The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me. – Job 6:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 22, 2015): Job 6

Genghis Khan, the Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire from 1206-1227 told his enemies that he was “the punishment of God...If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.” Those who he conquered noted the great cruelty with which the Mongolian Army treated the nations that they defeated. But those who fought with him credit Genghis Khan as a military genius, and with making trade possible between the West, the Middle East and Asia. He also brought the Silk Road for the first time under one cohesive political environment.

But Khan’s claim to be “the punishment of God” is an interesting concept. Somewhere, whatever Khan’s idea of God might have been, he believed that the only reason why he conquered is because a deity of some kind allowed him to conquer. While Khan apparently believed that he was God’s hammer, there is no indication that Khan selectively chose the nations that he conquered because of the evil things that they did. Kahn fought to secure and advance Mongolian sovereignty, and in doing so he brought a wide swath of destruction with him.

As we read the story of Job, we have an advantage that Job does not have; we know of the conversation that has happened in heaven between God and Satan. While we know that it is Satan that has brought calamity on Job, Job feels that this pain is directly from God. Job does not say that he feels Satan’s arrows, the way that we might. He blames the arrows directly on God.

But while we know the back story, Job is also right. It might be Satan’s arrows that Job feels, just as the people defeated by Khan felt his wrath, but it is clear that Satan could only do what God had allowed him to do – which of course means that Khan is right too, at least as far as his belief that God allowed him to do what it is that he did. One of the things that we often miss in our study of suffering is that strength of character can only be produced through hardship. I recognize that I would not be the person that I am today without the pain that I have suffered. There is no doubt that God loved Job, but there is also no doubt that God allowed him to feel the arrows of Satan. And while it might have been Satan’s plan that he would weaken and destroy Job with his attack, the real result that God understood was that all that Satan was doing was strengthening Job and making him a better man.

We have the same opportunity. When we suffer Satan’s arrows, we don’t have to be destroyed. We can allow the arrows to make us even stronger than we could have been without the adversity.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 7