Even the Emotional Response is Righteous

Scripture: His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to be godly when God has done all this to you? Curse him and die." But he replied, "You talk like some heathen woman. What? Shall we receive only pleasant things from the hand of God and never anything unpleasant?" So in all this Job said nothing wrong. Job 2:9-10

Observation: It is after this statement that the book of Job transitions to the one we think about ... the philosophical dissertation about the nature of God between Job and his friends. However, the catalyst of the entire book was the proposition of satan - first that Job would curse God if he lost all his worldly possessions, and second that he would curse God if he lost his bodily health - and that "bet" ends right here. Despite Job's wife openly placing that option before Job - to curse God - Job refuses.

Yes, now will come the logical debate. Friends will present conclusions about the nature of God, evidence about the benefits (or lack thereof) of faith, and conclusions about the cause-and-effect of behavior and blessing. Some of these will weaken Job's hope, or make him lament for a means to present himself better to the Lord, or cry out for a more worthy intercessor to plead his cause for deliverance. 'Friends' will declare Job's sinful guilt, and Job will have to defend his honor and faith. It is an intellectual exercise about the nature of Yahweh. However, Job has already proven his righteousness.

Job was righteous enough to give honor to the Lord in his moment of despair. From this point, logic and intellect will drive the conversation. However, at the moment where emotions - not logic - were his guiding voice, faith, hope, and love and dominated fear, sorrow, and anger.

Application: I have a voice in my head that asks logical questions and conducts thought experiments all the time. When that voice turns to the issues of faith, they can sometimes pose tricky questions. Though I am firm in my logical understanding about both the existence of God and truth of his love based on evidence, it is potentially more important to also retain the emotional belief in the Lord.

I struggle with this, but only because I am a man with broken emotions. I am very self-contained. I do know, however, that to the degree I love, I love the Lord the most. He has never forsaken me, not even for one moment, at no point in time in my entire life, and I will look to his love in all matters, my entire life.

Prayer: Lord, from your hand come all things, be they blessings, or challenges. Even the current situation is under your control. I give you my honor and love and worship this day and every day. Amen.