I finished reading the book of Job this week which I
have been studying in my Circle of Friends group at church. It is all
about how Job lost everything including his health to prove that he did
not worship God only for what he could get
from him as Satan claimed. Throughout the book, Job’s “friends” came
to comfort him but instead accused him of sinning and kept telling him
to repent. They claimed God was punishing him for something but this
was not true at all. In the end, Elihu, a friend
who finally spoke truth about God even though he was the youngest one.
Job never cursed God, although he did get to the point of being so
depressed that he wished he had never been born. The last few chapters,
God speaks to Job and Job realizes what an all-powerful
and mighty God he has. God was angry with Job’s friends for not
speaking the truth about Him and told Job to pray for them. God also
blessed Job with twice as much as he lost and gave him more children
too! After this, Job lived 140 years.
The first few chapters and the last few chapters of
this book is the best part because the middle chapters are repetitive
with each friend accusing Job and saying things that aren’t really true
and Job’s rebuttal after each friend speaks.
The last few chapters is where God poses questions to Job, none of
which Job can answer, showing God’s mighty power. God never does
explain to Job why he let Job suffer, but does give him even more than
he had before. There are lots of good lessons we can
learn from reading this book such as, (1) even good, righteous people
may suffer; (2) God is more powerful than Satan; (3) Satan cannot do
anything without God’s permission; (4) people on earth are discussed in
heaven; (5) not all suffering is punishment;
and (6) accusing those hurting is not a good technique for comforting
them.
As far as the Job study book, Trusting God in Times of Adversity by Kay Arthur and Pete De Lacy goes, I didn't much care for it. Our Bible class quit using it about halfway through.
Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!