Priceless Alone

Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’  I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:1-6 ESV)

Job, a man of unwavering faith, faced a test that none of us would wish upon another. He was tested by Satan and endured the loss of his children, his flocks, and his health. Yet, Job's faith in God never wavered. He questioned God and was reprimanded, but when God finished reminding Job of his place, Job's faith shone through in the words above he spoke back to God.

Job never lost sight of the worth of God. At the beginning of his trial, Job was confronted by his wife and said, “Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he told her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (2:9-11). Job did not sin with his lips, nor should we. Nothing happens in our lives for which God is not aware.

Our situation in the progression of our short lives does not affect God's worth. Our comfort, happiness, and situation provide no dispensation for us to challenge God. God's worth is constant, a reassuring anchor in the storms of life. We humans cannot even place a value on the one who created our very being. God is God, and there is nothing greater.

This is why we are to find our satisfaction in God's grace and mercy alone. We are to be content that God has given us the next breath to take, and we are to take nothing we have for granted because everything we have is God’s; God has just loaned it to us as stewards. In this contentment, we find peace.

This leads us to the next point. When you live with Christ at the center of your life, you will want for nothing, no matter what the situation before you brings. The greater we are satisfied in the Lord; the greater God is glorified in our satisfaction. The relationship between the two cannot be severed.

Only a Christian can understand this because Christians are called to turn their lives over to God in faith. If you worry about your paycheck, your neighbor's new car, the promotion your friend just got, or the lady next door who is pregnant and you are not; you should question the value you place in God because none of these things are more precious than Christ.

Christ is lovely and perfect and never goes away; Jesus lives in us. Our lack of position, possessions, and plenty is no reason to devalue God. In fact, we should thank God for reminding us of what is essential: God's faithfulness, mercy, love, and grace. God always provides, not in our time but in God's time.

Grace and Peace!