Often when we meet people for the first time we know nothing of their lives before our meeting. We may learn later, or much later, about their lives before we met them. This is also true about many people we meet in Scripture.
We meet Melchizedek, for example, in Genesis 14. About 1,100 years later we learn more about him in Psalm 110. About 1,040 later still in the first century AD, we learn a whole lot more about Melchizedek in Hebrews 5–7.
Matthew introduces us to Jesus and His ancestors from Abraham and David. Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy further back to Adam and God. John reveals Jesus is God, the eternal Creator of the universe. Paul reveals even more about Jesus’ eternal existence in three of his letters from prison: Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians.
Also true in life, is that we often learn many things about a person’s life after they have died at their funeral services, in their obituaries, and even years later.
Similarly, in the Book of Revelation John gives us glorious pictures and sounds of our risen Lord Jesus (chapter 1), the Lamb of God (chapters 5–22) after He has died, been raised from the dead and ascended to heaven.
Now, thinking of the LORD’s servant Job, when we first meet Job in chapter 1 of his book we learn about where he is at that moment.
He has a large family and much wealth measured in servants and livestock vs. money. Plus, he “was the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3).
It’s after the final speech of Job’s three “friends” in Job 25 that we learn a whole lot more about Job’s life before we met him in Job 1.
In chapter 29, Job looks back at all the good things in his life before his tragic losses and his present pain. He speaks of God watching over him, his family, his reputation among his people, his compassionate care for orphans, widows and the marginalized (major concerns for God), justice, his confidence in a bright future and his respect as an effective leader:
And Job again took up his discourse and said, 2 “Oh that I were as in months gone by, As in the days when God watched over me; 3 When His lamp shone over my head, And by His light I walked through darkness; 4 As I was in the prime of my days, When the friendship of God was over my tent; 5 When the Almighty was yet with me, And my children were around me; 6 When my steps were bathed in butter, And the rock poured out for me streams of oil! 7 “When I went ou t to the gate of the city, When I took my seat in the square, 8 The young men saw me and hid themselves, And the old men arose and stood. 9 “The princes stopped talking And put their hands on their mouths; 10 The voice of the nobles was hushed, And their tongue stuck to their palate. 11 “For when the ear heard, it called me blessed, And when the eye saw, it gave witness of me, 12 Because I delivered the poor who cried for help, And the orphan who had no helper. 13 “The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me, And I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. 14 “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My justice was like a robe and a turban. 15 “I was eyes to the blind And feet to the lame. 16 “I was a father to the needy, And I investigated the case which I did not know. 17 “I broke the jaws of the wicked And snatched the prey from his teeth. 18 “Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest, And I shall multiply my days as the sand. 19 ‘My root is spread out to the waters, And dew lies all night on my branch. 20 ‘My glory is ever new with me, And my bow is renewed in my hand.’ 21 “To me they listened and waited, And kept silent for my counsel. 22 “After my words they did not speak again, And my speech dropped on them.
23 “They waited for me as for the rain, And opened their mouth as for the spring rain. 24 “I smiled on them when they did not believe, And the light of my face they did not cast down. 25 “I chose a way for them and sat as chief, And dwelt as a king among the troops, As one who comforted the mourners.
At this point in his life, in the middle of his trials, Job reflects on how previously “God watched over me….His lamp shone over my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness” (29:2–3).
This is a powerful parallel to our experiences of walking with God. When things are good, we sense God’s blessing. When things are difficult, we may think God’s lamp has gone out.
As in Job’s life, God may actually be doing a deeper work in us to bring us to a greater level of maturity and fruit-bearing service with Him.
“The friendship of God was over my tent” (29:4). Jesus calls us His friends if we do what He commands us (John 15:14).
Job went to the gate of the city, the heart of its social life and government experiencing the highest level of respect in his community (29:7–12).
Job had qualities God wants for His people: righteousness and justice (29:14).
Job learned these are not our achievements. They are gifts from God, characteristics of His being.
Job held the fast of Isaiah 58 that pleases GOD (also characteristic of Jesus’ mission: Isaiah 61:1–3 / Luke 4:17–19 and Matthew 25:31–40),
“Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke? 7 “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Job was a good steward of the spiritual and material riches God gave him. He looked forward with optimism (29:18–20).
Job is grateful for the ability to teach wisdom to others who hang on his words and to comfort those who mourn (29:21–25).
We have learned a lot about Job’s life before we first met him.
As Job did, we learn much more about God after our first encounter with Him.
We always have an infinite amount of wonderful things yet to learn about Him as we walk humbly with Him day by day. While pride blinds, humility ushers us into the presence of God. Humility enables us to learn from Him.
Throughout the unfolding of the climax of Job’s book as we hear the truly awesome words of GOD in chapters 38 to 42. We see that Job is learning a lot about his life too in light of what GOD has been doing.
GOD wants us to live by faith, not by sight. We can’t literally see what God is doing or where He is taking us but we trust Him that it is all for our good.
As we learn more about God and others as time goes by, we learn more about ourselves. We are able to see our past lives, its strengths and weaknesses, in perspective.
As we give ourselves to God without reservation, as Job did, we see that God is always with us, bringing us to deeper levels of understanding Him. We learn He is so much greater than we ever imagined. We understand more about His eternal purposes and the work He wants to do in us and through us.