Good morning, welcome to the eighteenth book of the Bible.
Sections of Scripture
One can separate the books of the Bible into themes.
We began with the Law, which was Genesis to Deuteronomy.
History, which is the historical records of everything that happened to the people of Israel followed this. That took us from Joshua, as he took the tribe across the Jordan into the land God had given them, through Esther.
Our next theme is poetry. This will encompass Psalms, Proverbs and writings.
Therefore, Job is a poem. Not in the rhyming sense. However, the Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica consider it to be “the finest expression of the Hebrew poetic genius”. (1)
We all suffer in this life. Jesus promised that in this life, we would have troubles (see John 16:33).
Our bodies, though amazingly created by God, are both durable and frail.
I have survived high speed crashes on snow skis, water skis and motorcycles, without a scratch. At other times, I have strained my back, thrown out a knee or injured my shoulder, simply by moving wrong while seated.
As David wrote in Psalm 139:14, “we are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
God designed us this way. He wanted us to know the magnitude of His greatness. Our weakness highlights His strength. It causes us to rely on Him for that power.
A Life of Blessing
Today we will look at the first four chapters of Job.
It begins in 1:1, explaining who Job is.
People like to believe themselves to be good. The Bible says none are righteous (Rom 3:10).
In our opening verse 1:8, God says he is blameless and upright.
For the believer, there is no greater goal than to hear God say, “well done good and faithful servant”.
Before Job could get to that point, he was going to face trials.
He had everything. Not as rich or honored as Solomon, but Job had ten children, enormous success, and good health.
Most of us go to work every day and live paycheck to paycheck, or close to it. We imagine that someone like Donald Trump, Elon Musk or Bill Gates would have no troubles.
That is the picture at the beginning of this book. Job was living a life of luxury.
The Hebrew form of Job’s writing leads people to consider it the oldest book in the Bible.
He lived around the year 2000 BCE, which would have been the same time as Abraham. (2)
The Devil’s Challenge
Satan was still one of God’s angels (v1:6). As they came to present themselves, he challenges God’s perception of Job.
Keep in mind that heavenly occupants live outside of earthly time. We will learn more about that later in this book.
God allows Satan to test Job (v1:12). This confirms that everything that happens in our lives passes by God first.
Satan can even use the powers of God to come against us. He does this by sending the fire of God to burn up his sheep and the servants (v1:16).
The devil also shows he has control of the things of this world by sending wind to collapse the house and kills Jobs family (v1:19)
Loss and Lament
Though only nineteen verses into his story, Job has already lost his wealth and his family.
When tragedy hits, these things will not save you.
It is easy to get bitter in circumstances like this.
When I was a teen, my sister had a baby. He only lived a few short weeks. Just long enough to capture everyone’s hearts.
At a time of extreme loss, it is easy to wonder why God even allowed that child to be born. If He was going to call him home, why put his mother through such torment?
I went from being a kid who resented being drug to Catholic church when he was younger, to a complete atheist.
Any God who could be so cruel would not get my worship.
Job does not do this. He continues to praise God even through this pain.
He asks, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (v2:10, NIV)
This is a good point. Everything we have comes from God. All we could want is God.
Job knows this, but it is a hard lesson to learn.
Silence and Suffering
I never heard her say it. Maybe she never felt it. My sister never lamented having her baby, as painful as losing him was.
Job doesn’t regret having his family or wife. He resents being born or even conceived (chapter 3).
He has some friends show up to comfort him, but they don’t know what to say.
When I was paralyzed in my car accident, I saw this with my closest friends.
They would come over, and you could see the pity in their eyes.
I didn’t want their pity. All I wanted was to be accepted as I was.
They would say nothing.
Jobs friends sit in silence with him for a week (v2:13).
Finding Common Ground
We will learn a lot from this book.
Today we find there is some commonality between us and Job.
We may not have as much as he had, but we all know what it is to lose what we have.
If not us directly, we have friends who we try to comfort, we see how difficult that is.
It is important to see ourselves in the lives of the people in the Bible. When we find that connection, it helps us learn what they do differently than us.
We can learn from their mistakes, as well as their victories.
Before this book ends, we will see how Jesus plays into this narrative. God provides for us, even in the darkest of times.
He is always limiting what the enemy can do against us.
We have already seen that while we are just here living our lives, God is considering us at all times. His eye is always on us.
Today, take a moment to contemplate the things you have in common with Job.
Tomorrow we will read Job 5-8
https://www.britannica.com/topic/biblical-literature/Jobhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/biblical-literature/Job