An Honor to Serve

An Honor to Serve

I just missed the draft to serve my country in the Vietnam war.

I thought if I did get drafted, I would run to Canada in fear.

Being drafted did not mean my president and country did not love me.

God drafts you and I to fight His battle with the devil.

It is not because He does not love us.

The reason God would draft you is,

He believes you are capable of winning His objective.

“So count it all joy when you fall into trials!”

James 1:2

 The story of Job gives us a great view of the natural and spiritual.

Job prospered from doing business as a righteous man.

He was a perfect model of being successful

by doing honest and trustworthy things.

We have no evidence that God just blessed Job with some windfall

even though Job gives credit to God for all he had

by saying, “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away.”

Job was a shining light to what living a Godly life can accomplish.

God had protected Job so that he could prosper.

But there came a day everything changed;

Job had no warning;

he had never seen life without God’s protection.

Job had no idea what was taking place in his life

when he lost family, business, and health.

There was a meeting of two army commanders.

Two enemies:

one stood for all that is good

and the other all that is evil.

Job is about to be sent into battle.

This is the perfect example of,

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood

but principalities and powers in heavenly places.”

Satan looks at God’s best example of following God.

Satan is sure that his evil powers are stronger

than God’s example of righteousness.

And in a moment,

Job was taken from the life of a peaceful farmer to the battle field.

God agreed to send His best to fight Satan.

Although this is a spiritual battle,

we see the power Satan has in the natural.

Satan caused a destroying storm, physical affliction of boils,

and probably influenced the minds of Job’s friends and even his wife.

From Job’s advantage point he had been slammed with natural catastrophe.

And God’s presence that he felt in his life, was GONE!!!

From Satan’s advantage point he has won the battle,

there was nothing left except a broken rejected man

that had to scrap boils to get relief.

But wait –

Job refuse to give up with all that had happened to him,

he was still laying claim to God!

Satan lost and God won!!  

Job had only one thing he could do in this horrible battle:

That one thing was “STAND”

Job wanted the trial to end, he cursed the day he was born.

But there was nothing Job could do to shorten the time.

The time of endurance was set between God and Satan.

Ephesians 6 tells us, after we have put on the full armor of God

 “when we have done all to stand, Stand!”

Count it an honor when you go through a trial.

Although it may look like natural causes,

you are in a spiritual battle.

And you are fighting for the Lord!

Scripture Reading

James 1:2-8 KJV

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4 But let patience have her perfect work,

that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,

that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not;

and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.

For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Job 1 NIV

1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job.

This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

2 He had seven sons and three daughters,

3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels,

five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants.

He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

4 His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes,

and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, "Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts."

This was Job's regular custom.

6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD,

and Satan also came with them.

7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Satan answered the LORD,

"From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?

There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright,

a man who fears God and shuns evil."

9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied.

10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?

You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has,

and he will surely curse you to your face."

12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands,

but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

13 One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting

and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house,

 14 a messenger came to Job and said,

"The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby,

15 and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off.

They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said,

"The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants,

and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said,

"The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties

and swept down on your camels and carried them off.

 They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said,

"Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert

and struck the four corners of the house.

It collapsed on them and they are dead,

and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head.

Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.

The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."

22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.