Qualification for Suffering

Job 1:1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

With all the unemployment right now, I am sure there are more than a few who are pulling our the resume and polishing it up for the time when they will apply for that better job. The shutdowns have given a bit of a respite from a job they really didn’t like, so they decide now is the time to make that change.

Back when I was first out of college jobs were tight. I had a friend who helped rewrite my resume. He was, to put this politely, a creative writer. He could make cleaning toilets into a qualification for Master Plumber. The way he worded things made me sound ready for executive positions. Needless to say, I didn’t use his wording.

When I retired from the Army I attended a resume workshop. It taught how to capture the skills that we had learned while wearing the uniform and write them in such a way that the civilian sector would understand our skills and proficiency. No exaggeration or embellishment needed.

The lead character in our text is Job. (That is said with a long ‘o’ like ‘throw’). His resume is listed in the first verse of this book. So many of the books of the Scriptures don’t give us the resume of the characters involved. We learn about their ancestors. And we might learn about their deaths. But only once does a book in this sacred book start with their spiritual qualifications.

Look at them! Blameless, upright, fearing God and shunning evil. Sounds like a pretty good resume for a character in God’s book.

We might put the image of a superhero by our name if we wanted to boost our prestige on the resume. We would highlight the best and leave out all the mundane and substandard. We might get creative with language to present ourselves in a more positive and employable light.

But Job, a man living in Uz, probably East of Israel in the plains and deserts of modern day Syria, Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Farming, cattle and sheep and a generally nomadic lifestyle. Tents would have been the normal dwelling place for these peoples.

Job is set up as a man who excelled in mirroring the character of God. Each of these characteristics, blameless, upright, fearing God and shunning evil, are ones that the people of God would see as admirable, something to be worked toward. And yet Job is said to have already obtained them.

We know that this characterization of Job was an accurate assessment of him because the LORD Himself uses these same descriptors in only seven more verses to speak of Job. To have the endorsement of the LORD on your resume, wow, that would pull some weight in certain circles.

With the death of Ravi Zacharias earlier this week saddens many of us who admired his character and ability to speak even with his most ardent opponents with grace and mercy. He was always kind and compassionate with those who opposed the message of the Gospel. He demonstrated to a generation of Believers how to live the Gospel when faced with opposition, clearly presenting the Truth while honoring the image of God in others.

But even Ravi would not have claimed Job’s list of qualifications. He knew he was a sinner saved by grace. It was the grace and mercy of Christ that had rescued him at age 17 and kept him pursuing throughout his lifetime.

That first qualification of Job is blameless. What does it mean to be blameless? Think about going to court and having on the prosecution side every witness who actually knew firsthand of your failures. They are there will all the evidence, videos, transcripts, physical evidence of your deeds and thoughts.

That would bring a verdict of blameworthy, wouldn’t it! All of us have things known only to us and the LORD. We stand blameworthy.

But Job stood blameless. There was no one who could bear witness against him. His conduct was exemplary. And the LORD confirms it in His conversations with the Accuser, Satan.

Guess what? Because of Christ’s work on our behalf we are blameless. Christ became blameworthy when he took on our sin. All the condemnation that we deserved, all the jeers and derision that was rightfully ours, He took. The Blameless One became the spotless lamb. And the iniquity of us all was laid on Him.

He did all this so that we could be blameless in His sight. And that is how the LORD sees us now! Good News! We might still see the flaws and foibles, but when we bring them to Christ and speak the truth about them before Him, he announces that we are blameless because He already took the shame and punishment for those offenses.

Bring them to Him today.