18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. John 15:18-20 (NASB)
This post is based primarily from Job 11. At first it seems as if it is a repeat of the previous chapters where Job’s friends accused him of egregious sin, which brought about his suffering via God’s law of retaliation. But we know that that is not the case and so does Job.
However, the spiritual attack on him is heavy as is his physical suffering. The waves of suffering are like cruel blows from a huge and talented boxer. They come one at a time or grouped together for maximum effect. Job is reeling.
I spent many days contemplating, reflecting, and meditating on chapter 11 and its possible parallels with our Christian walk. Also, over the last several days I have been falsely accused of some things. I have had people react to me as if I was some sort of horrible sinner when I was doing nothing at all. I have had people misunderstand me in ways that confused me to no end. I have not been able to write very much during this time. Why was this happening? Today, God made it clear to me what was going on. The message from this chapter as well as the overlaying message from most of the book is this—the Righteous who walk by faith will be persecuted when they come in contact with this lost and dying world.