Bad things do happen to good people .......... Parables 501

February 20, 1996

The flight was supposed to leave at 11:30 p.m. After boarding, the pilot announced one gauge failed to read properly. Every few minutes, he returned with negative updates. After an hour, they sent us back into the terminal for coffee and muffins. Finally, about 2:30 a.m., the pilot brought even worse news: the right engine failed. They canceled the flight.

We returned to ticketing. Bob and I told the agent to get us to Orlando, even if she had to reroute us through Hawaii. Nice try, she said, and booked us through Dallas, Texas, a flight leaving at 6:00 a.m. with check-in at 4:30. It was too late to go home and too early to go to gate whatever, so we found a couple of benches and slept, sort of.

The return to Edmonton was almost as challenging. When we boarded in Orlando, the weather was sunny and warm. People were wearing shorts and shirt-sleeves. When we arrived back home, we were greeted by one of the coldest days of the year. Even hardy Albertans struggle with such drastic transitions!

Despite the inconveniences, few people grumbled about the flight cancellation or the weather. Perhaps it is because nearly everyone realized that grumbling would not change either situation. Being angry cannot provoke airlines to produce replacement airplanes or raise winter temperatures. It only heats up those who complain!

Job, a man who has an Old Testament book named after him, is a man for all time because he set a good example of what to do in adversity. He was a good man, wealthy and yet wise. He loved his family and treated his servants, friends and neighbors well. For most of his life, he had little to complain about. All that would change.

Unknown to Job, Satan looked at his goodness with contempt. Job’s integrity was a definite blight to his evil plans. He approached God with a scheme to stop it, suggesting if God did not take such good care of Job, the man would not continue to live in a godly way.

God knew Job’s heart. He also knew that genuine faith in Him is a persevering faith. Satan was actually challenging the integrity of God so the Lord accepted his challenge. He gave Satan permission do whatever he wanted except touch Job’s body. He quickly destroyed this man’s family, servants, and all his livestock — in one day!

Of course Job was overcome by grief, yet Scripture records “in all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.”

Satan returned and claimed if Job was struck down physically, he would curse God to His face. God allowed this test too, but forbid him to take the man’s life. Then Job’s situation became even more desperate. Even his wife encouraged him to “curse God and die.”

Job’s response? “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, the Bible says Job did not sin in what he said. He later complained and questioned God, but never agreed God was punishing him for hidden sins, as was the accusation of his friends. He did not enjoy or understand what was happening but held onto his belief that God would work good from it. He said, “When I am tested, I will come forth as gold” and “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

Job’s story makes readers thankful for what they have and glad that God is in control. We may wonder why God allows such horrible things to happen to good people but God’s Word never explains. He only invites us to trust Him. Job did — and survived the challenges, challenges far more difficult than sleeping on a plastic bench or making a transition from a balmy +25 to a frigid -37.

The Secret of Job Satisfaction ............. Parables 383

August 17, 1993
A fellow named Robert Orben once quipped, “Work is the recreation of the retired.”

Many retired people agree. Work is not always something you get paid for. They find themselves busier, even working harder, than when they were employed.

Neither is work always something we call “work.” Who hasn’t come home from a vacation to get some rest because they worked so hard enjoying themselves?

Most of us relish loafing but productive and even challenging work is usually more satisfying. We’d rather keep busy than be bored or feel useless. It is part of the way we are made.

In spite of that, it is not uncommon to complain about work. It can be either stressful, demanding, tedious, or difficult. But because work originated with God in paradise, it was not always a negative experience. Work actually became unpleasant because of sin. Prior to that, the first family enjoyed their tasks, made easy in a perfect environment. After they sinned, God banished them from the Garden of Eden “to work” and it would be hard work. He told Adam’s son, “When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.”

Yet God, not sin, is responsible for hard work. He has the same opinion of bitter, difficult labor as we do — He calls it “bondage” (see Exodus 1:14).

In the beginning, Adam and Eve could take care of a large paradise. Yet after their sin occurred, one job can become too much. For instance, Moses overworked himself trying to lead the Israelites through the desert. God finally told him: “The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.” Most of us would rather share our workload and certainly need to rest occasionally.

God had that in mind when He instituted the Sabbath: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.”

Workaholics find it difficult to rest, yet God considered a day of rest so important that anyone who put work above it should be “cut off from his people” (Exodus 31:14). Work without rest is too demanding.

Christian “work” can be demanding too. Paul said “We work hard with our own hands” and should “make it our ambition to lead a quiet life, mind our own business and work with our hands... so we will not be dependent on anybody.”

We must work hard, but not entirely for our own selves. Paul challenges us to “do something useful... that we may have something to share with those in need.”

All this implies that whether we work for a pay cheque or not, we can work as a labor of love for God. Even if we find ourselves engaged in the “recreation of the retired,” we can still consider the Lord our boss. The Bible says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, knowing you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ we are serving.”

Work done for Him, whether while fully employed and paid, or as a volunteer, or while retired, is the secret of job satisfaction.