Prosperity Gospel according to Job

JOB 2:9,10 "Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die." But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips."

This verse addresses the prosperity gospel that prevails some ministries I've seen.

This defines the prosperity gospel: the gospel that is shouted from all kinds of "Christian" evangelists claiming that Yeshua came to give us LIFE - the abundant life - life more full than we can imagine. Meaning, usually, that we deserve to be free from all that is negative, or that the kingdom riches are ours for the taking. Some times this me$$age morphs and become $tatements to "claim" pro$perity. Also know as the "name it and claim it" go$pel. Applied to health, wealth, and devil harassing immunity, users of this gospel encourage all to chant one's claim to a rich life; most times, twisting out of context scriptures like Ephesians 1:17-19.

Ephesian reads "...that the Elohim of our Yeshua, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might..."

If we deserved to be free from all that is negative, someone should have told Job, Paul, Joseph, David, Stephen, Abraham, Lot and his family, Daniel, uhmmm Yeshua. Isn't it obvious? The scriptures don't have any examples where "claims" brought a better life. Moses made claims to Pharaoh, claims that YHVH told him to make and it didn't go so well. After leaving cucumbers and dates in Egypt, he spent traveling 40 years, in the desert. I wanna go home, I wanna go home - pray harder Mo, rebuke the devil more!

Perhaps positive thinking didn't come fast enough for Rack, Shack and Benny*. They were tossed into the fire. Fried.

No, our lives are not easy at times. The rain falls on both good and evil. I really appreciated Job's reply to his wife. Should we receive only good from God? Should we not receive evil? Receive evil? Wow, that's a test. Amongst all the evil, allowed by the Father, can we receive it and NOT sin by cursing HIM. Countless times I've heard "how the devil is attacking me" or "I rebuke you Satan, for causing __________ (fill in the blank) in my life". Does Satan really have that much power? We give him way more credit that he deserves. Missing an opportunity to be molded by YHVH, a misplaced accusation of blame could in fact be a loving rebuke from the Father. I know that there are times, as with Job, that Satan is given access to us and Paul says to be aware of your adversary in 1 Peter 5 so that we don't sin. Cursing YHVH is a sin.

I ponder this. There is nothing in my life that YHVH hasn't allowed, good and evil. Job made me think about my role as a wife. Would Jim say I speak as a foolish woman who curses YHWH when evil comes a knocking? Can I receive evil and not curse YHVH? May it be so!