Job 2-9

We read Job Chapters 2-9 tonight.  After the mass amount of horror that fell upon Job in Chapter 1, Satan asks God if Satan can tempt Job this time.  So Satan comes and gives Job some boils and worms and goodies like that.  Job's wife says, "Curse God and die!"  His friends say, "No one's perfect...just give in and curse God a little!"  Job responds to all of them similarly with a "How dare you say that I must have sinned and how dare you say that God isn't just.  I won't say that I am as just and perfect as God because that would be a sin, but I'm not going to say that I've sinned because that would be a lie.  Please just let me grieve so that I can move forward."

These conversations between Job and his wife and friends may seem familiar to you.  Have you ever defended something you believe in even though your belief (or truth, in this case) may not have been the popular one?  Let us pray that we all have the strength to see God's perfection and fairness when times get tough.  Pray that you have the courage to stand up and do what is right in the name of God when times of doubt arise!

A brief point for discussion...

As we're reading Job, we're noticing that this is one of the first books that we've read so far that hasn't really been someone relating specific historical accounts.  There are a couple of mentions of names and places, but the trials of Job are told from the perspective of a storyteller, not from Job himself or from a historian.  We are not here to decipher whether or not Job was a real person, but we just thought that it was an interesting point to make.  Much of the rhetoric within Job reminds us of the way Jesus taught; it sounds a bit like parables, and the way that Job answers his wife's and friends' foolish questions is similar to the way that Jesus answers the Pharisees and all those who doubt him.  Regardless of the depth of reality of the tellings of Job, the man is the exact picture of the way that God wants us to be: hard-working, God-fearing, truth-seeking, and sin-free!

Let's all be as brave as Job and do what is exactly right.