of application in this beautiful book… kind of hard to soak it all in actually. This truth has been something that I have seen over the last few years in my life and it’s definitely one I constantly want to strive towards growing in. I learned this lesson very vividly a few years ago when one of my friends got totally angry with me because I wouldn’t listen. The funny thing is that I wonder how well I have been living this out since I have seen it… and I realize that this truth really does play such a vital role in the relationships I have with those I love. I realize in this book of Job that the problem wasn’t so much whether the friends of Job were speaking truth or not, though many times their truth was faulty, but rather the problem was that they were failing to be selfless… failing to love Job through his issue. They saw love as fixing his problem… they saw love as giving them something of themselves that they thought was of value… they saw love as knowing the answer and MAKING Job see their answer. I long to be a light to the people I interact with… I want more than anything for people to see Jesus and his love. I don’t want them to see me… I don’t have any answers for them in and of myself. I have Jesus, and he surely is the answer… but I must be careful to portray him in a light of selflessness and love. I see here that when people are hurting I must be careful as to how I love them… slow to anger… patient… kind… humble… enduring… the list in 1 Corinthians 13 is a beautiful ideal as to how love is walked out and it is precisely what would have been of help to Job. Job needed friends who would lead him to truth… and in his dark hour… the only thing that would do that was simple silence. In my life am I willing to endure silence for the sake of loving my friends… am I willing to simply shut up and listen… am I willing to intercede for them in quietness before God instead of telling them how to fix their problems. The real issue behind all this is whether I trust that God loves his children more than I do… because if he does I don’t have to feel pressured to do something extraordinarily to solve their problems. This isn’t a freedom to shirk responsibility… but a freedom to love people appropriately in selflessness and humility before God Almighty.

I am not precisely sure how I can apply this truth other than learning how to be a better listener. Something that has been on my heart all this year is simply talking less and being more willing to let others speak and to hear them out. I realize more and more that it is wise to be careful of my words… and in relationships especially it is important. Yeah, practical application of this truth will be an every day thing that I can only do through the Holy Spirit helping me see clearly that I cannot be people’s hero. Jesus is the savior people need in times of distress… he is willing and able to deliver those who are hopeless… which is all of us, without him. So… I will be a speaker of truth to all mankind… and now I see that I also must be a listener, that His love might shine on those He loves.

(so the other main point in the book of Job... the root of all wisdom... seeing the reality of who God is... so I threw this video that portrays the REALITY of who God is... the one true living ALMIGHTY Creator of EVERYTHING)