We are studying Job in our Sunday School class, and because this is one of my favorite books of the Bible I am quite enjoying the additional insight I am receiving. One of the sayings we often hear referencing Job is, “He has the patience of Job.”
From our study I am not sure Job was a patient man, but he certainly was quite frustrated due to his current situation. If you are not familiar with Job’s story you might read about this man who lost everything he had in life, including his health, and yet firmly held onto his faith that God was in control.
The story of Job is about his loss, his friends, all of their views on life, and Job’s search to understand why God was punishing him when he was a good man and obedient to God. It is a great story of redemption, understanding of who God is, insight into who we are in relationship to God, and our own wayward thinking.
There is a lot of wisdom that can be drawn from Job’s story to apply to our own lives. If you decide to read Job, go slowly and let his feelings and the revelations to Job sink in as you progress toward this story’s exciting ending.
The reason I was thinking of Job today is because of his supposed patience, which I evidently am lacking. We upgraded our computer because Windows 10 is not going to be supported after October. I use my computer for mail and correspondence, but most especially I use it to write stories for the Herald – something I thoroughly love to do. My frustration comes from attempting to adapt to its “new and improved” programs.
There has never been (in my life’s experience) a new computer program that has not set my schedule back days, if not weeks, while I seek to learn and adapt it to fit my needs. And, did I mention, instructions are not provided.
One of my past employers had the company computers loaded with an updated program over a weekend and assumed work would proceed on Monday as usual. In advance I asked him to have a specialist come in and give us insight into the updates we would need to get started, but he felt that was unnecessary.
Monday at noon, while the entire staff was still frustratedly attempting to create a template for our letterhead so that we could produce some tiny bit of work, he thought we were pulling his leg. The boss went into his office to type a memo to show us just how easy it was for him to adjust to the new program. He returned shortly to request the number of the expert to have her come in as soon as possible. Thankfully her shared knowledge relieved many of our learning frustrations.
So, as I am writing this, I can assure you that I have had the expert (God) on call by prayer this entire past week as I fought through the “new and improved” computer programs. As it turned out God had me call on an earthly expert at Microsoft so that at least my e-mail could be configured properly. Thankfully that item was accomplished in short order.
This week frustration was on the agenda and I very much relied on my Father to keep me calm when I felt as if I might crawl out of my skin. He took time to reminded me of the various lessons I have learned from Him about “the tongue is a weapon” if used improperly and so I have learned to keep quiet when I am tense. These past lessons from God have helped immensely through this irritating transition, although I am not quite done yet.
The frustration was not all mine either, I confess. My husband Neil and I spent several hours at the place we purchased the computer having them attempt to connect our hard-to-configure e-mail accounts. Those employees were also quite frustrated but kept their tongues in line as well.
Comparing my computer frustrations with the hardships of Job is extreme, but I think that all of us have times in our lives when we ask God, “Why?” The book of Job helps us in answering that question, but truly the entirety of the Bible is what is needed to understand what our relationship is to the great God of Heaven, our Creator and our Father.
The more I read the Bible and garner insight and understanding, the easier life has become for me. My life was previously mine, and I have given it freely to God for His use. What amazing freedom I now have knowing He will tend to me like a shepherd to His sheep. His peace is mine.
