S3-43 DESPISE NOT CHASTISEMENT

How should a child of God face tragedy? It is a vital question for today as judgment falls throughout the world. There are many lessons to be learned from the life of Job. He was "perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil." (Job 1:1) His public testimony was blameless, but God sees us differently than we do. He weighs the heart. "Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth {prunes} it, that it may bring forth more fruit," Jesus said. (John 15:2) So, in God's eyes, Job had far greater potential than was evident to human understanding. When God speaks to us through a form of chastisement— listen to God—not to some source that cannot offer eternal value.