What prize is there in pain? What value is there in the valley? What dessert can I find in a desert? Friend, nobody ever found anything of lasting value on the mountain top. Yet, that is where most want to live. We make wealth, happiness, and the accumulation of “toys” our goal.
Rather than scouring Facebook to validate our value, consider our friend, Job. There he sits, at the city gates. He is so wise that in his presence the elderly stand and young men respectfully leave. He is so secure in all his wealth that nothing can unhinge him (Job 1:3). And, maybe, he is just a little smug and proud. Yes, our friend Job has become “righteous in his own eyes” and has “justified himself rather than God” (Job 32:1-2).
He “was the greatest of all the people of the east”! He has seven handsome sons, three beautiful daughters, a loving wife, great health, an unlimited supply of friends, and servants to cater for his every whim.
You could find Job receiving his daily prized dessert on life’s most beautiful “mountain top”. But then, in one single swoop – it was gone.
- His pride is exchanged for poverty.
- His popularity is exchanged for loneliness.
- His wisdom is exchanged for contempt.
- The respect of his wife is exchanged for counsel to kill himself.
- And, his “friends” all but seek to destroy his struggling faith.
But it was only in this pain filled desert valley that Job was able to learn valuable prized lessons from God. So, what are these lessons?
- My security is in God, not in my earthly possessions. Job 1:21–22 (ESV)… “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” ...
- God is always in control – not allowing more than we can endure. Job 2:6 (ESV) … Lord said to
Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” - God is always worthy of our trust. Job 13:15 (ESV) — Though he slay me, I will hope in him; …
- Ultimately, God will vindicate the righteous and punish the guilty. Job 42:12 (ESV) — And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000
camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. - Once we have learned the valley’s valuable lesson, we will emerge. We must first see our flaws and then repent. Job 42:6, 10 (ESV) therefore I
despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”— 10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Friend, do you find yourself today on a painful lonely desert valley floor? Then hear the sweet voice of Jesus say: “… Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev.2:10).
