More than Just a Job

“..and that man was perfect.” Job 1:1

U

z was famous because of one man who lived there.  Just exactly where Uz was, I don’t know.  It was somewhere between Iraq and a hard place.  It was a mess on a map, somewhere in Mess-opotamia.  It was in the cradle of civilization, but it was also in a crucible of faith.  Job was a gem.  Some would like to nominate him as the patron saint of patience.

 Have we ever felt like Job? Have we ever felt like troubles are lining up like tropical storms in the Caribbean?  Have we ever gotten “bad news” only to open the next message and wish we hadn’t?  

It is all about God making a Saint.  Saint-making is hard and dirty work.  The fires for smelting gold so pure must be hot.  Only God knows the melting point of pride or the boiling point of pomposity.  The amazing thing about this refinery and foundry for faith is that Job was already called “perfect” before the fires were lit.

 Some say that the word “perfect” means “mature.”  We are spiritually neither, and when it comes to us, God may have a hard job to do. -id