If there is one chapter in the Bible that seems to confirm the teaching of prosperity gospel, it would be Job 29. Job was taking a trip down the memory lane, and he was reminiscing the good time he had “when God watched over me” (29:2). God was his intimate friend (29:4), and Job was enjoying all the blessings from God. His children were always around him (29:5), and his material possessions were abundant to beyond imagination (29:6). But that was just a small part of his prosperity. He was greatly honored by everyone, including the young, the old, the noble, and the powerful (29:8-10). People looked up to him like waiting for showers, and they “drank in my words as the spring rain” (29:23). He dwelt as a king among his troops (29:25).
However, Job did not abuse his blessings from God. He was righteous and just (29:12). He rescued the poor and helped the orphan, and he “made the widow’s heart sing” (29:13). He not only received the blessings from God, but he also used his honor and power to bring justice to the people around him. As a result, “after I had spoken, they spoke no more” (29:22). He always had the last word, and whatever he judged and counseled shall be the final decision. If we can be honest, who would not want to be in that kind of position? Who would not always want to have the last word in any discussion? No wonder “his glory will remind fresh in me, the bow ever new in my hand” (29:20). One doesn’t get more prosperous than this.
Suddenly, things changed and God turned on him. “The churning inside me never stops; day of suffering confront me” (30:27). His harp turned to mourning and his flute to the sound of wailing (30:31). The God of prosperity suddenly turned into the God of misery. How can he or we account for such apparent contradiction?
I don’t really have a logical answer, but I know it is not just a simple wager between God and Satan. One thing for sure, our prosperity is definitely not the most important thing God has in mind for his people, and suffering is part of the whole package when we put on the coat of salvation. That’s what Job learned through this ordeal, and that should also be what we learn through his ordeal.
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