Who would be Job?

I don't know what you make of "'Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott", Luther's glorious rewriting of the 46th Psalm. I confess every word of it with my lips, but it does raise the question, "who would be Job?" I wouldn't. Check out the last verse (in English, I'm afraid, as this is an English blog):

And though they take our life
Goods, honour, children, wife,
Yet is their profit small;
These things shall vanish all,
The city of God remaineth.

Absolutely spot on, Martin. And he and others in the brutal days of the Reformation and on into the conflicts that culminated in the the 30 Years War had to believe it. They did, in many cases, lose much, and had to trust that so long as the Heavenly City is open, so they had every blessing.

But I feel differently. I am a materialistic European at the beginning of the 21st century coming to terms withe the realities of trusting Christ. Having recently read Job 1-2 in my devotional time one morning, I penned these words:

Where shall I find the faith of Job,
Faith in the fire of trouble and distress?
Faith that stands under Satan's worst,
Faith that passes the hardest test?

Though he was fully in Satan's hand,
Lost all his goods and all he had,
Though sons and daughters perished also,
Still of God he said nothing bad.

I have a wife, a son, a home,
Food as I need and clothes to wear.
Yet take from me but the least of this,
And I know not how I would fare.

I would not stand, I have not the strength
To suffer loss as great as Job did then.
But You are God, Your Spirit mighty,
Out of faith's babes You make faith's men.

So grant to me eyes fixed on Christ's Cross,
For my High Priest has suffered too.
When I can't go on, my soul has failed,
By Your Spirit let me cry to You.