Keys to the Kingdom
By Carolyn Tucker
Squirrel with a Mission
It was a beautiful day and I was walking down my lane when I heard a strange noise. It was in the rhythm of using a handsaw but with a squeaking sound (E e E e E e). I didn’t see anything on the ground, so I looked up and there he was. One of my cute furry friends sitting on a limb, working on a hard black-walnut shell trying to get to the nut goodie. He was on a meal mission and nothing I did or said caused any reaction from him. Yes, I talked to the squirrel in a loud voice and he totally ignored me. (That’s how I know he was a male and not a female. A female would have chattered back to me.) I was impressed with his razor-sharp teeth and undeterred determination.
Christ followers need perseverance like my little friend. He was holding a treasure in his tiny hands and he would not stop gnawing on that nut! He could not be distracted or scared away because he knew he was safely out of my reach. I could have yelled at him until I lost my voice but it wouldn’t have done any good. So I gave up and left him alone.
The Book of Job is not one of my favorite books in the Bible, but it does have valuable lessons for us. I like the very beginning where Job is described as a blessed man of complete integrity who feared God, stayed away from evil, and was the finest man in all the earth. The middle section wears me out with 40 chapters of deep depression and worthless friends. And Job admits to speaking amiss: “…I was talking about things I knew nothing about. …now I have seen You with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance” (Job 42:3-6 NLT).
Satan and Job’s not-so-brilliant wife did their dead-level best to get Job to curse God and die. But even when Satan destroyed everything and struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot, Job proved himself to be true to God. Two times, Job proved Satan to be a liar: “Satan replied to the Lord, ’Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!’” (Job 1:9-11 NLT). But scripture proves that Job did not sin by blaming God for what Satan did.
Again, “Satan replied to the Lord, ’Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life. But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse You to Your face!’” (Job 1:4-5 NLT). Satan did his worst and Job did his best. Obviously, God knew Job better than Satan did. The only way to go through calamity is to stick like glue to God. When we’re run through the ringer and come out standing, God is glorified.
The final chapter of Job’s misery (which Satan caused) ends when Job obeyed God and prayed for his three friends. “When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before. So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning“ (Job 42:10,12 NLT). We see the awesome power of prayer right here. Job lived 140 more years and died an old man who had lived a long, full, and blessed life. And he probably got a new wife too.
The Key: Come hell or high water, be an undeterred Christ follower.
