The Ramblings Of Flanders

I am not a religious person. Or maybe I am. Maybe I am all religions. You get more holidays that way. More reason’s to celebrate, more parties, more fun. You learn new things. Find new meanings in old things. I will try anything.

So I was at work and nothing was going on and I was stuck in a room with nowhere to go. Talk about boring. All there was in this room was me; a guy not talking to me; a computer in which said guy was using; and a couple of Bibles.
So I flipped one open and read a story.

Here is the Reader’s Digest Version…

There is this guy named Job. He was quite the guy; wife, a mess of kids, big farm. Awesome. On top of that, he was a God’s man. He prayed he worshiped. He was all about his God.

So Satan comes along and say’s to God that Job only worships Him because he has all the good stuff. He suggested that if he didn’t have all that stuff, he would curse God. So God took away all his stuff. No more farm, no more kids…

And Job remained faithful.

Then Satan said if he didn’t also still have his health…

So there was poor Job covered in painful sores.

And he remained faithful.

His friends came and accused him of sinning. No way God would punish you this hard if you weren’t a sinner. His own wife, all he had left, said he might as well be dead.

And he was still faithful.

And he prayed for his friends. He prayed that they would be forgiven for accusing him. Prayed that his wife would see his worth.

And God proved to Satan that Job was faithful no matter what. And he rewarded Job for all his faith by returning his entire farm, his kids and healing him. Plus more.

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So the guy in the room with me tells me that it is one of his favorite stories and that he hopes that he would be so awesome that God would recognize him like he recognized Job.

That is all well and good…

But, what kind of sick twisted God does that to a person he supposedly likes? And isn’t it well understood that Christians should block Satan and not let him into their lives? And here we have their own God trying to prove himself to the one person who shouldn’t matter?

I do like that in the end Job was rewarded for his faithfulness. He knew in his heart that he had done nothing wrong. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. That doesn’t then make them bad people. You just need to look in your heart and know what kind of a person you are. If you believe in your heart that you are a good person and you try to live that way each and every day, no matter what happens to you, it will show to all those around you. And you will be rewarded in the end.

What happens to you doesn’t end you.

It is what you become despite it that defines you.