ASSUMPTIONS & RUMOURS VS. REALITY

Monday 14 October

And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD. Job 1:21 NKJV

I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now my [spiritual] eye sees You. Job 42:5 AMPC

The definition of an assumption is ‘something you accept as true without question or proof’. In chapter 1 of the book of Job, we see many disastrous events that took place which Job in his ignorance attributes to God.

In Job’s case, he did not have all the scriptures like we do to teach him about the character of God. In Job’s day there wasn’t even an understanding of the adversary a.k.a. Satan who is behind all destruction.

As far as they knew, God was responsible for both good and evil. Job to his credit did not ‘curse God and die’ which his supportive wife urged him to do, despite all the tribulations he was facing.

The truth is, God never takes away or withholds good things from us. He only gives. James 1:5 says that ‘if anyone lacks wisdom he should ask of the giving God who gives liberally to all men without finding fault.’

The only things God takes away from us is sin, death and destruction. All the negativities of life. Remember He ‘so loved the world that He gave’ (John 3:16a). The thief on the other hand comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10a) This tells us exactly who is the giver and who is the taker.

Fast forward all the way to chapter 42 and we see the realisation Job has about the many assumptions that were made about God by Job himself and his so-called comforters. This is due to the unmitigated rumours they were all ignorantly peddling about God.

Job essentially says in chapter 42:5a All I know about you is what I have heard from others. In other words; I only know of you by rumour.

The definition of a rumour is ‘an unsubstantiated, often false story that spreads through a community person to person by word of mouth, in a manner rather similar to the spread of communicable disease.’

Once Job finally received a revelation of who God really was, he was able to recognise and seperate the assumptions and rumours from the truth.

This is why Job 42:5b says ‘but now my eye sees you’. Instead of rumour, Job finally discovered the reality.

How do we see God today? Predominantly, it is through the scriptures and the revelation of the same. God wants us to have a full understanding of His nature. We are not meant to take everything we hear as the truth. In order to avoid living by assumptions and rumours, we must be diligent to study the scriptures and rightly divide the word of truth for ourselves.

APPLICATION

Check everything that you hear in church against the Word of God to see if it lines up. If you are not able to do so, find someone who can help you to explain what you heard.