In this chapter, Sarah Black sits in the soddy, listening to her burned husband quote passages of Job in his fevered state. She's reached her limit, and yells, "Silence!" Then, just as Joab quoted Job, so she quotes Job's wife, "Why don't you just curse God and die?"Can you see the resemblance between Sarah's loss and that of Job's wife?
Like Job's wife, Sarah has lost her son and all her possessions in rapid succession. Job's wife lost her children, their livelihood was destroyed and her husband's physical state left him incapable of providing for her. Both Sarah and Job's wife face an uncertain future.
What do these two women's words reveal to us about their state of mind and heart?
They are at the end of their faith. They are angry with God. In chapter 2, we saw how Sarah loved her house and how she had risen to a position of respect and perhaps envy in Surbank. We are shown her pride.
After her son is killed, their farm is destroyed by fire, and her husband is left with terrible burns. Sarah's world falls apart. Her pride teeters at the top of the pile of rubble this world values and, she is about to come toppling down.
At this point, Sarah has a choice. She can accept what God has allowed into her life, even as Job did in Job 2:10.
"...What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?..."OR she can be as Job's wife and despise God and Job for what had befallen her.
"Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die."Sarah chooses the latter.
When you hurt, have you ever lashed out in anger at an innocent person? You're not truly angry with the person but with the situation you have found yourself in.
From the perspective of a listener, Sarah's words point to condemnation her for having a lack of faith, but she is not the only one who has spoken words that lead to condemnation. When Peter followed Jesus after his arrest, he denied Christ and spoke words that would cause his heart to condemn him.
The fact is Christians sin. We say things we should never say. We do things we should never do. We think thoughts we should never think.
But Romans 8:1 says:
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."There is a difference between condemnation and consequences.
For anyone who is born again, eternal condemnation will not happen. Christ paid the price and His shed blood covers us. We will not experience eternal condemnation.
But if we sin, we will suffer consequences. Sometimes that consequence is simply broken fellowship with God. Sometimes it is a struggle against bitterness of heart. More often than not, it has a much broader affect than an inward one--it affects those around us and brings us great shame, perhaps leaving our lives in a shamble.
How we deal with that sin, and the consequences of that sin, will reveal the condition of our heart, the quality of our repentance, and our knowledge of God.
Even as Christians, we can have proud hearts. We can become adulterers by our desire to be friends with the world and placing the things of this world ahead of God.
James 4:4-5 says:
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?"Sarah placed in her heart her home and her farm, and perhaps even her son, above God. How do we know this? Because when she lost it all, she was angry with God.
So now her sin is revealed. The fall came. Is her relationship with God destroyed forever?
No. Praise God, He loves us and desires a close relationship with us.
We may commit the worse sin ever, but God still desires to be reconciled to us. Peter denied Christ, but Christ reinstated him in John 21. While God desires reconciliation, do we with Him?
I have listened to many people who have sinned (even myself). Some become angry with the church or pastor who dared to hold them accountable. Some become angry with God because they have suffered for their mistakes. Some say they know they are forgiven, that they are saved, but are unwilling to forgive themselves, and therefore find it difficult to move ahead with their walk with the Lord.
What of the state of our repentance? Often our repentance comes from a fear of loss. We quickly repent because we don't want to suffer the consequences of our action. Sometimes we repent because we are told that is what we are to do, but we stall at that point, unable to move forward with our relationship with God. Sometimes we don't repent at all.
When we truly repent, we recognize there will be consequences, that we deserve those consequences, and we are willing to accept those consequences. If we are able to accept the consequences, and continue to worship God, we demonstrate humility. We demonstrate an understanding of our lowly position, brought on by sin, and the vastness of God's mercy and love to even desire a right fellowship with Him. We demonstrate that God is judge, and as judge, He has the right to execute justice as He sees fit.
We may never be allowed to serve God in the same way we did before. Our sin may have resulted in our inability to minister to or witness to the person we offended, but if we have confessed to God and humbly repented, being willing to accept what He allows as the consequence, we can have our fellowship with God restored. While people may not be able or willing to forgive us, the Almighty God is capable of true forgiveness.
We may sin and fall, but God forgives. Does this mean we can return to that sin? No. True repentance means we will turn away from the sin, desiring to never be held captive by it again. We'll do all we can to fight against it, because our fellowship with God is of greater importance to us.
Even if we lost much as a result of our sin, we can still please God from the moment we repent. We may not be allowed to do some of the things we could have done before we sinned, but in our character, in our humility, in our worship we can bring God pleasure.
God loves you. God desires you to fellowship with Him. You were created for His good pleasure. As Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery:
"...Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." John 8:11bLook for God's mercy and grace. Hope for it. But be willing to accept the consequences and be willing to worship God anyway.
"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." James 4:6-8Our fellowship with God must be of greater importance to us than any fellowship we have with man or this world. We obtain that fellowship when we humbly submit ourselves to God. Then our knowledge of God increases in beauty and comfort.
Praise be to God, our Lord and Saviour, for blessing us with forgiveness. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Psalm 51:17
For further study, read Psalm 51 and see how David turned to God.
