He’s one of my heroes. One of a couple of guys in the Scripture that, for some reason, there has been a lifelong connection with (my Christian “lifelong”, that is). Though I am inspired by Paul’s persistent pursuit of the prize . . . though I identify way too much with Peter’s “ready-fire-aim” approach . . . it’s a couple of Old Testament guys who continually draw me in with a desire to model them. One of those guys is Daniel. Lived in a foreign land . . . purposed not to defile himself with the king’s meats . . . entrusted himself to God in all things . . . God’s hand upon him as he was promoted within the courts of various kings . . . made a difference in his world. The other guy . . . the hero I’m thinking about this morning . . . is Job. By God’s own repeated testimony, he was a man who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (1:1, 1:8, 2:3). And, he was a man who was not letting go.

And 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, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited Me against him to destroy him without reason.”   (Job 2:3 ESV)

It was a battle of cosmic and epic proportions. Holy God vs. fallen angel of light . . . the adversary . . . the accuser. The battlefield? A faithful family man . . . a hard-working and successful businessman . . . a guy on earth who becomes the focal of heaven. Take away what he has, says the accuser to God, take away the wealth, . . . take away the toys, . . . take away his family, . . . take away the hedge, . . .and he will curse You to Your face. You’re on, says God, do it and see what happens.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”    (Job 1:20-21 ESV)

Chapter 2 . . . Round 2 . . . Skin for skin, says the destroyer, let me touch his body, then see him curse You to Your face. Go for it, says the Father. And I’m thinking that Job, if he had known what was going on, might have said, respectfully, Could you two please talk about someone else!

Can’t relate to the pain Job felt . . . can’t imagine what he looked like that his friends didn’t recognize him at first and could only tear their clothes and weep. For his wife, it was the straw (a really big, awful, and heavy straw) that broke the camel’s back, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But Job held fast . . . he was a man who was not letting go.

Integrity . . . that which drives what we do when no one else is looking. Literally, a man or woman’s “completeness” . . . who they are at their core. In the original language, apparently, it also has the idea of simplicity. You don’t sense Job being a theologian . . . or a man of complex nuances . . . or a believer who had to define himself with a multiplicity of adjectives describing what type of follower of God he was. Nope . . . just a simple guy . . . who believed God was God. That, as God, He could give . . . as God, He could take away. And, as God, He was to be worshiped . . . as God, His name was to be blessed . . . as God, He could be trusted in all things.

” . . . Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.    (Job 2:10 ESV)

Not saying I want Job’s circumstance . . . but so want to model his faith . . . to also be a man who holds fast his integrity . . . a man who, by God’s grace, and for God’s glory, is not letting go.