Job 23:12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

“You’re not the boss of me!” I think every little kid has said that. Most adults probably have said a version of it. A lot of times, it seems, in those moments that the fuller, unspoken version of the statement is, “You’re not the boss of me! No one is!” There is something within us that is tempted to think that. To dream of a complete autonomy with no one telling us what to do and no ‘rules’ to follow.

Job was a man of great faith in God. Then he lost everything. His great wealth was wiped out in a day. His ten children were all killed in a terrible storm. Even his health collapsed. His wife suggested that he ought to ‘curse God and die!’ That’s a terrible, if quietly understandable, suggestion!

But Job chose a different path. He kept following God. His faith in God was not based on the good things that came into his life. If anyone could have filled his social media profile with #blessed postings it would have been Job - before all had fallen apart. Yet for Job, God was not just God of the blessings. He was God.

Job saw God, in spite of all that happened, as a good God. So he treasured God’s words. He didn’t see His commandments as the mandate from a cranky boss, or the demands of a tyrant. In spite of his circumstances he loved God and knew that following Him was always the best course. He didn’t mind that Go was ‘the Boss of him.’

I have not suffered a fraction of the difficulties that Job did. Do I love the words of God’s mouth as much? Is God the Boss of me?

Blessings,

Pastor Russ