As we discuss the Old Testament and the different stories that have been forgotten, I find it’s crucial to discuss one in particular. That is, the story of Job.

The story of Job is certainly confusing, and it takes time both to read it, and to understand it. It takes you through a whirlwind of events in a man’s life, and it causes you to reflect on your life, and on God’s character.

It is a very popular book of the Bible, but not necessarily in the way that it should be. What many take from this book is that bad things often happen to good people. Throughout the story, Job is questioning God and his character, and even his own character, and is also a major theme that many can pull from this story. However, I find another resolution from this story that I can’t help but think on.

The Story of Job

If you’ve never read the story of Job, it is quite the confusing one. It starts with Satan talking with God, claiming that a man named Job only loves God and serves him, because God protects him. Because of this, the Lord allows Satan to affect all of Job’s positions, but not the man himself. Sadly, this led to his children dying, his possessions being destroyed, and his life completely changing. He also developed painful sores on his body, though they come nowhere close to the emotional pain he experienced.

Along with this pain, he was experiencing a season of questioning and doubt. He didn’t really know what to make of what was happening. After all, practically his whole family is gone, his possessions are gone, and even his health is deteriorating, due to the sores. To make matters worse, at this point in history, if bad things happened to you, you would assume that you did something wrong, and that God was mad at you. Which is exactly what everyone told him.

Job had a few friends, that were close to what we would know as preachers. They all said similar things as to why Job was experiencing all of this. According to his friends, he had to have been doing something wrong and sinning in the eyes of God. He needed to repent and if he didn’t, these “punishments” would persist. But Job didn’t do anything wrong to deserve all of the pain he was receiving. According to God, he was a “blameless and upright man” and there was none on the Earth that were like him. He didn’t deserve his pain.

The story ends with God confronting Job, after all of the questioning, the pleas, and the doubts. God isn’t necessarily upset here, but he does rebuke him.

““Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!”” (Job 38:4-5).

In the end, God explains that Job does not need to understand why everything happened, but only that he needs to serve God. He doesn’t need to know God’s ways, but only to serve him, love him, and fear him. God also restores everything that Job had lost.

The Lesson of Job

There are many different lessons that you can take from Job. You could look at this as God revealing why bad things happen, not because he makes them happen, but because the enemy does. You could look on the bright side and note that God restores all that we lose. Or you could simply make a case for this book teaching us that we need better friends, as his friends in the stores were not helpful. The most important thing that I take from Job is comfort in the fact that he didn’t need to know everything.

The interaction between Job and God is interesting and takes up a few chapters. Throughout it, God is essentially telling Job that his ways and his thoughts are higher than ours. God was there when the Earth was formed. He is all-powerful. He knows all things. In Job’s insignificant life, he knows nothing in comparison to the vastness of God’s knowledge, and he’s powerless compared to God’s vast power. But still, Job questioned God, in favor of needing to know why all of this was happening to him.

God’s response through Job 38-41 comforts me in that He knows all things, and He is all-powerful, so that means that we don’t have to be. We don’t have to know why everything happens. The important thing for us to do is to trust God and stay faithful to him. We don’t need to know everything, but we can place our trust in the one who does. If we lose something along the way, we can trust in the fact that the Lord will restore it.

Final Thoughts

Job can be a comforting story for some, and a scary one for others. Trusting in God isn’t always easy, but I believe that it’s clearly the right way to move forward.

God loves you. He cares for you. One of the coolest things about the story of Job, is that he didn’t even have a covenant with God, like David, Abraham, or like you and me. God gave us promises that we can stand on and trust in, as well as his great character. We don’t have to go into life placing blind faith in an invisible God. Our faith can be founded on the evidence in God’s word, and we can know the invisible God through relationship with him.

Psalms 37:4-7 says this,

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.”

We have the privilege to delight ourselves in God, resting in him, and trusting in him. That is the way that Job should have gone, and that is the way to prosperity, and hope.

Don’t trust in yourselves and your own understanding anymore, but trust in God, and his great and mighty power that not only loves us, but covers us with protection.

Have a great week!