Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Gen_6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Exo 33:17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.
Noah lived in a world of such sin that it needed to be destroyed. Noah alone of all the people living then was worthy to be saved from the destruction. Do you imagine that Noah's life was one of ease? I don't. And Job, we know that Job for all his perfection lost everything dear to him in any way, and even his good health was taken from him all very swiftly and devastating. Moses' life was one of great hardship as well. If you name every single Biblical man and woman of God with any sort of history to them- you would comprehend that these people of God had HARD lives. Not a single person is portrayed as having it all nice and easy. Even Solomon, the wisest man to ever have lived (other than our Savior) did not have a perfectly wonderful, easy life. And let's talk more about our Savior's life. We don't know too much of His life before He started His ministry, but we know a lot about after He began. Was our Savior's life one of ease for those three years leading to His crucifixion? No, not at all.
WHY do we expect lives of ease? Why? WHY!? Yes, I'm screaming. We get it stuck in our heads that we have some 'RIGHT' to happiness. We bemoan lives of pure hardship- not that I've had one, because I haven't. I have been blessed beyond measure in many ways. That's not to say I've had a life of ease, I haven't- though compared to some (probably many) I have.
We have no right to happiness, no right to a problem free life. The men and women closest to God were NOT perfectly happy all the time, they just weren't. If we make our happiness a prerequisite to belonging to God then we will be entirely lost. If we make having perfect lives a sign of belonging to God we are in for a big surprise, and not a good one. Satan loves to give happiness and lives of riches and ease if it suits his ultimate agenda. That's not to say a person with a Job-like experience in their lives are automatically God's, there is just no perfect formula for anyone to measure against to know whether they are favored by God.
Yes, in the Bible there are many men and women of God we are told about, and yes, we would LOVE to be numbered among them as being 'of God'. We just have to realize that no matter what our life's circumstances- good, bad, horrific, or fantastic it just doesn't tell us anything at all. We are God's by faith, not by our human measure of being blessed by Him with ease in life. We are God's if we choose to be God's in all sincerity of heart! We are God's through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He died for ALL! We choose if we are willing to accept the Sacrifice He made for us, no one is forced to choose Jesus, no one is forced but all will have to make a choice. Just please, don't look on your life of utter horror (if you've lived one, or are currently living one) and believe you are hated by God, you are not.
God has your life of perfection in His love waiting for you. That gift of eternal life is waiting for you to experience when Jesus returns for you. That is an undeniable promise that will be fulfilled no matter what your life is like from its beginning all the way to the end. This world does not offer us a problem free life not from the moment were born until the moment we die. We need to live our lives for eternity's promise in Christ. May God help me to keep eternity in my sight, to keep Jesus in my life always. Jesus came to give us the Good News of Salvation through Him, Please, please! Accept Jesus's gift!
All through His love Always!!!!!!!