Continue

2. Job’s Faith

The Bible tells us that Job had a very prosperous family as well as ten children and many servants; he was greatly respected and highly regarded by his peers. However, through the temptations and attacks of Satan, Job lost all of his possessions and his children within a single day, and after that became completely covered in boils. That trial turned Job from the greatest man in the Orient into the most destitute person in the Orient, and he was also judged and attacked by his family and friends. Even when faced with such a great trial, Job didn’t utter a single word of complaint to God, and he even prostrated himself in worship of God, saying, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21), and “shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). Through his trial Job was able to refrain from sinning with his words, as well as to come before God in prayer. This showed that God had a place in his heart, he had true faith in God, he believed that all events and all things are in God’s hands, and all those conditions he faced had God’s approval and were not of man’s making. Something that Job had also deeply experienced in his decades of life was that everything he had had come from God’s rule and arrangements; his riches had all been bestowed by God and had not come from his own labor. Thus, if God wanted to take away what He had previously given, that was natural and right and as a created being, he should submit to God taking those things away. He shouldn’t argue with God and he particularly shouldn’t complain to God—even if his very life was taken from him, he knew he still shouldn’t utter a single complaint. Job’s witness thoroughly humiliated Satan, and after that, God appeared to Job from the midst of a storm and bestowed even more blessings upon him.

We can see from Abraham’s and Job’s experiences that in order to achieve true faith in God, we must first have true understanding of God’s rule, and we must believe that all things and events are entirely within God’s grasp. We must also really know our places as created beings and have the reason that creatures should possess. No matter how great our trials or hardships may be, we cannot blame or forsake God, but we must continue to be able to seek God’s will and stand on His side, and unwaveringly follow Him. No matter how great the suffering we endure is, we still have to be able to firmly stand witness for God. Only those who can do this possess true faith in God. Just think of those brothers and sisters who have been arrested and persecuted by the atheistic Chinese Communist Party and have even suffered brutal torture and have been sentenced to prison for a number of years, but they have never denied or forsaken God—that is true faith in God. There are brothers and sisters who are rejected by their family and friends after becoming believers, or unfortunate things crop up in their families, but they never complain to God, and are able to continue following God and expending themselves for Him—this is also a manifestation of true faith in God. If we compare ourselves to these testimonies, can we really say that we really are people who have true faith in God? For most of us, our faith is based on unequivocally acknowledging that there is a God, and being able to suffer a bit and pay a small price in working to spread the gospel for the Lord. However, that doesn’t count as true faith.

How to Build True Faith in God

If we wish to possess true faith, we should seek to recognize God’s rule in all the people, events, and things that we encounter every day, and regardless of whether the environments that God arranges are in line with our own notions or not, or whether they are superficially beneficial to us or not, we have to know our places as created beings and seek God’s will with hearts of reverence. We have to understand God’s painstaking, earnest intentions behind the environments He sets up for us so that we can gain something from everything we go through, and we can see God’s deeds within everything that He orchestrates. Then, our faith in God will gradually become more and more genuine. It’s just like Job’s faith—it wasn’t something that was inborn for him, but gradually grew by experiencing God’s rule in everything that happened in his life and seeking knowledge of God. If we can follow Job’s example, focusing on experiencing and really understanding God’s rule in our lives, thus achieving genuine knowledge of God, only then can we develop true faith in God. And then, no matter what kinds of hardships or trials befall us and no matter how great our fleshly or spiritual suffering, we’ll be able to face that evenly through our faith, actively seek God’s will and His requirements of us, submit to His rule and arrangements, and stand witness for Him.

Thanks be to the enlightenment and guidance of God. Amen!

Source From: The Church of Almighty God Website