Would I be like Job?

Goodmorning all you fine people. I am excited to share what has been going on in my life these past few days. Soo, without further adeu... I want to first point out that just yesterday, I was lead to read Job. And...with saying that, I'm going to lead us down a necessary rabbit hole for those of you who might not quite understand what I mean by "lead". Now, when I say lead, I'm want to be honest and tell you that I'm truly not quite sure how this all works. I know that it's not a "ooga booga" type thing where I felt this amazing feeling by Holy Spirit to open up the pages of the Bible and go to straight to Job (or any other passage in the Bible for that matter); rather, being lead feels like eh more or less, me thinking about what I've gone through in my life and then thinking about those persons in the Bible who God has purposefully placed in the Bible to teach me about Him or Him through their lives. The Spirit, I believe, works in my devotional life this way. When Holy Spirit wants to teach, he makes me use the brain that he gave me to observe the life that he continues to sustain me with, and then leads me to those passages he finds will bring about the most goodness in my life. So....that is what I mean by lead me to read Job. Good? OK, outta the rabbit hole and back on track... So, yesterday, I was reading Job and the verse that stuck out to me were these: "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 to against him to destroy him without reason." Job 2:3. So much in here. Essentially, Satan has at this point in Job's life, caused him great havoc. Feel free to read Job 1. Its awful what happens to this man. If I ever have a bad day, honestly, I should just open up to Job and read! But in summary, Satan has taken Job's livelihood, Job's children---yet through it all, Job does not curse God. Nice. Eat that Satan!!! Ahem. But because Satan thinks that God is incorrect about Job and thinks he weak in his faith like many other humans, Satan thinks God is a liar and that Job will indeed curse God. But with confidence, God knows Job's heart (as he does all of our hearts) and states that he is "his servant....none like him....blameless...upright man...fears God...turns from evil..still holds fast to his integrity..." Amazing. As I look at all these attributes that God states of Job, I am forced to examine my own life in light of Job. If Satan were to go to God and ask for my life...what would God say in response to me? Would he say that I am blameless or that I turn from evil or fear the Lord? Especially fear the Lord (!)....that is one attribute that really stuck out to me. I was lead to think more on this "fear of the Lord" and recalled Proverbs 2:1-5 which is a passage that talks about what the fear of the Lord looks like. Here it is: "Receiving His words and treasuring them up...making my ear attentive to wisdom(which means inclining my ear to God's commands or His words found in the Bible), inclining my heart to understanding (studying the Bible. Like study y'all. Putting it to memory)...calling out for insight (asking what God's opinion about a certain matter is vs. making a rash decision all my own)..." with a reckless abandonment in search for the understanding of who God is and who he has revealed to us about him in his Word. Fear of the Lord is such....and am I doing such with my life? Do I savor his word so that I understand what I need to do to be blameless...have integrity and to be His servant? Honestly, in of myself, I fall short of attaining all of these attributes. As it says in Romans 3:23, "For all have fallen short of the glory of God." All of us are full of blame, lose our integrity in the midst of adversity and sometimes even allow our eyes to fall on evil. But this my friends is not our end! There is One we get to look to, again, for our blamelessness and integrity if we chose. It is Jesus. And when Satan comes to incite for our soul, there is our Savior standing there speaking for us. "No Satan. You cannot incite against this one...for they are mine and as my Father claimed over Job, this one is 'blameless...upright...fears God...turns from evil..still holds fast to his integrity'; because of my work on the cross, you have no power here. Be gone." So...lots to ponder. Lots to work on in my own life so that I can all the more not only reflect my brother Job's character in the midst of adversity...but to continue to strive to daily grow more and more into the likeness of my Savior, Jesus, who daily speaks on our behalf. Be blessed. Strive to be more and more "blameless....upright...fearing the Lord...turning from evil...and in the midst of adversity, clinging to integrity."