{"id":5050,"date":"2023-10-01T19:35:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T00:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=5050"},"modified":"2023-10-01T19:35:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T00:35:40","slug":"devotional-on-job-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-job-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Job"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-yzua5rvqtbw\/Xxc8UdjSwmI\/AAAAAAABFl0\/FD3qbLxoHY8UFnsOR3RLv5-h47z8WqOQgCPcBGAsYHg\/s1600\/IMG_20190810_125948.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1038\" class=\"size-large\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2019 &#8211; Watkins Glen, NY State Park<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nIs it about what I\u2019m getting out of it?<br \/>\nJob 1: So do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart?<br \/>\nWhile the audience Satan has with the Almighty is challenging from a theological viewpoint, I think it, and this question in particular, is the absolute key to the whole book.  We tend to think that the book of Job focuses in undeserved suffering and how Job responds to it, but even more basic is the issue here.  The Lord points out Job\u2019s righteousness to Satan, says that Job is his friend, and is an outstanding servant.  Satan, that old accuser, replies that the only reason Job lives right and loves God is for what he gets out of it.  Certainly, God has blessed Job, delighting in bringing good things into his life.  Is Job a righteous man simply because it\u2019s good business, the smart thing to do, or is he righteous because he loves the Lord and chooses to serve him?   What if Job wasn&#8217;t getting anything out of his service of God?  What if, instead of blessings, curses are brought to his life?  Will Job then turn his back on God and curse him?  While the issue of undeserved suffering is a basic one I think this issue is even more basic.  Why do I serve the Lord?  Is it to escape hell and go to heaven?  Is it so I won&#8217;t be plagued with guilt over my sin?  What if all the &#8220;perks&#8221; are removed?  Again, this is about as basic a question as there is.<br \/>\nTake Away: Why do you serve the Lord?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is it about what I\u2019m getting out of it? Job 1: So do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart? While the audience Satan has with the Almighty is challenging from a theological viewpoint, I think it, and this question in particular, is the absolute key to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1505,7],"tags":[106,133,235,733,933],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5050"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5050"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14708,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5050\/revisions\/14708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}