Job was one of the first big books of the Bible I remember reading through as a kid. I was probably around ten years old. Our family was on a week-long vacation at the beach.
Now, you may be thinking, “What kid would read through a lengthy Old Testament book while at the beach?” The answer is: a kid that was covered in blisters from too much sun exposure the day before and had nothing better to do. My siblings hadn’t got burned as badly as I, so they were out enjoying the sand and the surf. Back in those days we didn’t have Netflix or Prime Video, so binge-watching wasn’t an option. All that was on T.V. throughout the afternoon were soap operas and daytime talk shows. Give me a break.
So for whatever reason (perhaps the Holy Spirit’s prompting?), I sat down and opened my Children’s Living Bible to the book of Job. I had always found the first couple of chapters intriguing — reading about how rich Job was, the conversation between Satan and God, the tragic death of Job’s children and the loss of Job’s own health.
I also liked the last chapter of the book when God rebukes Job’s friends and restores all of Job’s fortunes by giving Job “twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10). I also wondered what Job’s daughters looked like, for “in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters” (Job 42:15). I’ll bet they were knock-outs.
But the first two chapters and the last chapter are but the bookends of this 42-chapter book. The main substance of the book is the 39 chapters in the middle. The story centers on the sovereignty of God and the justice of God in light of human suffering and misery. This account also reveals the limitations of human perspective. As one commentator put it,
The oversimplified counsel of Job’s friends provides no answers for the tragedies that strike the lives of the righteous.
My Bible reading plan for this year currently has me reading a few chapters from Job each day. This morning I as I read Job’s expression of anguish in chapter 19, I was struck by his words in verses 23-24:
Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
If only Job knew at that time that his words, his story, his pain, his spiritual journey were written! They were “inscribed in a book” — the Book of all books! The Word of God, which stands forever (Isa. 40:8)!
We’re not sure exactly how this came to be. Perhaps Job’s friend Elihu wrote this book shortly after the recorded events occurred. Maybe Moses wrote the account of Job, either during the pre-exodus years when he was in Midian and the people of Israel were suffering under bondage in Egypt, or during Israel’s forty years in the wilderness. Still other Bible scholars believe that Job was written by Solomon during the days of the kings (around 950 B.C.). Whatever the case, the record was revealed by the Holy Spirit, otherwise the author would have never known of the conversation in heaven between God and Satan.
The point is that Job’s story was written down for our benefit. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).
Have you suffered financial ruin? Job’s possessions were wiped out in a single day (Job 1:13-17).
Have you lost a child in death? Job lost all of his kids (Job 1:19).
Have you suffered through health problems? God allowed Satan to do whatever he wanted with Job’s body, except kill him (Job 2:4-8).
Has your spouse failed you? Job’s wife told him to curse God and die (Job 2:9).
Have your friends misjudged you and been overly harsh with you? Job’s friends were “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2).
Any one of these tragedies would be devastating, yet Job suffered through them all. Yet God had a purpose in his pain. God allowed Job to suffer in order to prove the genuineness of his faith, to help him see God more clearly, and to help comfort countless people down through the centuries who have suffered greatly and found themselves asking the same questions Job did.
Centuries after Job’s experience, the New Testament writer James wrote to challenge Christians to live out their faith in the midst of suffering. In doing so, he wrote,
Think of how we regard as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job’s endurance and you have seen the Lord’s purpose, that the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. (James 5:11)
Yes indeed, we “have heard of Job’s endurance” because his words were written in the greatest book of all, the Holy Scriptures, for our benefit.
Maybe it’s time you cracked open this Old Testament book of wisdom and read through it again — or perhaps for the very first time.
It sure beats Netflix … and sometimes even a day at the beach.