I used to dread reading the book of Job. Not only can it be very depressing, but also it is hard to know who I can trust as I’m reading it. Over the last few years, I have read the book multiple times, and my perspective on it has changed.
Read in Light of Truth
One of the reasons reading the book of Job is difficult is because it challenges our preconceived idea that, as long as we do what’s right, we will be blessed in this life. We long for a guarantee that our lives will be happy, that our kids will be prosperous, and that we will live to a ripe old age. This is what Job’s friends believed, too. They tried to convince him that he must have done something wrong to deserve his sorrowful situation.
The problem with this thinking is we can’t see the full picture. We only see our little section of the tapestry, and we see it from the wrong side with all of the tangles and knots. God see’s the full tapestry from the right side. He sees the masterpiece that our lives, intertwined with the lives of others, are creating.
We read in Job 1:8 that God brags on Job. He calls Job a righteous man. He allows Satan to attack Job, knowing that Job is faithful. (Click here for a blog post that unpacks this a bit more.)
As the readers, we have this information from the beginning. It is as if we are in on a secret that Job’s wife and his friends don’t know. So as you read the book of Job, keep coming back to Job 1:8. Hold everything said by his friends and by Job up to the light of the truth God spoke in that verse. Job held on to this truth through his suffering. He loved God and followed Him. He didn’t know why he was suffering, but he knew it wasn’t because of sin.
Prepare Now
“[…] staying rooted in our relationship with God gives us grounding wisdom” (Love God Greatly Bible 760), but this grounding has to happen before the suffering strikes so we can recognize bad advice and have the strength to endure. In order to not just survive, but even thrive in the hard times, we have to know our relationship with God is strong. We have to cultivate our spiritual walk, repent of sin quickly, and know the truth of Scripture so we can withstand the suffering that will come.
You might be asking, “what good is it to follow God if I lose everything in the process?” The answer is an eternity in His presence. As believers, it is important for us to live in the truth that this life is just a waiting room. Yes, it matters what we do here, but everything here is temporary. When we lose sight of that, we start to fall into the traps of this world that try to convince us this life is all there is, YOLO!
Turn to God
This doesn’t mean we have to paint on a happy face and pretend everything is alright. In fact, Job teaches us that it is okay to ask God “why?” when we are hurting and confused. Even if God is the One we blame, He wants us to come to Him with our pain. God wants us to give our grief back to Him. The key is to come to Him! This allows us to begin the process of restoration. The problem results when we allow our suffering to turn us away from God. Restoration will never happen if we don’t lay our pain at His feet.
And God will answer. He answered Job, though He didn’t do it the way Job wanted. God chose to answer Job’s questions by revealing His own character to Job. And in remembering who God is, Job’s perspective changed.
“The joy that comes through suffering is not because of a change in circumstances, but in the experience of knowing God more intimately through it” (769).
So I encourage you to read the book of Job. Sift everything through Job 1:8, and rest on God’s character as He describes Himself to Job. Maybe Job will become one of your favorite books of the Bible!
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For Further Reading
Very nice books thanks for sharing ☺️😍 I loved this book 📖