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Job 1:20-22 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD have, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
When God exposes our devotion to Him, He strips us of all the layers which may prohibit others from seeing where our heart is. For Job, after all the layers in this text were stripped from him (his property and his children), he was found still worshipping, because as blessed as he was, his worship was not contingent upon what he held in his hand, but Who he adored in his heart!
And so it should be with us! If God were to use our life as a testimony of His worthiness, would He want the world to get the impression that we deem Him worthy because of His presents (the things He gives us), or because of His presence (the person He is)?
The condition of mankind in their darkness is such that all blinders must be taken off before they can see God in all His glory! Having said that, God chooses to use those of us who are redeemed by His grace as instruments by which to reveal His redemptive plan to fallen man. In doing so, for the benefit of the blind who must see, He sometimes removes all things in our lives which might cause them to remain clueless and blind as it relates to our reason of devotion to Him.
Having said that, the question remains; IF He were to strip us down to nothing but our raw, exposed, inner devotion with no layers causing others to be misinformed of our true intentions, what would they then see? Would we still be devoted? Would we still worship our Lord? Would they at last be convinced that He IS our life, whether we live in comfort or distress while serving Him?
Perhaps not even Job was fully convinced of his own devotion until after he lost it all. I can’t say that for certain, but it is at least worth considering that it is possible. It is possible that Job needed to KNOW what God already knew, but the only way Job could walk in confidence was for God to reveal it to him in a way that he would be unforgettably convinced. And MAYBE God is showing YOU too, so that when He blesses you again, you’ll know where your true strength lies…IN HIM!!!
P.S. HERE is a POWERFUL sermon on this same passage of scripture by Bro. Jonathan McNeese, which inspired me to write this devotion today.
Pastor Gary Caudill
copyright © by Gary D. Caudill, all rights reserved
Listen to “Do a Mighty Thing!” by The Caudill Family HERE on YouTube.