Job's Perfect Resume

Episode #2, Job's Perfect Resume, begins with a brief review of key elements from Episode #1, providing a segue from the discussion of 'tears' to the subject of 'crying' and the four types of crying (Sadness, Relief, Joy, Anger/Frustration) experienced by our central character, Job. We discuss one of the major themes of When Tears Run Dry: Job's character, integrity, and faith. These were the character hallmarks of this remarkable man, whom God affectionately called "My servant." Episode #2 examines the unseen discourse between Satan and God, with Job as God's example of a "blameless and upright" man of great integrity and faith. This opening unseen discourse sets the stage for the dramatic crisis about to unfold in Job's life. Satan has leveled accusations against Job's character. How will Job respond? Job's 'Perfect Resume' foreshadows his response to great suffering and loss. 

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Welcome to When Tears Run Dry, the podcast. I'm Mark Janik, your host and author of the recently released book When Tears Run Dry. We're delighted you've joined us on our journey to healing, recovery, and restoration. This is the second episode in our new podcast series, When Tears Run Dry, brought to you courtesy of When Tears RunDry.org. Well, as we said in our last episode, When Tears Run Dry is about the story of Job, as he suffered catastrophic personal losses of every kind. And yet, God led him to healing, wholeness, and restoration. And my friend, God wants to do that for you too. So we're delighted you've joined us. If you're if you were here last time for episode one, Understanding the Tears, you'll recall that we introduced the patriarch Job and we explored the subject of tears a bit, and we learned a little bit about tears and how they actually work at the human level. And we learned that medical scientific research divides tears into three primary physiological categories: basal tears, those are the ongoing everyday tears, just protecting the eyes, the reflex tears, and those are triggered by smoke and dust and uh when you're chopping onions in the kitchen. And then emotional tears, and these are the ones we're gonna focus on. As you might imagine, they are ignited by feelings and emotions and deep things of the soul. Well, we want to take a few moments, a few moments to look specifically at the emotional tears. And um, and we want to dive into the subject of crying, as this, my friends, takes us to the heart of Job's emotions as he dealt with catastrophic personal loss. And so as we go through this series, we're going to see that not all tears are the same, and that Job experienced many tears, but like Job, we too contend with tears and a broad spectrum of complex emotions and circumstances that drive the tears from our broken hearts to the teardrops that fall from our eyes to give our souls physical expression. I want to give uh a moment of credit here to Dr. Ad Wangerhoots and Dr. William Fry for breaking down uh the emotional crying into four main uh groups for us. And our our goal here is to provide, again, some context, even if it's a little bit of biophysiology, just to help us better understand tears and crying and the role they play in the healing process. Well, the first type of cry is called the sadness cry. And this happens as it's triggered by loss or grief, disappointment, or uh maybe just feeling overwhelmed. And what this does is the sadness cry, it it acts really as a as a signal, as a social signal. So when someone sees you crying, it's uh it instinctively signals vulnerability, and uh authors, uh uh others offer uh empathy and comfort and social support. So, example, when a child cries, parents and others immediately respond and they offer whatever kind of compassion and assistance is helpful. And the second type of cry is is a relief cry. And this happens immediately after a high stress or a high anxiety-inducing event that uh that ends safely. And what it does is it serves as a biological reset button. It brings the body back to normal by releasing tension that accumulated during the stressful event and allowing you to calm down and frankly recalibrate. And then there is the joy cry. And this happens with intense, positive, overwhelming events such as the birth of a new baby, a reunion, a wedding, a success of some kind, maybe uh someone has won the game or a race or a long-sought-after major achievement, whatever it may be. And here the brain uh can sometimes confuse extreme positive emotions with distress. And so crying tears of joy help regulate the nervous system that's experiencing these overwhelming uh feelings of uh that are hormones, actually. They're just rushing into your body, keeping your emotions from boiling over. It's a remarkable process. And then finally, we have the the anger or the frustration cry. And this is triggered by uh something that makes you angry. It could be something very specific, or it could be a buildup or a series of things causing great frustration. And this type of cry is it's just a it's a display of feeling of powerlessness and emotional exhaustion, and it acts uh really as a pressure release for all of the pent-up stress hormones. Well, there's little doubt that Job experienced all four types of emotional tears. Indeed, it's likely that during the onslaught of our own catastrophic personal losses, we will be tested across all four sets of emotions in remarkable and astonishing ways. And as this takes place in your life, I'd like you to consider this confirmation that God has equipped us for the journey of life, including those seasons when we contend with deep catastrophic personal loss and the tears that come from the losses. Well, friends, this is episode two in our brand new podcast series, When Tears Run Dry, and we want to make it as easy as possible for you to join us in our discussions. We'll be drawing much of our material from the recent book release, When Tears Run Dry. So as you join us every week, it would certainly be helpful to have your own copy of the book since we will refer to sections and passages as we work through it. And speaking of the book, you can get a copy of When Tears Run Dry directly from our publisher, Remnant Publications, through our website at when tearsrundry.org or Amazon or Barnes and Noble, they carry the Kindle and Nook versions, respectively. And for those of you who prefer the convenience of books on your phone or other electronic devices, these are perfect avenues to take a look at when tears run dry. Well, if you were with us last time, you'll recall that we introduced our subject matter expert and central figure in the book, known simply to us as Job. Job was the Old Testament patriarch whose name is virtually synonymous with persecution and catastrophic personal loss, as he endured trials of just about every conceivable kind. We're going to get into that in detail in a moment going forward. But let's take a moment to review from our last episode. We learned that the name of Job can be understood as the persecuted one or the repentant one. And as we'll see very soon, both of those meanings are equally true in their description of this great man whom God affectionately called my servant. Well, let's continue our study as you open your copy of When Tears Run Dry, and let's start at page 15 if you have a printed copy of the book, or you can find it on page 16 if you're using Kindle or an electronic device. If you have your Bible, you'll want to turn to the book of Job, chapter one, and that's where we will be spending most of our time today. And to help you navigate in the Bible, if you're not familiar with it, uh just open your Bible to the middle and you should land in the book of Psalms. And the book of Job is just to the left of Psalms, so it's an easy book to locate, just keeping uh keep uh leafing to the left uh of Psalms for chapter one of the book of Job, and that's where we'll begin. So if you have your copy of the book When Tears Run Dry, but you don't have a Bible handy, not to worry. We've included all of the important scripture passages directly in the text of our book, When Tears Run Dry, for your convenience. So either way, you're good to go. Well, the title of today's episode is Job's Perfect Resume, and we focus on the character of Job and how his character played a central role in preparation for the life-altering trials he would contend with in short order. The book of Job, chapter one, verse one, God gives us, I think, one of the most astonishing biographical endorsements of anyone in the whole of the scriptures, when he says of Job that he was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. That's Job chapter one, verse one. The passage is short and sweet, as we would call it. But blameless and upright Job feared, and that means he revered or reverence God. It's not a it's not a fear of terror, and that he also shunned evil, a remarkable endorsement from the most high. But the question I would ask is how did Job get that way? What was what was he uh trained in some ancient monastic university? Who were his parents? What was their background? Did Job have siblings, older, younger? Who were Job's spiritual mentors and elders? Well, friend, the fact is we we know almost nothing about this man Job before the events that transpired in the book that bears his name. However, later we'll see that we can, on the basis of Job's conduct, we can conclude that Job's character was unquestionably pious and formed a robust character of great integrity. And we'll see that as we go forward. Well, let's talk about Job's business. We can easily glean from the scriptures that he was an immensely successful and savvy businessman with large herds of livestock and landholdings sufficient to sustain the herds and his business. The scriptures record that this man, Job, was the greatest of all the peoples of the East. That's Job chapter 1, verse 3. Job's family. Let's talk about that. As noted earlier, Job had seven sons and three daughters, and the scriptures note that the sons would hold feasts in their respective houses, each on their appointed day. And most scholars take the position that the appointed day was their birthday. It was celebrated yet with uh within the framework of a family love and affection that might go along with that. So these were not um these were not intemperate birthday bashes, but rather they were convivial family celebrations, where the three sisters were invited by their brothers to attend the feasts without any expectation of a return invitation. And in the book, we we make mention that Job uh didn't attend the feasts. This was likely an indication that Job chose not to distract his adult children at their feast with his presence. He was, he must have been quite a personality and uh a very significant presence, certainly in his family and in the community. So it's an interesting dynamic that Job had such an incredibly wise perspective, trusting and respecting his children to conduct their feasts appropriately, but yet also taking great care to guard the edges of their own spiritual well-being. Job did this by providing burnt offerings as the scripture directs on their behalf, and he did this routinely as a central part of ceremonial sanctification following the feasts. And he did this, it's remarkable, on the mere possibility that one of his sons may have offended God in their heart during the times of feasting. It's amazing. And we also make mention that Job's wealth, which was considerable, did not interfere with his piety. No, Job's spiritual leadership was central to who he was. His children no doubt witnessed this as they grew up, and from what little we do know, Job successfully passed on his face to them as they honored one another at these respectful feasts that rightly celebrated family birthdays as was customary for them. On page fifteen of our text, we talk about one of the few times in scripture when God pulls back the curtain of the unseen to give us a brief glimpse of an unusual and extraordinary direct exchange between God and the evil one, Satan. In the book, we characterize the event as a sort of heavenly staff meeting, if you will, with God holding court with the sons of God, meaning the angels. In Job 1, 6, scripture tells us that Satan also came among them. It appears as though Satan thought he was crashing the meeting, but God inquires of Satan about his activities and his whereabouts. And Satan, frankly, he's very dismissive. He dismissively acknowledges that he has been on the earth, walking back and forth on it. And God then immediately inquires of Satan if he is considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the face of the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil. That's verse eight of chapter one. In the whole of the scriptures, this is unquestionably one of the most astonishing endorsements of a flesh and blood human being coming from the throne of grace. Now God calls David a man after my own heart, and in Jesus calls John the Baptist the greatest of all the prophets. But just FYI, Job is certainly in that league. Satan uh retorts back to God's question. He says, Does Job fear God for nothing? In verse 9. And then in verse 10, he says, Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You will bless the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face. And the Lord said to Satan in verse twelve, Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not lay a hand on his person. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. Now let's step back from the edge for a moment to consider that Satan, apparently in brazen arrogance, he barges into God's presence and in front of the holy angels, he dismisses the Almighty's question. Satan doesn't realize that God asks the question of Satan as to his whereabouts, not because God is unaware or uninformed as to where Satan is. But because in asking the question, God wants us to know that Satan is in fact present on the earth and that the evil one is actively pursuing to disrupt the lives of men. Don't miss this. God's question to Satan was a warning to us. Satan then proceeds to impugn Job's character, asserting that Job serves God out of material self-interest, not purity of heart. Incredible. That's Job chapter 1, 10 and 11. Well, Satan further asserts in verse 11 that if if God were to inflict calamity on Job, that the patriarch, Job would would rail against God and curse God to his face. So with God's limited permission, Satan is allowed to attack Job with the stipulation that Job could not, uh rather, that Satan could not take Job's life. And again, this is what we would call the unseen discourse. So Job didn't know anything about this conversation. He did not know of the divine tests about to overtake him in short order. In the book When Tears Run Dry, uh move if you would to page 20, and we make it clear that Satan's objective isn't just to turn Job's life inside out. The objective more specifically is to turn Job against God, such that Job would make a mockery of God's earlier brimming endorsement of Job. That was his real objective. Job's perfect resume. Well, we certainly don't know all of Job's life and background, but we can observe what his background produced. And it was high moral character, a robust integrity, and enormous faith. My friends, more than three legs of the stool, these were indeed the pillar of Job's life. What Job didn't know at the time was that these would be called on into service in ways he couldn't possibly have imagined. On page twenty-two in the chapter summary, author Ellen White writes in part, the formation of a noble character is the work of a lifetime and must be the result of diligent and persevering effort. God gives opportunities. Success depends on the use made of them. Also on page 22 in the chapter summary, we make the point that character, integrity, and faith they are not created in the furnace of affliction. They are revealed by it. Job's character preparation throughout his life would be needed, all of it, for what he was about to experience. An amazing man with an amazing story. Well, friends, we want to encourage you to visit our website when tearsrundry.org. If you or someone you know is going through or dealing with a catastrophic personal loss of some kind, that that can be the loss of a job, a career setback, the sting of separation and divorce, and your marriage crumbles. It could be the anguish of physical, mental, or emotional illness. It could be addiction, recovery, and more. Friend, this podcast and this website is for you. You'll find help, encouragement, and quiet blessings to help you. One of my favorite pages in the website is the notes and quotes tab. And it's got the tapestry of beautiful art renditions alongside key pull quotes from the book When Tears Run Dry. And we'd love to hear from you about how God is using the book in your own life circumstances to help you through the trials that you are going through, your own journey through the valley of the shadow of death, your own journey to the path of healing and restoration. Well, in our next episode, we'll explore Job's conduct in crisis. We'll take a look at Job's crisis in detail from our book When Tears Run Dry, and examine how he dealt with it as he faced enormous catastrophic personal loss from all corners of his life. So you'll want to join us for episode three, Job's Conduct in Crisis. Well, we're so glad you could join us for this second episode of When Tears Run Dry, the podcast. I'm your host, Mark Janik, and I hope you'll join us again next week at this same time on this same platform. And remember, in the midst of great loss, one often feels unsteady. And so we leave you with these great words of encouragement found in the book of Jude. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.