Eat the Dessert First

So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:7-10 ESV). This may be one of the most pitiful scenes in the book. Job has lost all of his possessions; his children have all died; he is alone and lonely. Still he has not sinned. Satan comes back to God and receives permission to do anything to Job except take his life. He strikes him with “loathsome sores” – yuk! He gets some comfort by sitting in the ashes of the garbage fires and scraping the sores with a broken piece of pottery. Even his wife cannot bear to watch his pain. She suggests that he simply curse God. At least then God would strike him dead and end his misery. Job’s response is simple. In effect he is asking if we should only want the dessert of life and not the vegetables. I must confess that I would eat the dessert first if I could politely do so. In fact, I might eat only the dessert and not the main course if I could. Job returns to his conviction that both good and bad are useful in God’s hands and work together for our good. In this great sentence, he again reasserts the sovereignty of God. Job's wife had the philosophy that life ought to be pleasant, and if it were not, there was no use living it. But this book is given to show us that life is not to be lived on those terms. The reason we are here is not necessarily to have a good time. There are meaningful objectives to be attained in life, even when it all turns sour. When the pressure comes, when living is no longer fun, life is still worth living. A philosophy that wants to abandon everything as soon as things become unpleasant is a shallow, mistaken, distorted view of life. Job reaffirms that. “Shall we not take both good and evil from the hand of God?” We take His joy and His pleasure, the pleasant things of life, with gladness and gratitude. If God chooses to send something that is difficult, shall we then abandon that gratitude and begin to curse Him in protest because life is suddenly different than we thought it would be? The reason we are here is not merely that we might have a good time. God, in His grace and glory, does give us many hours of joy and gladness and pleasure and delight, and it is right for us to give thanks. But do not abandon that when the time of pressure comes, because that is what Satan wants us to do. He wants us to begin to complain and protest to God; to get upset and angry and resentful; to stop focusing on our eternal glory waiting for us. Sometimes meaning and purpose for our lives gets out of focus. Don’t despair; rather trust God. He won’t let you down.