Job’s Faithfulness ... by Sharon K. Connell

I’ve been reading through the book of Job, and no matter how many times I read the Bible from cover to cover, I always learn new things. I’m not sure how many times I’ve read through Job, (after the twenty-forth time through the Bible since 1985, I stopped counting), but the more I read about this man, the more respect I have for what he had gone through. I love the verse in 16:2 where Job answers Eliphaz’s discourse. Job flat out tells him and Job’s other socalled friends (and I’m sure they were but had felt they knew more than Job), “… miserable comforters are ye all.” And they were, at that point.

Have you ever gone through a tragedy in your life and had a friend tell you it befell you because of something you did wrong or because you weren’t living your life up to God’s standards? Thank God, I’ve never had someone do that to me. But I know others have. It’s devastating. And what most likely is not true. God puts us through hardships for many reasons. Rarely because we’ve done something wrong.

The Job I see in the Bible is going through anguish. He’s lost everything: his income, his family, his health, and then his wife turns her back on him. Now his friends tell him he deserves what he’s going through. Let me repeat. The man was in anguish. He couldn’t figure out why. He had no idea God was testing him. It wasn’t because he’d done anything wrong. God was showing the devil how much Job loved the Creator of all the earth. And Job did.

Job had been a good man. He did everything to stay right with God, and God blessed him. The devil had permission to take it all away. God knew what Job would do, just as He knows everything we will do in our lives. Yet God gives us our free will and doesn’t stop us from doing anything we want. Putting myself in Job’s shoes, am I as righteous as he was? Not hardly. But Job’s righteousness, even though it was true, was his stumbling block. The poor man became so frustrated in trying to figure out why God had allowed these things to happen that he exalted himself.

In a way, Job’s questions to God reminded me of Jesus on the cross when Christ asked, “Why has Thou forsaken me?” Job is asking the same thing in essence. And he gets no answer… not right away. During his discourses in the book, Job talks to and disputes with his friends and with God at the same time. If you read the account carefully, you’ll see that at times the things Job says cannot be him talking to his friends, but rather to God Himself. Can’t you just feel Job’s pain and struggle?

After a back-and-forth discussion between Job and his three peers, he has said things that the three of them can no longer dispute. At that point, a younger man, Elihu, steps up and says his piece. The Bible tells us that because he’s younger, Elihu held his peace. But when Job justified himself rather than God and says he doesn’t deserve what’s happening to him, Elihu cannot hold his peace any longer. He wants to justify Job, but Job has elevated himself. Elihu warns Job not to put himself in the Shoes of God. Elihu goes into a long dissertation about how great God is. He defends God for six chapters.

When Elihu finishes his discourse, God steps in. For the next two chapters, God asks Job where he was when the miraculous works of God were made. God lays out all that He’s done without Job’s assistance. Then God asks Job if he is going to instruct and reprove the Almighty. Whoa! What would you say to that? Nope… not me… no way, dear God. I imagine Job felt about two inches high right about then. In chapter forty, verse four, he says, “… I am vile; what shall I answer thee?…”

Not once had Job argued with Elihu during his say, and he certainly wasn’t about to contradict God.

Then God turns his attention to Job’s three friends. Oh, boy. I’m glad I wasn’t in their shoes… or sandals. In chapter forty-two, God tells them to make a sacrifice. They are to take it to Job, who will offer it up to God because God will accept it from him. And then, Job will pray for them. I believe these men felt more like a centimeter tall instead of two inches.

In the end, Elihu does not receive any chastisement from God, like Job’s other three friends. When Job prayed for his friends, God turned things around. Chapter forty-two, verse twelve, says God blessed Job more at his end than at his beginning. He was rewarded for his faithfulness… even though he stumbled a bit.

What I’ve always come away with from the book of Job is this. God knows what’s best for my life, no matter what He allows me to go through. If I’m living my life for my Savior, and I can’t see anywhere where I should improve, I am to accept what God causes to happen in my life and thank Him for it. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” No, it’s not easy, but I know the reward for doing that will be worth it all. Job’s was.

Another thing I come away with from the book of Job is that we are to judge between right and wrong, not other people, because of the problems they may be going through. We are to be compassionate instead of finding fault.

Do you have the faith of Job? Do I? Are we compassionate friends to those in need? Or are we like Job’s three judgmental friends?

(All Scripture is from the King James Authorized 1611 Version)

Sharon Connell