Sunday 26 December 2010

He still holds fast


Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause." - Job 2v3

This somewhat ties in to yesterday, but has a slightly different tack. We saw yesterday that in all of this troubles Job did not sin. But it goes deeper than that. Not only did Job not sin, but in all this he ‘held fast to his integrity.’

Jehovah and Satan met once again. The Lord asked Satan if he had seen how Job was doing. He mentioned all of the things that He said before, plus He added the words ‘he still hold fast to his integrity, even though you did everything you could to turn him against Me.’

This takes things up a notch. Job blessed God, he did not sin in all of these troubles, but even above and beyond that he ‘held fast.’

Some people give the impression that living for Christ is always moving forward, scoring victory after victory, always at the ready, onward Christian soldiers, hip hip hooray hallelujah.

There is some of that, sure. But the longer I live and serve the more I learn that much of our Christian service is just about holding on and holding on and holding on. Sometimes all we can do is dig in our heels and hold fast. The sad thing is that sometimes we don’t even do that.

I have to say that I have not always been so great at this. There are times when I fail to even hold fast. There are times when things get bad that I weaken and fail.

Sometimes I need God’s help and His strength just to hold fast.

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