Job 19:9-10

9 He hath stripped [pashat] me of my glory [kabowd], and taken [cuwr] the crown [`atarah] from my head [ro'sh].

10 He hath destroyed [nathats] me on every side [cabiyb], and I am gone [yalak]: and mine hope [tiqvah] hath he removed [naca`] like a tree [`ets]. KJV-Interlinear

9 'He has stripped my honor from me, And removed the crown from my head. 10 'He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree. NASB

Glory is that something, which brings admiration, praise, honor, fame, wonder, joy, or awe inspiring response, and so forth. Honor is something which reflects ones personal character or strength with respect to ethical standards, responsibility, truthfulness and so forth. Crowns, is a term usually used in connection with achievements, credentials, memberships, privileges, appointments, offices held, titles and so forth.

All of these terms can have worldly connotations or spiritual connotations. The worldly attributes are temporary. The spiritual attributes are permanent and eternal.

Now, which do you suppose Job lost?

In the carnal world, you can be born with titles anywhere from peasant to prince. In the spiritual realm we are all born spiritually dead. In the carnal world you may or may not have opportunities to get an education, get a job, get rich, get wealthy, achieve some type of recognized honor, or be honored in any number of ways by winning a race or receiving some award, or getting elected, or even stealing your way through life.

In the spiritual realm, all things come from God, courtesy of His grace. All spiritual phenomena is a gift which cannot be earned or even deserved.

And, no matter what your circumstances are in this life, everyone is eligible for all of Gods blessings, unlike this world where bias and prejudice, IQ and ability, envy and jealousy, and so forth all serve to elevate some and push down others.

When each one of us are born into this world, we are born a huge potential. We have nothing much more than that to our name. We then become interested in God, or not, and if so then God provides us with the gospel. That is our first potential for eternal life. We either believe in Christ or we don't.

Once we believe, then we face a second potential, which is that of spiritual growth. We are either interested in our spiritual life or we aren't. Those who are interested, advance toward spiritual maturity, and those who are not interested, advance only a portion of the way, if at all.

In any case, our life has a destiny, one designed by God for our total completeness of life. And then there is our other destiny, which is that which conforms to this world.

Relying on God, advances us in the positive direction and certain success for all of eternity. Relying on the things of this world, advance you to certain failure.

Often times, God will strip away all that we have, lay our life totally bare, in order that we might see the true realities and differences between this carnal world and the spiritual side of life.

Such is the case with Job, or any of us for that matter. Job had all of the blessings and titles and honors that the world could offer. But, what good would any of them be, if he were not saved. Owning thousands of camels, owning great wealth would do you no good if you end up in the Lake of Fire.

In the blink of an eye, God can strip away all that you have or have achieved, and leave you totally helpless and hopeless, but still keep you alive. Then where would your attitude be?

You can choose to live your life as a hustler or a couch potato, as a quiet fly on the wall or whine that everything is owed to you. Or, you can walk a straight and narrow path of self righteousness and take only what you earn, or blame conspiracies on everyone around you for all of your troubles, or just do whatever it is that you do from day to day during your life, and at the same time exclude God, more or less, and when your life ends, you will have nothing to show for your life.

Likewise, you can pursue all of the above, and, pursue your spiritual life, and when your life ends, your worldly things will evaporate as they do for everyone, but you will have phenomenal spiritual assets which will transform into blessings beyond your imagination in eternity. At the same time, your life now, as an advancing believer, will be phenomenal as well.

Most folks take the first path through life, making their carnal world their primary world, resulting in a life long roller coaster ride of temporary happy times and blame game, of wishes and complaining, of meticulous planning and frustrating heartbreaks. All the while ignoring God and their most important possession, their spiritual life.

The carnal world becomes their only world, and hope, and dream. It just seems much easier to blame someone for everything you have or don't have. And that is when God often times has to take you down to your lowest point of existence, in order to get you to open your eyes to your flawed self centered priorities.

And thus we have many examples of how this works. Job is our current study example. You can either learn the principle the easy way, by studying it, or you can learn it by experiencing it the hard way. God always gives you a choice.

All you really have to do is decide and learn to park your attitude outside.

Anytime you place the roots of all your hopes and dreams for life in the things of this world, then sooner or later God will uproot all of those resources. And just like a tree that has been totally removed from the ground, He will show you that your earthly resources are totally useless.

Now is the time to post a prayer.