March 1, 2011

Job 30
We watched him digging through the apartment complex trash. He was looking for plastic bottles. He was homeless. In America the homeless often look for aluminum cans to sell for a little bit of money. In Mongolia the homeless often look for plastic bottles. There are very few aluminum cans. They can get about one tenth of a penny for a plastic bottle. So if they collect one thousand bottles, they can get almost $1.00. We turned around and went upstairs to our apartment. We collected all of our plastic bottles, caught up with the man and gave him the bottles. At first we encountered only his disdain. He kept angrily jabbering something at us. He did repeat one word a lot that sounded like, “Ruski” We took it to mean that he thought that we were Russians. He apparently did not like Russians. We pointed at ourselves and said, “Americans!” Immediately his demeanor changed and he jabbered something in a more friendly tone.
Yesterday, we saw how Job remembered and longed for the days when the good pleasure of God was felt by Job in his family, friends and good things found in this world. We observed how that is a dangerous place to be because we can transfer our attention from His great glory to the things in His hands, which he gives to us. In contrast to yesterday’s passage in today’s passage, Job moves on to his present condition. Now his fortunes have reversed. The most despised of society despise him. He who thought that He was experiencing something of the glory of God is now being ridiculed by the lowest dregs of society. I have never had to experience that. The closest that I have come to it was when the homeless man was ranting against us because he thought we were Russians. I really did not feel the emotional impact of that because I am not a Russian.
So where is the glory of God in this for Job? Indeed, Job is reduced to crying out, “You have become cruel to me; with the strength of Your hand, You oppose me.” Job could not peek beyond the curtain into eternity. If he could, he would have realized that he was playing a pivotal role in a divine drama that was designed to shame Satan and exalt the Lord. We too are playing pivotal roles in a divine drama that is designed to shame those who will not bow to the Lord and exalt the matchless grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must remember this, “This world is temporary. We will one day walk behind the curtain into the eternal realm. When we do, the confusion of this world will disappear.” His glory will be all that is important. So to live successfully now, we must remember to fix our eyes on His glory, not the rancid accusations of the citizens of this temporal world. Their accusations matter not because we are not citizens of this world. We are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Our appearance right now may not live up to that, but one day it will! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john