BUILDING SPIRITUAL CAPITAL

Job chapter 1 reveals a man described by God in verse 8 as blameless,upright and one who fears God but  battered by severe tragedy.Suddenly tragedy struck and his flocks were stolen and carried off by surrogates of the devil. Thereafter "fire of God" ( maybe lightning) fell from heaven and burned up his sheep and servants. The final blow in this chapter was the tragedy of the sudden death of all his children in one swoop.

What was intriguing for me was Job's response to these tragedies. In verse 21-22,Job said,"naked I came from my mothers womb,and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. In all this,Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing."

HOW WAS JOB ABLE TO COPE WITH THIS SUDDEN CALAMITY?
I think that Job had all along been building up his spiritual capital that come handy in the day of trial. This he did progressively through:

•  Daily deepening of relationship with God.This builds faith for the rainy day.
•  Constant determination to obey the commandments of God. Obedience renews grace
•   Yielding daily to the will of God. This provides spiritual strength for the day of battle.

Job is among the cloud of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 12:1. May we imitate the life of Job  as portrayed in the first chapter of the book of Job.