Job

His life was devastated by a series of unfortunate events. To call them simply unfortunate events is doing the term a disservice. Job lost everything, including his wealth, his family and finally his health. Unknowing to Job he was subject to a wager between God and the Lucifer the Devil, with the latter being given permission to destroy everything Job had. Only Job’s life was to be spared.

Going through various emotions including, anger & self-loathing, Job came to a place where he cursed the very day he was born. Even Job’s wife who was spared by Lucifer, told Job to curse God and die.  Three friends came to comfort Job, however, took the view that Job must have committed an offence to suffer such calamity. Job would refer to his friends as ‘miserable comforters.’

After everyone spoke the Lord of the Universe spoke. He was upset that Job’s friends did not speak well about Him. God then provided a solution for Job in he was to pray for his friends. Job embraced praying for his friends, which turned his situation around. This is significant as if anyone had a right to pray for restoration of his wealth and his family it was Job. Yet had a miraculous turnaround when he prayed for the benefits of his friends.

Understanding the psychology of the Lord of the Universe is very important as His response to Job’s actions was to give Job the double portion blessing. God restored double what Job lost, and the miracle is recorded in Job 42:10-17

And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.  Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.

 Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yokes of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.  He also had seven sons and three daughters. 

And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second [c]Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.  In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

After this Job lived one hundred and forty years and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So, Job died, old and full of days.

 

Solomon

If anyone demonstrated a right approach to relating to the Lord of the Universe, King Solomon is a good example.  Solomon’s approach to his relationship with God, was he was constantly seeking to give something and be generous.

At Gibeon, the High place Solomon excelled in giving and sacrificed 1000 burnt offerings to the Lord. Such was the magnitude of his generosity; God appeared to Solomon the same night and told him ask for anything and it would be given.

Solomon did not seek personal wealth or riches, and this really impressed God. Their encounter is recorded in 1 Kings 3:4-13

The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

 “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 

 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So, give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.  So, God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 

Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.

 To prove Solomon’s attitude to seek to give to God rather than request material wealth is further evidence by even greater generosity in 2 Chronicles 7:4-7

Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So, the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God. 

The priests took their positions, as did the Levites with the Lord’s musical instruments, which King David had made for praising the Lord and which were used when he gave thanks, saying, “His love endures forever.” Opposite the Levites, the priests blew their trumpets, and all the Israelites were standing.

Solomon consecrated the middle part of the courtyard in front of the temple of the Lord, and there he offered burnt offerings and the fat of the fellowship offerings, because the bronze altar he had made could not hold the burnt offerings, the grain offerings and the fat portions.

 

Observations and Applications

The general theme of several teachings I have been exposed to, was you had to seek material wealth from God. Always with a wish list of things God had to do for us.

When we study the psychology of God, he appears more impressed when we do not seek riches for ourselves, but rather that our focus be how we try and enrich the lives of others. This is evident in his response to Job praying for his friends, and Solomon asking for wisdom.

We all know of people in our lives who only contact us when they want something. Sometimes once we see a message from them, we don’t even bother reading all of it and simply send what they wanted. Any small talk from them we know is simply to mask that they will eventually make a request for us to provide resources.

If we are honest this type of relationship does not make us feel good. Why do we then think the Lord of the Universe would like such a relationship. One where we only seek Him for what He can give us.  The author (believed to be King David) wrote in Psalms 100:4-5

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Being thankful is a better way to approach the Lord of the Universe. He is impressed when we do not ask for wealth, but rather for the wisdom to manage wealth to benefit others. You may find like with Solomon and Job, your resources overflowing, because you did not seek riches for yourself.