Job, whom God called a righteous man, was sick and tired of it all! In various ways, he and his family had been persistently attacked by the Enemy-to the point where Job believed the lie that God wanted to tear him down and leave him there. In addition to grueling circumstances, three of Job’s so-called friends came to heap their religious judgments onto Job’s broken body, heart, and soul. Job fought his friends’ efforts with the truth, but to no avail. They would not listen because they were blinded by self-righteous stubbornness! When Job recognized that his friends would not hear the truth, he cried out that he wished to speak with the Almighty. Job knew that Almighty God was good, but in the midst of all his problems, he could not understand why God seemed to have left him in such a terrible predicament. Job’s wounded, angry heart blinded him, as the Enemy attempted to hold him captive in a hard place. Eventually, one of Job’s younger friends came and humbly spoke the truth that God is good and would not leave Job defeated or in the pit of destruction. In a small way, this helped Job. Then, at last, at the right moment, God revealed himself! Job humbled himself and listened as God revealed His powerful knowledge and wisdom regarding the plan of life. Job repented and was able to release His anger and negative thinking to God, believing and seeing with spiritual eyes that God was just and would work out his life for good, not for evil. God told Job’s three religious, self-righteous friends that they had not spoken the right things about Him, and He would ask Job to pray for them. Job had the freedom to obey God and to forgive and pray for the friends who had hurt him. God then released Job from the captivity of the Enemy and blessed the end of Job’s life even more than the beginning. When we stay angry with God about our hard or disappointing circumstances, we will become bitter and blind to the truth that God will bring us to a better place, heal our wounded hearts, while spiritually and emotionally working things out for our good, in spite of the bad things that have happened to us in life. The pressures of hard circumstance push up what is really in our hearts’. When we deny our anger, or hold on to our anger towards God, we either want to fight Him (blame, accuse) without a resolve, or we pull away and stop praying. Neither of these choices will help us, but will keep us in bondage to our anger, and our hearts’ will become hardened. In times of struggle when we are tempted to question God’s goodness, let us remember not to hold on to our anger toward God but to work it out and let it go by releasing through prayer, and putting it on Jesus. Satan will attempt to use anger toward God to hold us captive in our pride and to keep us from experiencing the victory, joy, and blessings that God ultimately has planned for His children.

“Surely I wish to speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue and reason my case with God[that He may explain the conflict between what I believe of Him and what I see of Him]…And the Lord turned the captivity of Job and restored his fortunes, when he prayed for his friends; also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. And the Lord blessed the later days of Job more than hi beginning” (Job13:3; 42:10,12a).