JOB 1:1 – 2:13; 42:10-17                                 JOB’S SUFFERING                                                                 Day 20

Job lies outside the STORY line of the Bible leads to Jesus. Based on the names and places in the book, Job probably lived within a few generations of Abraham between Canaan and Mesopotamia. It is in the Bible because of Job’s struggle with God.

In the prologue to Job, we are introduced to a conscientious, God-fearing man blessed with animals, servants, and children. He is described as “the greatest of all the people of the east.” We also glimpse happenings in Heaven, as God uses Job as a challenge to Satan who seems to be claiming that all of Earth is his. God says, “What about Job?” Satan accuses Job of serving God for selfish reasons, that if God were to take away his prosperity and comfort, Job would curse God. God allowed Satan to put Job to the test. In a single day, Job lost his wealth and family. In all this, Job was steadfast. Next, Satan afflicted Job personally. This affliction set the stage for the main part of the book, a dialogue between Job and his friends.

Job and his friends shared a view of life, still common today, that has a grain of truth in it though it isn’t the whole truth about God and life. They believed that if you did right, God would reward you with prosperity; if you sinned against God and fellowman, God would punish you (cf. 4:7-9). Job could not understand why God was afflicting Him, knowing nothing about what God and Satan were doing.

Job’s friends, however, had the answer. To them it was simple. Job had sinned, and if he would repent God would again bless him.

Job knew he was innocent of the things they accused him of, and pointed out that many times wicked people do prosper. He began to question God’s justice in allowing him to suffer so. He got to the point he was saying that if God would come face to face with him to argue the matter, he would show God’s injustice. (Job’s renown “patience” was learned; he did not have it all the way through his trials.)

Eventually, God came to talk with Job. He did not, however, speak of Job’s sinfulness as the friends had. He asked a series of questions about the management of the physical universe. Job could answer none of them. The implication was, “If you can’t tell me how I do these things that are relatively simple, how can you question my moral rule in the world?”

Philip Yancey in Reaching for the Invisible God” (p. 19) writes,

Freud accused the church of teaching only questions that it can answer. Some churches may do that, but God surely does not. In books like Job, Ecclesiastes, and Habakkuk, the Bible poses blunt questions that have no answers.(emphasis added)

What does all this teach us? Job learned to trust God, regardless of what happened. This is the same trust that kept Christians faithful when facing extreme persecution. Trust God no matter what! Easy to say. Not so easy to do. If all we learn from Job is that remaining faithful through trials will give us greater blessings when they are over, we miss the point.

Do not expect God to reward you in this life, though He may. However, he does not guarantee faithfulness to be rewarded now. Trust Him through all trials. You will come to know Him better, as Jesus did in Gethsemane.