At times we will not be able to see any “reason” for the troubles we are enduring, and we may not be able to see anything good at all coming from our sufferings and losses. Job also was a man who could see no reason for the losses and affliction that God had allowed to touch his life.
In reading the book of Job, we are made aware of a “contest”, so to speak, between God and Satan, in which Job was involved. We are also clearly told that Job had done nothing wrong to bring all of these miseries upon himself, because the word of God tells us three times in the first two chapters of the book that Job was “blameless” and “upright”, and a man who feared God and turned away from evil. (Job 1:1, 1:8, 2:3).
Job was a very wealthy man. He was described as “the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3). From the beginning of the book, we see that the Lord God Himself brought up the case of Job to Satan, suggesting to Satan that Job was a man of great faith and devotion to Him.
Satan replied to the Lord saying that the only reason for Job’s devotion to Him was that He had given him so much in the way of prosperity in life, and He had placed His hedge of protection around him. Satan then challenged God to take all that He had given to Job, insisting that Job’s devotion would then surely fail, and he would curse Him to His face.
In response to this challenge, The Lord God agreed to give Satan control over everything that Job had, but He would not allow Satan to touch Job himself. After this, by various tragedies many of Job’s servants were killed, and all of his flocks were destroyed. His wealth had quickly been taken from him.
As soon as he found out about this loss, one of his servants came to tell him that all of his seven sons and three daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house when suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the
desert, and the house collapsed on them, killing them all. In a very short span of time, Job suffered the loss of all of his wealth, and if that blow was not enough, he suffered the loss of all of his ten children.
Job’s response to these grievous losses is recorded in Job 1, where we
read:
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God. (Job 1:20-22).
After these events, God again brought up the case of Job to Satan, saying that Job still held to his integrity despite all of his losses and suffering. Satan’s reply to his defeat at this point was to challenge God again. This time Satan insisted that if Job’s physical body was afflicted, his faith and devotion to Him would surely crumble.
Satan was then given permission to afflict Job’s health as well, but he was told that he must spare Job’s life. And so Satan went out and afflicted Job with painful sores all over his body. All that Job could do at this point was to sit down in the ashes of what used to be his prosperous life and scrape his sores with a shard.
To make matters worse, Job’s wife turned against him and God in the face of these tragedies, as we see in Job 2:9. She mocked him for still holding on to his integrity after all of the tragedy that God had allowed to come upon him, and she told him to curse God and die. Job had now lost his wealth, all of his children, his health, and the sympathies of his wife, who could have provided some comfort to him in this time of suffering. We might assume that she abandoned him because she is not mentioned in the book again.
Job’s response again to all that had happened to him is still the same expression of faith in God, as we see from his reply to his wife’s suggestion
that he “curse God and die”. Job told her that she was talking foolishly, and he asserted that we should be willing to accept trouble and suffering from God as well as prosperity and abundance. Up to this point, Job still did not sin by accusing God of wrongdoing or injustice in all that had come upon him (Job 2:10).
Most of us are frightened to think about losing what wealth and resources we may have and becoming impoverished. And we dread the thought of losing one child, let alone all of our children. When we think of losing our health and finding ourselves unable to work and support ourselves, we also become frightened. It is hard for us to imagine the impact that all of these things happening together at the same time had upon Job, but this still was not the full extent of the misery that he was to suffer.
Job had three friends, and when these friends heard about all of the troubles that had come upon him, they went to comfort him. As can be seen from the many discourses they had with Job, it turned out that they only added to his misery by suggesting that all of his troubles were the result of some fault or wrongdoing of his own. Their understanding of God was that He rewarded good people with health and prosperity, and He punished evildoers with tragedy and suffering.
With every erroneous assertion and insinuation of his friends, Job came back with his rebuttals, insisting that he had done nothing wrong. He did not understand God’s reasons for allowing all of this suffering to come upon him.
Job had no idea that God had presented him to Satan as blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. Further, Job had no idea that God had determined to demonstrate to Satan, and to all who would read the account of his trial for centuries to come, that he would be made to persevere in his faith, continuing to fear God and shun evil, regardless of whatever tragedies and sufferings came upon him. Job’s response to the weight of his misery and pain up to this point is recorded in chapter 14 where he said:
“…All the days of my struggle I will wait until my change comes.” (Job: 14:14).