the heart of God

i'm reading in job right now and am trying to approach it as though i've never heard the story before in order to gain insight about it i've never had or view an 'old' insight through a new lens.

it struck me that job would get up early in the morning after their week of feasts and offer sacrifices on behalf of all his children in the event they had sinned or cursed God in their hearts.

what an act of sacrifice for his beloved ones. he loved them with the heart of God.

then in later chapters he is victim (yes! victim!) to all kinds of pain and evil: his children die, his servants die, his fields are destroyed, his livestock are gone, and then he is covered with a painful disease. and his friends decide to visit him to offer sympathy and to comfort him.

for a while they say nothing then finally one of his friends speaks up and first reproves him for not maintaining his integrity with God. then seems to assert that he is merely reaping what he has sown.

i know sometimes and in some circumstances that is wise council. but was it appropriate for job? if they felt he had sinned, why not do as job had done and offer sacrifices on his behalf? would it work that way or can only a parent do that for their children?

i'm not saying i know the answer, i'm just wondering out loud. because the scripture seems clear that by making offerings for his children, that is just what a man who is blameless and upright does for those he loves.

but his friends, they came to offer sympathy and comfort, not offerings and sacrifices. where is the heart of God for their friend job? perhaps their sacrifice was in leaving their homes and families to see their friend and stay awhile. that would sure be a sacrifice for me! but does it take care of the sins they think he may have committed to end up in this situation? are they willing to bear that penalty? i wonder.

today is day one of 21 days of prayer - an event at my church. the reading for today talked about praying for people who don't know Christ and desiring to gain God's heart for others. i didn't realize it at the time, but when i was honing in on who in job's story was acting out of a heart aligned with God or not, that it would have anything to do with the direction of prayer we would be taking today in 21DOP. i love it when God makes connections like that.

and so it is my prayer that i would gain God's heart - that his heart would beat within my own chest - and i would see others the way he would see them and love them with his love. and that i would be willing to go beyond offering sympathy and comfort (although they are important and coveted, i'm sure) but that i would be willing to go the extra mile and bring offerings and sacrifices on behalf of others. that i would travel whatever distance to get to someone who was in pain and that i would seek God for them, with them.

and that everything in my own life would point others to Christ.

i was also struck in job by the fact that things just happen in the heavenly realm we know nothing about and yet they can affect our lives. we may face challenges where our behavior through it is meant to be an example for the sons of God to witness. are we living up to those challenges? are we pointing to Christ even when whatever it is we treasure is being threatened? what if we lack sleep or food? would we praise the Almighty? what if every single one of our friends deserted us or died? would our hearts still burn for the Lord? what if our jobs, our family, our health were all... gone. would we still love and honor and worship God?

oh it is my prayer that we would. and that we would still love with the heart of God so that we bring others to love and honor and worship Him.