September 6 – A perfect family + a blessed life

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And that man was pure and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions included 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys; in addition he had a very great household. Thus he was the greatest of all the people in the east.  (Job 1:1-3  NET)

This passage is a statement of how Job lived his life and the results that followed, which basically makes it a promise.  If you live the way Job lived you can expect the results that Job got.  But if you’re unfamiliar with Job’s story, you may say you don’t want the life that he had because he was a good man that suffered unjustly for many years.  But you’d be wrong.  The Bible doesn’t say how long he suffered (my opinion is that it lasted 3 to 9 months), but it does make the point that he was very blessed before he lost everything, and was much more blessed afterwards, and enjoyed that blessing for four generations.  In comparison to the length of time he was blessed, his time of suffering was very short.

When we look at the Bible’s description of Job’s physical possessions before he lost everything, it’s clear that God is trying to communicate something.  He had 7 sons and 7,000 sheep, he had 3 daughters and 3,000 camels, and he had 500 yoke of oxen (a yoke would be a pair) and 500 female donkeys.  This is a description of perfect wealth and abundance because the number 7 represents perfection in the Bible and the number 3 represents God. By having 7 sons and 3 daughters, he had a perfect family. 3,000 camels not only represented a godly number of camels, one camel was like having a long haul transportation business.  Camels were for them what eighteen-wheelers are for us today, and so it’s as if he owned a business with 3,000 trucks. A pair of oxen was also the equivalent of a tractor or truck, and 500 yoke meant that he could farm a huge tract of land, or hire the oxen out at a price. Because of his family, servants and livestock, Job was the greatest man in the east, and after his time of testing, God basically blessed him with double of everything!

But most important of all is the Bible’s description of what made him wealthy and blessed.  Four qualities were used to describe him: pure, upright, God-fearing, and a man that turned away from evil.  This is why both God and Satan had noticed him and were talking about him.  The world values certain qualities, but not one of these four.  The world ignores the type of life that Job had.  People laugh at anyone who is pure, who is God-fearing, and who quickly turns away from any kind of evil.  But this was the secret to Job’s success, and to ours, if we are humble enough to accept it.

So today’s promise is this: If you are pure, upright, God-fearing, and turn away from evil, you will have a perfect family, a blessed life, God’s presence and a guaranteed future no matter what.