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Job

Introduction

The book of Job begins a new section of the Bible. Up until this point the Scriptures have consisted of the law and history of ancient Israel. Job is the first book in the section that is sometimes referred to as the 'wisdom literature'

Let’s pray, Father we are opening your word again as we have been doing week after week, thank you for the break that we have had to allow you fill our hearts and to also rest. We have been opening your word for weeks now. The stories, the law and history of ancient Israel the personal life applications that unfolds to a deeper relationship with you, all that form the scripture and forms our hearts, is such a wonderful comfort. Father, we ask that you write these words on our hearts and as we are confronted with it, and encouraged by it, I pray we will be changed by it, for many of us have become very familiar with this man Job, others here have only heard of him, never really studied this book of his life. But we continue to work and bring out deep things in our life because of you Jesus, Amen

I have discovered that God never lets an opportunity go to waste, He has tested me through this book, it has taught me that suffering is necessary and you can relate to Jesus’ experience on the cross, and this will leave you with one very comforting thought when you going through something, in the fact of Christ’s “being made perfect through suffering” it is, that he can have complete sympathy with us. And in this sympathy of Christ, we find a sustaining power to get through. God has not let this opportunity go to waste. And what I mean by that is you can find yourself experiencing it or being tested by those things that you study and teach from His word. I have been having a tough time, for example, “love”, I will encounter a very “unlovely” person that I’m called upon to love. Or “peace”, there may be a challenge to my own state of peace that I will struggle with just before the message. Guys, that’s just God’s way of not letting the truth become impersonal or academic, hey, he wants it to be real. And it’s been something consistent throughout my life. Well, some people don’t like this book, and the reason they don’t like Job is because it opens the possibility of extreme human suffering, and I mean extreme, intense, and prolonged. We see that in this man’s life.

I found something that I laughed at though it was a true story in a book by Max Lucado, he writes about chippy the Parakeet. “Chippy the Parakeet never saw it coming. One second, he was peacefully perched in his cage, the next he was sucked in, washed up and blown over. The problem began when Chippy’s owner decided to clean Chippy’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. the phone rang and she turned to pick it up, she barely said, “Hello”, when_____ Chippy got sucked in. the bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum and opened the bag. There was Chippy still alive but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and soot she grabbed and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet and held Chippy under running water. Then, realizing that Chippy was soaked and shivering she did what any compassionate bird owner would do, she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air. Poor Chippy never knew what hit him. A few days after the trauma the reporter who had initially written about the event contacted chippy’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. “Well, she replied, “Chippy doesn’t sing much anymore. He just sits and stares.” Well, that’s a true story. It’s a funny one but it’s a true one. And I thought that, this life is what Job would go through on a more massive scale. He didn’t know what hit him, he sat there stunned. He lost the song in his heart. In fact, he lost everything as we shall see

Teaching Job

Many common phrases in the English language come from the book of job. Someone who shows fortitude in the face of great suffering is said to have ‘the patience of job’. people whose words make the sufferer feel worse we can call, ‘Job’s comforters’. Music lovers will be familiar with the refrain, ‘I know that my Redeemer lives’ , Which Handel used in the Messiah.

Most people fail to understand the purpose of the book and are thus unable to put the parts that they do know into an appropriate context.

The book of job may be one of the oldest books that we possess today, so it is not easy to date it. We know that it comes from Abraham’s era, because so many details in the book could only fit That period. The author uses the name ‘Yahweh’ to refer to God, just as Moses does, but there is no trace of the exodus, the covenant of Sinai or the law of Moses which was so fundamental to the Old Testament.

determines the way in which they read the book. Is it fact, fiction or when mixed together, ‘faction’?

Fact?

Those who believe it to be ‘fact’ emphasize that other biblical writers treat job as a real person. Ezekiel lists him with Noah and Daniel as one of the three most righteous men who ever lived. In the New Testament, James refers to job's perseverance as an example for his readers.

furthermore, the opening chapter tells us that job lived ‘In the land of Uz’. Although the whereabouts of ‘Uz’ is uncertain, we can be confident that Job livedoutside of Israel, likely in the land of Edom. In addition, the story line suggests a real person. His reaction to the disasters that he faces are realistic and the description of his personal feelings seem authentic. His discussions with his wife are what we might typically expect and the comments of his friends and the arguments that follow seem true to life. His ownership of significant numbers of livestock is normal for the wealthy farmer.

Fiction?

Many are convinced by these arguments. Despite the plausibility of so much of the book, the reader has a sense that there is something that doesn't seem to ring true to life. For example, take the events of the first chapter they are four consecutive disasters, with each leaving one survivor who returns to Job to describe the incident. It is stretching credulity to think that all four disasters have just one survivor and that each would choose the same words: ‘I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!’ also the happy ending seems artificial. And Job loses all his children in the first scene, yet in the last he has exactly the same number of new children, Seven boys and three girls. We are clearly supposed to rejoice in the happy ending almost as if the loss of his former children is insignificant to him. It makes us ask the question, ‘Is this too neat for reality? Are we always supposed to take this as fact?’ Questions about the factual basis of the book are also raised when we consider the speeches, for each one is written in Hebrew poetry. Hebrew poetry is an artificial form of speech it would not be used in conversation, that’s something that you would have to compose, think up and certainly not to discuss the weighty issues considered by Job and his friends. Yet all job's comforters speak in superbly crafted poems, which begs the question, who committed the poetry to paper? Either all his friends were brilliant poets with outstanding memories, or we will have to think of an alternative explanation.

Faction?

The only solution that makes sense is to say that the book of Job is faction that is, it is based on fact, but the facts have been enlarged and embroidered. So, Job is a real person who has to make sense of disaster and ongoing suffering, alongside a belief in the God of the Bible.

So, the book of Job is similar to some of the plays of William Shakespeare, who took the basic historical facts about people and produced plays that emphasized the inner motivations of the characters. So, these plays capture the essence of the issues that the men or women face but the audience knows that the end product is not the same as the real events.

Literature

The book of Job is written in Hebrew poetry that depends upon sense and repetition and not upon sound for its beauty. It is a great work of literature. It combines epic poetry, drama and debate with an intriguing plot and profound dialogue. Not surprisingly, the book has been much admired by some of the greatest minds, like Alfred Lord Tennyson described it as the greatest poem of ancient or modern times. Martin Luther said, it is the most magnificent, sublime, as no other book of scripture. It has been placed on a par with the work of Homer, Milton and Shakespeare as one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time.

Philosophy

Job is more than a great work of literature it is also a work of philosophy. It asks the questions that philosophers have pondered throughout the history of mankind: why are we here? What is life about? Where did evil come from? Why do good people suffer? What is God's involvement in the world? Is he interested and does he care? Job covers all these themes but especially the question, why do good people suffer? Job was clearly a good man but experienced the most appalling tragedy. The book addresses the issue of why this should be.

Theology

Job is also a book of theology. Philosophy can deal with the big questions in an abstract manner, but theology relates these questions to God. It is important to note from the outset that only those who have a particular view of God have difficulties with the fact of suffering x2. If you believe that God is bad, then there is no problem about suffering, because you would expect a bad God to make you suffer. Only if you believe that God is good do you have a problem. Furthermore, you may believe that God is good but weak, and so is unable to do anything to help you. Again, on the grounds of logic, you should then have no problem with suffering since a weak God can sympathize but cannot help. Only when we believe that God is both able to help and good in his nature do we have a problem with suffering. Many modern theologians try to avoid the problem of suffering by denying one or the other of those two things: they reasoned that either God is bad and is playing tricks on us or he is too weak to affect anything. But it is clear that the author of the book of Job believes:

1. that there is one God.

2. that he relates to his creatures.

3. that he is the almighty, all-powerful Creator.

4. That he is good, caring, and compassionate.

Yet at the same time the book describes Job's situation, which seems to fly in the face of such beliefs. The reader is left to see how Job deals with this conflict and how God makes himself known.

Wisdom literature

It is important that we also understand that the book of job is part of the wisdom literature in the English Bible, along with proverbs, psalms, Ecclesiastes and the song of songs. In the Hebrew Bible these books are called the writings a miscellaneous collection of texts which came out of the prophetic. But which are not regarded as prophecy. Understanding the book of job in this way should help us to interpret it correctly, because some statements in wisdom literature can be misleading. Let me explain in more detail.

First, not everything in wisdom literature is right. It includes passages we men wrestle with. Their statements do not always reflect God's mind, but they are included to show the argument being made and providing that we see their purpose, we can interpret them without any problem. Jobs friends make many statements based on a limited understanding they are given to us to show us examples of how people come to terms with suffering, but to take any of their statements out of context, as if they expressed God mind on the matter, would be the heights of folly. Every statement in the Bible must be seen in the context of the Bible in which it appears. The message of the book as a whole determines the meaning of any statement within it. Secondly, It is important to note that wisdom literature is general and not to particular. This means that words of wisdom are not always true in every situation the book of proverbs, for example is not a list of promises but includes sayings that are generally true most of the time. *If you try to claim that they are true in every situation, you will be disappointed. This gives the clue to the problem that job and his friends faced. They were aware of proverbs indicating that if you live a bad life you suffer for it. This is often true, but not always, and job is part of the ‘but not always’. The book of job is trying to deal with the exceptions to the rule.

A Jewish perspective

We must bear in mind one acute difference between a Jewish understanding of this book and a Christians one. The Jew of the Old Testament times was unable to see the problems of temporal life in the light of ‘eternity’. He felt that the justice of God must be seen in this life, since both good and bad people went to the same destination ‘sheol’, the place of shadowy existence where the parted spirits Slept.

Christians, of course, have a totally different perspective on present suffering. In the light of Christ’s work, they see the bigger picture of heaven. Suffering in this world is small compared to the life that will be enjoyed in heaven. Furthermore, we tend to presume that we deserve to have a good time and enjoy ourselves here on this earth; that life healds to us what we have earned. But nothing could be further from the Christian position. We are not yet to have a good time. God gives us some good times, but every one of them comes as a gift of his love and grace! they are never something we really deserve. we are here to fight against the powers of darkness (ephesians 6:10-12). We are yet to be engaged in continual combat with powerful forces seeking to control human history. that continually frustrates our attempts to plan our careers, our lives, our retirement. that is why God has taught us what is really going on behind the scenes right at the very beginning of this book. So, throughout the book of job there are only hints about life after death. Job declares at one point that he will see God when he is dead, but this is not a common theme, and he certainly does not understand how this might take place.

The book structure

The introduction creates a marvelous tension that underpins the whole framework of the book. God makes a wager with Satan, and that wager is settled in job body. But at no point does job know that the wager has taken place. So, this secret, known by the reader, helps to keep us guessing as job faces the dilemmas of his situation.

*Such a plot is extremely risky for the writer, does it make suggestions about God's character and activity, in particular, his relationship with Satan, which would be the height of blasphemy if it were not true, that God himself was responsible for satan's attack on this Good man.

let us now consider how the book is structured:

THE PROLOGUE (chapter 1-2) (prose)

Two rounds: God versus Satan.

THE DIALOGUE (3:1-42:6) (poetry)

1. Human (3-37)

(a) Eliphaz, Bilbad, Zophar (3-31)

(i) Round One 3-14)

(ii) Round Two (15-21)

(iii) Round Three (22-31)

(b) Elihu (32-37) – a monologue

2. Divine (38:1-42:6))

(i) Round One (38-39)

(ii) Round Two (40:1-42:6)

THE EPILOGUE (42:7-17) (prose)

Final rounds: God versus Job.

the book of job is arranged like a sandwich*. The prose is the ‘bread’, providing the story and the background at the beginning and the end, while the poetry is the ‘filling’ in the middle, consisting of the debate that job has with his three friends and a young man who appears when the friends have left. The epilogue provides the resolution to what has gone before. It is a happy ending, with a difference.

Two plots there are two plots skillfully woven together, a heavenly plot and an earthlyplot. The events that happened on earth are the result of something that has already happened in heaven, just as in the Book of Revelation there is war on earth directly after war in heaven.

The divine plot the book begins with the heavenly plot, God meeting in heaven with Satan. Satan was an Angel whose job was to report sins. He was God's counsel for the prosecution who traveled across the earth to report to God what human beings were like. By the time of job, Satan had reached such a point of cynicism that he couldn't believe that anyone would love God for his own sake. Must be hard being a police officer, you always seem to have a problem seeing the good in bad people. Satan thought people only love God for what they could get out of him. so, there is a debate between God and Satan, with Satan arguing this very point, God asks Satan whether he met job when he visited the earth. God argues that job loves him because he loves him, and not because of any blessing he has received. Satan continues to be cynical in his reply, claiming that if God were to take away his blessings, job would curse God just like all the others. And so, the heavenly wager takes place. The key to every good drama is tension. while the reader is aware of the heavenly wager job is not. If he knew, then the test would not be valid then this interaction teaches us an important lesson about Satan. First, it implies that he cannot be in more than one place at once. He does not have God’s omnipresence. so, when people say that Satan is troubling them because something trivial has gone wrong, they are mistaken. He genuinely has more important work to do with other people! what some people call satanic attack should be more properly called demonic attack. Satan's forces are at work all over the world but that is not to say that Satan himself is personally involved.

This wrong thinking about Satan has arisen partly because we follow the era of the ancient Greeks and divide the world into the natural and the supernatural. We assume that Satan must be supernatural, and so we place him alongside God, as if he is equal in power and authority. Instead, we should divide the world as the Bible does with the creator on one side and his creatures including Satan on the other. Satan is not omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent; he is a mere creature. Secondly, Satan needs God's permission to attack job. Satan cannot touch a person who belongs to God unless God gives him permission. In the New Testament, God promises all believers that they will never be tempted above what they can bear, because he controls the tempter.

The human plot

The larger part of the book describes the debate between job and his friends. The key question that is addressed is, why is job suffering more than other people? There are two viewpoints:

a. the friends are sure that the suffering has come because job is sinning;

b. Job is quite sure that he's not sinning and protests his innocence.

Since the reader knows that job is correct, the dialogue is alive with tension.

The two-plot structure of the book reminds us that none of us knows the whole picture when it comes to understanding the reason for suffering. Beyond looking for reasons, everyone is faced with a bigger question: can I continue to believe in a good God when everything is going wrong? The book of job gives an on answer to this question.

the importance of this issue is clarified by asking, what was job's greatest pain? Was it,

Physical? He was afflicted with sores from head to toe, he was tired and weary, and was in considerable physical pain, was it that? No! We can deal with physical pain.

Social? His physical appearance and the local community's knowledge of his recent tragedy made him a social outcast. He sat on the ash heap at the end of the village, and people walked on the other side of the street rather than talked to him. Even the teenagers laughed at him. Was it this? No!

Mental? He faced the mental pain of not knowing why these distressing things were happening to him, especially as there seemed to be nothing in his past to point to. Was it this? No!

Spiritual? His spiritual pain was far greater than any other, for he felt that he had lost touch with God. He cried out, asking what he might find him, even argues with God! this was the real, deepest pain. The agony of suffering is compounded if we feel that God is far away and no longer cares. However, when job was finally able to speak with God, it didn't turn out as he had imagined. So why did Job suffer? I think job teaches us that suffering is a means by which evil is answered and God is vindicated. It leads to a high and holy and glorious privilege 2 granted to some of us to uphold the glory of God in the middle of the accusations of the devil in this world. Hey you know some of us suffer because we eminently deserve it. Sometimes it comes to awaken us but sometimes it is granted to us as a high and holy privilege to be part of what Paul calls sharing the sufferings of Christ, filling up that which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for his body's sake, which is the church (Col 1:24)

The Prologue

The prologue introduces us to the characters in the story:

God (who is called Yahweh) initiates the whole series of events by the challenging Satan. *As the adversary questions God’s policy of rewarding righteousness, he also calls into question Job’s motives. The challenge does not suggest that Job is not truly righteous in fact, his righteousness is accepted as a premise, or this statement taken to be true.

Satan is the counsel for the prosecution. In the Hebrew text he is called, ‘the Satan’, which means, ‘the accuser’, ‘Satan’ is not yet a proper name. . * The challenge concerns Jobs motivation for being righteous. Does Job fear God for nothing??? Such a challenge from Satan ultimately questions * GOD POLICY of blessing righteous people

Job is described as blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. Those two things belong together: the fear of God leads us to shunning evil. If you lack the fear of God, then you're not so worried about sin. God is clearly pleased with job’s piety and has blessed him with children, property, and good health.

Job’s wife the text describes her as a foolish woman, meaning that she is insensitive to jobs plight. She urges him to curse God and die! just when he needs support and help, she is the first one to bring him pain she tells job that God has deserted him and proceeds to do the same. That must be tough on a man.

The human dialogue

Job eventually breaks the silence by cursing the day he was born he wishes he had been stillborn and had gone too Sheol. At least then he would be at peace instead of in constant pain. It is gloomy, self-pitying talk though never for one moment does he think of taking his life.

Each of the three frames speak three times but for the purpose of analysis and time we will put these speeches all together.

In the first round, the three are one in the contention that God always prospers the upright and punishes the perverse. Job then proves them wrong from his own experience. In the second round Eliphaz emphasizes that only the wicked suffer. Bildad Insists that the wicked always suffer. Zophar insists that any seeming prosperity of the wicked is short lived. job then proves them wrong from his own experience. in the third round the previous theories are more forceful, passionate, or intense embroidered with evasive platitudes. again, job then proves them wrong from his own experience. if you intend to argue with job you had better have your arguments well in hand. he is able to see through the error of logic in their position. the theology does not square with the experience. it is their creed they have faith in, and not God himself. a man with true experience is never at the mercy of man with an argument. at this point we sit where job sits: his questions become our questions. the pressures, the riddles, troubles us, too. We, too, have learned that God is greater than any theology can contain yet, he is never inconsistent, never capricious, never malicious. He is loving, and yet we do not always understand what is happening. Job has had faith in the rule of God; but now, at last, he has begun to exercise in the God who rules. another insight is that job’s view of himself in this bad situation is still woefully inadequate. He has been defending himself, yet we, to have to little understanding of sins attack upon us and the depravity of our own hearts:

the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9

‘desperately’ equals ‘incurably’. Paul points out that they are depths of which we are still not aware:

Now, I am not at all concerned about being judged by you or by any human standard; I don't even pass judgment on myself. my conscience is clear, but that does not prove that I am innocent. the Lord is the one who passes judgment on me. 1 Corinthians 4:3-4

Job's Dilemma

His friends have not given a satisfactory answer to Job's great suffering. He still clings onto the goodness of God, while at the same time appealing to a good conscience in

the matter of sin. He does not understand what God is doing to him, but his trust in the character of God cannot be shaken. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” After

three rounds of fruitless discussions, Job finally rebukes his friends and, in his grief, turns to God as his vindicator.

There are two lessons that can be drawn out from what we have looked at so far:

a. We should be slow to speak when great affliction comes upon a godly person, indeed upon any person.

b. We will not be given the answers, in this life, to all our problems and trials.

Elihu's Speech, chapters 32-37

Elihu, a name which means 'God is Jehovah', now joins the debate. He is a much younger man who up till now has deferred to his elders, but he reminds them that old age does not necessarily bring wisdom with it. He is angry because Job's friends have not been able to answer the problem of Job's suffering, but he is also angry with Job, because he feels that Job, in his insistence upon his righteousness is in great danger of spiritual pride. Elihu does not attempt to find a reason for Job's suffering as his friends did, but he does find fault with Job's arguments. His view is that Job had come perilously close to charging God with unrighteousness. With all the fervour that he can muster, Elihu emphasizes the truth of God's faultless justice and righteousness. He also answers, with equal fervour, a clear flaw in Job's argument - his questioning the value of being righteous. He warns Job of the great danger of even thinking in that way and exhorts him to wait for God's answer even though it appears slow to come (chapter 35:14).

Elihu then concludes his speech by showing the goodness of God towards men and also His greatness as demonstrated in the realm of the weather: the formation of the clouds and rain, the thunderstorm, the snow and ice, all of which man has no power to control; they are under the sovereign power of God. At the end of his speech there is perhaps a hint of the approaching storm, in which God answers Job.

God's Answer to Job, chapters 38-41

In these chapters, the Lord reveals his greatness and sovereignty over all his creation. After a mild rebuke, the Lord unfolds his greatness in the foundation of the earth itself, in controlling the mighty power of the ocean, commanding the very dawn, ordering the constellations in the heavens and commanding all the elements to ensure that the living creatures which have their abode in the wildest of places are all provided for. In response to this first speech Job begins to see that he was rash in his claims and now

lays his hand upon his mouth. The Lord continues his reply by a reference to two great creatures called 'Behemoth' and 'Leviathan'. Almost all modern commentators translate these as the Hippopotamus and the Crocodile. Much of the description just does not fit, so a much better interpretation would be of two powerful members of the dinosaur family.

The argument is that if man cannot comprehend and control these mighty creatures which were created by God, Job should not be surprised that he cannot fully understand all of God's works of providence, either.

Job's response is repentance and worship. Repentance for hasty and rash speech about God; worship because he now has a fuller revelation of the character of God. And it is interesting to note that no reason is given for the extremity of Job's suffering. The real answer to the problem is that when the believer is going through a severe trial which is clearly not because of wilful sins, he must learn patience and seek to trust in the almighty Wisdom which has permitted such a trial. The answer may not be given in this life, but God always knows what he is doing.

Job's Final End

The last verses of the book revert to prose and tell us the final state of affairs. Job's health and wealth are fully restored, indeed his possessions are doubled. As for Job's

friends, they are commanded to bring sacrifices and then God will hear Job's prayer for them.

In the light of New Testament teaching we cannot expect the kind of material result as Job had, but we should look to the heavenly reward for our patience under affliction. (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18 and 12:7-10).

Seven lessons from the book of Job

We all have them. Some of us even seem to have more than our share! The Apostle James tells us to count them all joy, but, as we know, that is easier said than done.

After having experienced what seems to have been an exceptional Feast, we’ve all had to come back to living life in today’s world. Tomorrow’s World is not here yet and we have to cope with the here and now. Part of that involves dealing with the pressures of life—trials and tests.

We must ask what many might think is a silly question. What exactly are trials and tests, anyway? Also, why must we face them and why should we be told to count them a joy? Is there a right way and a wrong way to approach trials?

The book of Job is far too complex for a ‘once over lightly’ treatment. one of the many lessons of this book is what we find in every book of the Bible: it strips away our illusions and presents life as it really is. the story of a normal human being who is beset by misfortune and suffering. Look at the specific lessons we can learn about responding to trials as revealed in the book of Job.

Lesson 1—God Knows

One of the most overwhelming things about a severe trial can be the sense of isolation. We want to make sure that God knows because when He finds out, surely, He’ll do something about it! In Job one we are given a behind-the-scenes look at events of which Job was completely unaware.

God, however, was very much aware of Job and of the wholehearted obedience he sought to render. In fact, God Himself called Satan’s attention to Job. Christ reminded His disciples in Luke 12:6–7 that God, who even takes detailed note of the sparrows, is much more deeply interested in the affairs of His own children. The Father is aware of everything about us down to the smallest detail. Even the hairs of our head are numbered

When we are struck with personal tragedy or persecuted for obedience, we can be sure that God knows. This is vitally important to keep in mind to counteract the sense of isolation and loneliness that will often beset us at such times. “No one understands what I’m going through,” we think. But Jesus Christ does! We have a faithful High Priest who was tested in all ways like us and is therefore able to empathize and give us the needed help (Hebrews 4:15–16).

Though Job could not begin to understand why all of these things were happening to him, he knew God was aware of it. He did not react, as Satan had predicted, by cursing God. Rather, Job told his wife, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10). But there's more this book of job also teaches us, through the symbolism of the two great beasts, behemoth and leviathan, how God handles evil the world the flesh as well as the devil. But the greatest theme of all: the revealing of the character of God himself. Many see God as a cold, impersonal being, distant from us, uncaring, often ruthless and vindictive, powerful, what was art compassion. The God of the Old Testament, in contrast to that of the New Testament but this book teaches us that God is always exactly the same. Compassionately aware of our problems, deeply concerned about us, carefully controlling everything that touches us, patient, forgiving, and ultimately responsible for everything that happens.

Lesson 2—God Limits the Trial

The story recounted in chapters 1 and 2 makes us share in the knowledge of to the actual conversations between God and Satan! When we begin reading the book of Job we learn that, while God allowed Satan to afflict Job, He set limits beyond which the devil could not pass. From the start we know there are limits to Job’s trial, and we know what those limits are. Initially, God restricted Satan from harming Job’s health. Later, He allowed Job to be personally stricken, but insisted that his life be spared. In all of this we have an advantage over Job. At the time he was going through adversity, Job knew nothing of the conversation between God and Satan. He knew nothing of any limits God had pre-imposed upon his trial.

When we find ourselves in the midst of great adversity, we must always keep in mind that there may have been a similar “behind-the-scenes” conversation regarding us. God has established the limits of our trial, but we just do not know what those limits are!

What we as Christians experience is not generally time and chance. The devil does not “sneak up” while God’s back is turned. God is involved in every test that we undergo and He has established pre-set limits beyond which Satan cannot go. Neither the duration nor the intensity of the trial is completely open-ended. Ultimately, God is in charge! Furthermore, we need to see life as God sees it. Think about this never again in all eternity will we ever again have this privilege of bearing suffering for his name’s sake in the day of reproach what an honor if it be extended to any of us!

Lesson 3—Seek Growth, Not Vindication

This is perhaps one of the hardest lessons to keep in mind. Job wanted God to vindicate him in the eyes of his friends. People ridiculed him (30:1, 9) and that can be hard to take. When Elihu began to answer Job on behalf of God in chapters 32 through 37, he pointed out that Job had been wrongly focused during much of his trial. In Job 33:12–22, Elihu explains that God instructs and chastens in various ways. God has His reasons for how He deals with us. And sometimes they are beyond our understanding.

Job was so certain of his innocence and of the injustice of his afflictions that for a long time he was unable to see beyond that. He tried to defend himself from the false conclusions of his friends and in so doing was unable to see areas of needed growth in his life.

Again, God has reasons for allowing whatever happens—though we are often at a loss to fathom what they are. In our trials and tests, James encourages us to ask God for wisdom (James 1:5). If we do so in faith, He will surely give it. Whatever the trial or test, there is always growth that can be achieved. Even Jesus Christ Himself learned by the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8). God wants us to grow. Therefore, we must undergo periodic pruning to stimulate that growth (John 15:2).

Lesson 4—The “Why” Often Proves Elusive

Humanly, we like everything to be neatly pigeon— holed. We want the world and the events in it to make sense. But in trying to give an explanation for everything we sometimes miss the point. This is the way it was for Job’s friends.

The first of Job’s friends to speak was Eliphaz. He declared, “Remember now, whoever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, those who plough iniquity and sow trouble reap the same” (4:7–8). Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, Job’s three friends, were all sure that Job must have had some dirty secret at the root of his newfound troubles. They “knew” there had to be a reason. So, they badgered poor Job to confess this suspected secret sin.

Job knew there was no great hidden scandal in his life engendering his trials. He was defensive in the face of his accusers, but he also wondered—’ ‘Why?” One of the difficult things for us to accept is that many of the sufferings we go through simply cannot be neatly categorized. The why is often elusive. Bad things do not only happen to bad people. Job recognized that many times the wicked live to reach old age and even appear to prosper (21:7–13).

There are many whysthat we will never know in this life. Acceptance that the why may prove elusive sets the stage for a fifth vital lesson from the book of Job.

Lesson 5—Trust in the Face of Anguish

Job was in despair. His whole life had been turned upside down. He had lost his wealth and his loved ones in a series of sudden calamities. Now his health was gone too. Why? Job was deeply frustrated because he could not make sense out of his trials. Yet in the depths of perplexity and despair he made one of the most profound declarations of faith recorded in the Bible: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (13:15).

In Job 19 we read the words of anguish that poured from Job’s lips. “Know that God has overthrown and put me in the wrong, and has closed His net about me.... He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths.... My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.... I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother” (vv. 6, 8, 14, 17 Amplified Bible). Yet even at this low point of anguish and bewilderment, Job declares his heartfelt trust in God. “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth.... I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself” (vv. 25–27).

Job understood the truth of the resurrection. “If a man die, shall he live again?” Job asked. He went on to record the divinely inspired answer. “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come (14:14 KJV). Job knew that God would call and that he would answer and come forth from the grave, because God would have a desire to the work of His hands (v. 15).

It is relatively easy to trust God when things are going the way we like them. When the world around us makes sense it is fairly easy to believe God is in charge. But what about when things turn upside down and inside out? It is in the midst of such perplexity and anguish that faith in God is most needed.

One of the things Satan never understood about Job was his motive. Satan thought Job only served God because it was to his advantage here and now. He was convinced that if God removed blessings and protection, Job would curse and revile Him. But that was not true. Job loved God and served Him out of sincere devotion. He trusted God even when he was feeling abandoned. This lesson of steadfast trust is one of the most important aspects of character we can gain from any trial.

Lesson 6—God Will Ultimately Reward both Good and Evil

Life can often seem unfair. There are those who make no pretence of serving God and yet they seem to be doing well. There are others who are genuinely trying, but they are experiencing many difficulties and setbacks. What we have to keep in mind is that this life is temporary.

Job noticed that there were wicked men whose “houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure; their cow calves without miscarriage” (21:9–10). Yet he realized that was not the end of the story. In verse 30 of the same chapter, Job said, “For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; they shall be brought out on the day of wrath.” Even though it may seem that life is not fair, God is a God of justice.

Ultimately, it is in the resurrection that God will reward the righteous and punish the wicked. However, there are many times when even in this life events can make a sudden shift. The conclusion of the book of Job reveals, “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (42:12). In the long run, there are blessings for obedience—entrance into the Kingdom of God is the greatest of all blessings—and curses for disobedience.

Lesson 7—We Emerge When We Learn What God Is Teaching

Many public schools in the United States promote and graduate students regardless of what they’ve actually learned. But God does not operate that way. He is the great Teacher who is preparing us for a role in His Kingdom and He insists that we learn our lessons properly. It was only when Job began coming to grips with the lessons that God wanted Him to learn that he began emerging from his period of great trial.

God focuses on the bottom line. He wants us to become like Him. Job was an exemplary man but he had a flaw. The Scriptures say Job’s problem was that “he was righteous in his own eyes and that “he justified himself rather than God” (32:1–2). Ultimately Job emerged with a far deeper understanding of the Almighty as well as a deeper understanding of himself and his own human nature. “Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” Job told God (42:6).

A vital lesson that all of us must learn in order to please God and to begin emerging from a trial is that of mercy and forgiveness. Job’s friends were miserable comforters. Regardless of their motives, they were a great part of Job’s trial. Yet notice the turning point when Job began to emerge from his great adversity. ‘And the Lordrestored Job’s losses when he prayedfor his friends” (v. 10).

Job came to really know God deeply, not simply to know about Him. He became a far more humble and compassionate man as a result of what he went through. Learning these lessons was the key to his emerging out of the dark shadows of life and into the sunlight once again.

Our trials can make us bitter, or they can make us better! Which will yours do for you?

Prayer

Father, thank you for your loving care of us.

We thank you for our mediator, who found a ransom for us in his own life's blood poured out on our behalf, who has made a way to set aside the daily contamination of our sins and helps us to face every day fresh and vital, forgiven, alive, without guilt, without a sense of rejection, having sent us and adequate power by which to live, and do the things we ought to do.

Thank you for the peace, the joy, the hope, and the love that he has brought into our lives. Amen.