I think it may be starting to sound like a broken record, but once again we see God working in mysterious ways. If you aren't reading along with us, let me briefly recap:
Now that Job has gone off on his friends and blatantly stated his righteousness, his friends refuse to speak anymore. Having finally gotten a chance to speak, a younger casual observer takes center stage and reprimands all of them. He goes off on job's friends for being so accusatory of Job without any evidence and then goes off on Job for claiming to be righteous (after all, only God is truly righteous). No one has a response for him so he keeps talking about how great God is and how much better than man God is. This sets the stage for God who decides to join the conversation in the form of a whirlwind.
God proceeds for several chapters to ask Job if he is capable of of all of the amazing things God has done. this makes Job feel like a fool (especially when you consider that Job had previously told his friends that he had wisdom given from God). After this humbling experience, Job repents while his friends are told to offer up a sacrifice to God and pray for Job. After this repentance, Job is reinstated to greater than his prior health with new children.
While we have pointed out many lessons that can be gleaned from Job's speeches while being afflicted it is not until the end of the book of Job that we learn the ultimate lesson. DON'T GET ARROGANT!!! When things are going well for us, it is an exhilarating rush. We are carried by the momentum of a seemingly endless chain of events going our way. We start to think that we can do no wrong when suddenly...everything bad happens at once.
Life seems to happen in streaks, I see this often in my sales job. Sometimes it seems like I can do no wrong and other times it seems like I can't sell a thing. It has been hard to maintain a consistent attitude about the job when it is so streaky, but it all seems to even out in the end. Likewise, life always seems to even out in the end. It may be hard in the good times to remember the bad and it may be hard in the bad times to remember the good, but if we step back and get a larger perspective of the entire situation, then we will see the balance and the purpose of it all. Sweet wouldn't be sweet of we didn't have salty to compare it to. Great moments in life wouldn't be perceived as great if there were never low points to reference the great times against. Life is full of ups and downs. God knows that we need it this way. The next time you feel like you are just plain "unlucky," have faith that God knows what he is doing,
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