THE BOOK OF JOB
Job |jōb| (in the Bible) a prosperous man whose patience and piety were tried by undeserved misfortunes, and who, in spite of his bitter lamentations, remained confident in the goodness and justice of God.• a book of the Bible telling of Job.
The book of Job is known to be the oldest book in the Bible. Rabbinic tradition ascribes the authorship to Moses, who also wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Job is a great book to read when you are struggling with questions about God’s sovereignty and why we suffer. If you’ve ever asked yourself questions like, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or “Is God really good?” or “Is God punishing me for something I did?” then Job is the perfect book for you.
We’ve all asked questions like these from time to time. But as we read the story of Job, the most important thing to note is his character while experiencing great suffering.
In the first chapter, we see that Job was a blameless man—a man of complete integrity who feared God and stayed away from evil. He was blessed by God. He had a big family and was the richest man in his town! (Job 1:1-3) But in the same chapter, we read that God gave the enemy permission to test him. In that same day, Job lost everything. He lost his farming business, all of his livestock, and all of his children died!
And he responded by falling to the ground to worship God.
“I came naked from my mother’s womb and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!” Job 1:21
Wow. Job’s understanding of God’s sovereignty—even when he didn’t understand—was what gave him the ability to worship God through his suffering. But as Job continues to suffer, his friends couldn't imagine why God would allow so many bad things to happen to someone so “righteous.” They assumed that the suffering had to be because Job had some hidden sin he was not telling anyone about.
But Job didn’t have any hidden sin. In fact, God Himself called Job “blameless and a man of complete integrity” in Job 1:8. But Job continued to defend himself and his character to his friends—and even in all of his suffering, we read that “Job did not sin by blaming God” in Job 1:22.
But he did get worn out. He did get tired of suffering. And by chapter 21, Job’s tune was quite different than it was in Chapter 1…
“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient…Why do wicked people prosper, growing old and powerful? They spend their days in prosperity then go down to the grave in peace. And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways. Who is the almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?' (They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.) Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble?” Job 21:1-17 (NLT)
When we are tired, we can begin to question God and say things we wouldn’t normally say. But God wasn’t angry with Job for his questions or his weakness—and He isn’t angry with ours either. There are some things in life we will never fully understand on this side of heaven. But we can know this: Job was honored and highly favored by God because he never lost his faith, even when he didn’t understand.
“As long as I live, while I have breath from God, my lips will speak no evil, and my tongue will speak no lies. I will defend my integrity until I die. I will maintain my innocence without wavering. My conscience is clear for as long as I live.” Job 27:3-6
But when Job came to the end of his rope near the end of the book, he started complaining to God about his suffering. God responded the way only God Almighty could—by asking Job if he was around when He created the lines separating the land and the sea, or if he had ever commanded the morning to appear or the dawn to rise in the east. God asked Job if he had ever visited the storehouses of the snow or if he had sent rain to make grass grow…
Of course, Job didn’t have a lot to say about that.
God then asked, “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” in Job 40:2, Job finally found his voice and responded to God declaring, “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you… I was talking of things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me… I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” (Job 42:2-5)
Suffering has a way of drawing us closer to God than anything else. Experiencing pain hurts. But God tells us that He is “close to the brokenhearted” in Psalm 34:18. No matter what kind of suffering we experience in this life, we have hope knowing that God is always by our side.
After Job had this revelation moment with God, he prayed for his friends (Job 42:10) and then the Lord restored his fortunes to him—twice as much as he had before.
Something to note about this book is that God never explained why Job had to suffer. It’s simply not mentioned. The point of this book is that God really doesn’t owe any of us an explanation—and sometimes, that can be a hard truth to swallow when we’re experiencing our own pain in this life. But what the book of Job does share with us is that no matter how much we suffer, we’re called to remain faithful and full of trust in God’s sovereignty (even when we don’t understand).
That truth doesn’t make suffering easy. But it does produce Godly character, strength, endurance, and a deep, deep revelation of God’s sovereignty. And sometimes, that's all we need.
XO-
Sabrina