Job 20:23

To fill his belly to the full,

   God will send his wrath against him,

      And rain it upon him as his food.

 

Wouldn’t it be great if God did this to our enemies? Rhetorical. There is not good answer as the ramifications of such wrath would be as terrible as we expect Armageddon to be. Right now our country is at war with Iran and we sit fat, dumb, and happy complaining about inflation. Iran is struggling to eat and fighting for survival. Their leaders do not deserve it, but do I leaders deserve better?

My various sources alternate between two ideas. One that just as this guy is about to get his fill, God steps in. The other is that God fills his belly with wrath. I could not decide, so I went with my favorite source.

‘Wrath’ was also ‘fierce anger’, ‘burning anger’, ‘fury of His wrath’, and some weird thing about rags from my least favorite source.

‘It’ was also ‘blows’, ‘weapons’, but I assumed it was wrath. ‘As his food’ was also ‘while he was eating’ or left off. It might actually be while he was eating if the first phrase is take as just before he gets full. Again, this is all from not Job and not correct.

Yesterday, I wanted to buy something for myself. Other than food, I am not sure I bought anything. Many times over the long weekend, I have thought of things I wanted only to rebuffed by God. Food, a car, baseball cards, and pretty much all the things I normally want. I can see myself understanding more of wanting what God wants and less of what the world wants. I am also seeing more clearly the downsides of keeping things until I might need them. I had no slacks that fit that I was willing to wear even though I’ve held onto almost all of them since college. Time to ditch everything I can’t/won’t wear right now and get some clothes that fit and aren’t worn out.

The promise is that God will grant us everything we want, as long as we want only what He wants. I am sure that many people follow the ideal of the prosperity gospel (that life will be great if you follow God), but in reality, it’s only great from God’s perspective, and life following God is only easier than not in that you do not have to worry about consequences. You still have to work and sacrifice, but the gain is for others and not you. (I found out some Russian author was actualyl against this idea due to home the communist pushed everyone into poverty, but it is still right.) It is all worth it only if you are submitting to God’s will to serve Him for the benefit of others. I have probably never worked as hard and as long as I have these past few months, but I know that God is calling me to this, and as frustrating as it is, I know that it is going to benefit someone else, somehow, some way.

Written 3/29/26, Posted 4/28/26, Job 481/~1070