To Be Called Blessed

When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood; the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth; the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved, because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.
Job 29:7–12
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To Be Called Blessed
Job’s friends have repeatedly accused him of deserving his current troubles because of his past sins.  Their argument is that only the wicked suffer.  Job now takes this opportunity to counter this argument but reminding them of how he was treated in the past. He was much respected, the young men withdrew in respect, the old likewise recognized Job’s statues as one to be respected.  They called him blessed and he gave to the poor to bring them out of their misery.  By all accounts, even in today’s society, Job would be seen as someone who is good, not someone deserving all which has befallen him. And this is the problem with judging people by man’s standards as opposed to God’s.  In the eyes of man as long as your outward appearances and actions correspond to the ethos of the day, then you are good.  Deviate from the narrative of society and you deserve all the ill will, which shall surely come your way.  We see this manifested in our society as we see marriage redefined, children see and expendable, and basic biology ignored. Those that are blessed by this world frequently ignore God’s Word.  Job was indeed blessed by God and was rightly held in esteem by his peers, yet he was not less blessed, as he sat in sackcloth and ash. God’s material blessings are wonderful, and we should daily give thanks for them, but His true gift, what makes us absolutely blessed, is His Son, Jesus Christ.  This is why Job was blessed by God, because he knew his Savior. He knew God was there to forgive his sins and redeem him.  He knew he would see His Redeemer again. He knew that even though all his material wealth had vanished, he was still blessed, because he still had his faith.  As we should remember in our times of strife and struggle, though the material blessings may ebb and flow, the spiritual and eternal blessing of Christ crucified for us is constant.  In Christ we are to be called blessed.