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The leaves turned brown for Job. We all know the story that Job was hitherto the richest man from the East, and so godly God was proud and made boast of him too.
“Have you seen my servant, Job?” God asked Satan. That was what aroused Satan’s interest in Job.
However, he doubted that Job’s faithfulness was for nothing and wished he could put Job to the test by afflicting him. God gave him approval and he dealt deadly blows to the man. For being upright. For being fervent. For loving and obeying God to the point that God was boastful about him, intending to cause Job to backslide.
While Job suffered, God watched. Though in pain, God would not help Job. With bated breath, He wanted to see if Job would disappoint him, disgrace him, as many of us would. As many had done before Job and after. But Job persevered.
“Curse God and die,” even Job’s fair-weather wife vomited.
Why would a wife say so to a hurting husband? Perhaps, she had hoped that Job would die so that she could remarry. Why waste her time with a man whose time was far spent? A man deserted by wealth and fortune. Why would she stay back to nurse an invalid when the sun was brighter on the other side? Why dwell in gloom when she had a chance to shine among the klieg lights of fame and wealth? So, her patience had worn thin. She saw no reason to suffer. The vow of ‘for better for worse’ in a marriage made no sense to her. For her, it was for better for stay. Why would Job obstruct her path by staying alive and trusting in God, who watched him suffer and did nothing?
Haven’t you noticed how many widows become more robust and radiant after nagging their husbands to an early grave? Wives who had so pressured their husbands until ‘Mr. Slumped and Died’ arrived to take them away. For some of these knives, sorry, wives, their husbands are a troubling hunchback they’d be better off without.
So, Job’s wife wanted him to curse God and die so that she would go marry the straggler that had been toasting her.
But Job knew his God. He also knew he married a foolish woman whose interest was only in gains without pain. He knew that his Redeemer lived. He knew that, regardless of what the devil did to him, he’d still be better off with God. He knew that a living mouse with God was prized much more than a dead lion with the devil. He knew that, no matter the number of times one with God fell, he would always rise again. He knew that though the stump had been hewed down it would spring up again at the scent of water because its roots were deep enough to the source.
So, he rebuked his wife. He rebuffed the devil. He held on to his unfailing God in hope.
Yes, God does not fail. The vision is with Him. He knows the timing because He is the Time, even the way and the Truth. Those who are patient enough shall hear the voice of the vision at God’s appointed time.
But we do not want to wait. We do not want the meal God is preparing to be well-cooked. Many of us scoop it half-done from the sweating pot and get burnt. We throw it away too soon because of the burn or because it’s tasteless. It was like the children of God in the wilderness en route the Promised Land. They took more manna than they were advised and reaped maggots by morning. We are malnourished because we have gorged our bellies on the wrong meal.
Job’s wife wanted him to curse God that had so blessed them before now. She forgot the sweetness of yesterday just because of a momentary lapse. Many are like that. However, thank God Job was different. He had foresight. Job knew and trusted God.
And God responded.
Eventually, God disgraced Satan for Job’s sake. I could see Satan slinking away in humiliation. I could see Job’s wife now desperate to control the damage she had done with her diarrheic mouth that ran like unrestrained tap water.
There was a time the country was in bloom but now everywhere has been scorched. The scalding hardship under Muhammadu Buhari and his APC, in fact, even before their cursed arrival, refuses to be tamed.
We forgot our overly affluent years when even our leader reportedly told the world he did not know what to do with Nigeria’s wealth. Yet, there were no first-class institutions that would endure the test of time. But being naive, the politicians decided to pillage the wealth of the country and made corruption a national lifestyle. They plundered everything and sealed them in underground tanks where mist and maggot feasted on them even as the people hungered.
Now the Yuletide is here; the season when fowls and goats go into exile because of the holocaust imposed on them by man. For some homes, it is celebration time but, for others, it is grief. Are you like Job’s wife; have you forgotten too soon the green days of the past just because the leaves are turning brown? No more turkey or chicken, no more beef or mutton? Raise hell; pull down the roof!
How many homes are now on fire because even crayfish has rejected their soup pots?
Why do we kill ourselves because of Christmas? Is it Christmas or Christ-mass? Why would you die because of another person’s birthday? We kill innocent goats and fowls; we close boutiques and cafes; the taverns are brimful with belching misfits, swaggering in a drunken haze and befuddled minds. Is this Christmas? Is this why God gave? If God gave mankind His only begotten son, what are we giving Him in return?
We are like Job’s wife. When the leaves go brown, we forget the greenery of yesterday. God weeps. Because we are empty, we forget the days we were full. Because of grace, we rejoice in iniquity, unconcerned about the calamity next door.
Yes, the leaves are brown but we have what it takes to make them bloom again. We have the fertilizer in a card called PVC. We can bring about the change we want in 2023 if only we reject their putrid inducements.
Above all, we have the main thing that could take away the pain of the present time forever. We have our will, freely given to us by God to choose what we want. Salvation does not lie in any of these political salesmen; it is in the hand of the Almighty. Thanks to Him for giving us the will to choose the path to tread. When sin browns our hearts, we can water it with the blood of Jesus and qualify to stand before Him for a deserved reward.
Beyond the eating and drinking, let us trail our eyes on the festive banquet in the sky when the Lord shall take His own and fete them forever.
