Turn Away

"There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil."

(Job 1:1-2)

In Biblical times, if bad things were happening in your life, that meant you were a sinner. The worse the problems, the worse the sin you must have committed. Even up to the time of Jesus, this was a thing (his disciples, upon seeing a man blind from birth, asked Jesus who sinned: he or his parents). Many of the prophets spoke about the impending ramifications of Israel's soon-to-be suffering because of their sin. Now I firmly believe we all must face the consequences of our actions (good or bad)... but there are times that bad things just happen - either because of our actions, OTHER people's actions, or "just because." Enter the book of Job.

Job is a unique book in all of Scripture. It's origins are unclear, but is probably quite old (in comparison to other OT books). it's main theological issue is how to account for unjustified suffering in life (yah, it's an age-old question). The bottom line of the book could be a t-shirt slogan: stuff happens. Sometimes we just may not know why things happen to us. Period. Not exactly the most comforting message - unless you've been told that the bad events in your life are due to you being a bad person!

But what struck me while reading the opening chapter today was even more simple. In setting up Job's righteousness, the author says he 'feared God and turned away from evil.' Fearing God means, to me, putting God first and having reverent awe of Him.

But really, it's the turning away from evil that caught my eye. No one is perfect, I get that. But Job, being a righteous man, still had to face evil. He wasn't immune. Wasn't protected away from it. Wasn't in a whole different ballpark than evil. It's all around. But Job chose to turn away. When faced with opportunities to do evil, he turned away. When other were in the throws of evil, he didn't join in. He saw it, recognized it, and turned away.

We all face evil. Every one of us. The challenge we all have is how we'll respond. Turn to it... entertain it... experiment with it... be succumbed by it... OR turn away from it.

Lord, help me to do the latter.