Job 1
Many couples break up at financial crises. Some people feel that they cannot be loved if they lose prosperity. They feel useless about themselves without money. Do they love themselves? Meanwhile, some people believe that the man loses his dignity and value by poverty because poverty is a sign of incompetence and inferiority. And they give up on economic losers and walk away, even from their spouses. Can they love others? I hope that you agree that I can say I love a person because of the person, not because of his competency, ability, power, or intelligence, not to mention external properties and fortunes. Otherwise, all married couples will less and less love each other as they grow older since they slowly lose physical and mental capabilities and attractiveness. It would be quite sad if elderly couples had to stay together because they couldn’t be economically independent of each other.
“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan raises a doubt against Job. Satan believes that Job loves God because he receives all the blessings. “Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possession has increased in the land.” Satan predicts Job will betray the Lord if he is no longer with his fortunes, challenging the Lord, “But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
People deny even the existence of God because they cannot believe that God allows all the sufferings and miseries in the world. Some people become angry with the Lord because they have lost what they have enjoyed or whom they loved.
What about me? If the Lord takes away all his blessings and lets all kinds of misfortunes into my life, will I still love him? Will I be still grateful and thankful to him for my life? Do I love the Lord because he is the Lord God? Or I love him because I feel happy? Do I love God because he is useful to me?
Misfortunes test friendships. Long years test marriages. As flames of fire purify silver and gold, God purifies us through a series of tests in life. I pray that my heart loves the Lord only because it is the Lord, so that, in all hardships, I may walk through them with gratitude and hope.
