This amazing book clearly shows us how different God’s ways are from our own! God pointed out to the devil that no one living on the earth, during that time, was as pure and upright a man as Job was, who feared God and turned away from evil, Job 1:8. Yet, at Satan’s insistence, God permitted him to rob Job of his children, animals, and most of his servants too, vs 12 !

Further, after Job worshipped God inspite of all these calamities that befell him, God then allowed Satan, (once again because of Satan’s suggestion) to inflict him with sores on his body such that he was in great pain for a prolonged period of time Job 2:4-7! And we would think, that when a man feared God in the way that Job did, he would always be surrounded with blessings on every side!

That is exactly what Job’s friends, who visited him during that time felt, and sorry to say, they were very wrong! Until Job was silent about his pain, his friends felt sorry for him and sympathized with him, Job 2:11-13, but the moment he opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth, Job 3, Eliphaz began to reprimand Job, Job 4! He reminded Job how Job had encouraged others when they were discouraged, but now when calamity struck him, he was discouraged, lacked confidence and hope, which Eliphaz felt would not have been the case, had Job been pious and blameless, Job 4:4-6! *He even told Job that it could never be possible for God to make an innocent person perish or for God to destroy an upright person, vs 7!

He also told him of the revelation given to him, that a mortal man could never be pure and righteous before his Creator, vs 17! He reasoned with Job that reacting in anger and wrath in such situations would only serve to kill him, Job 5: 2. He said that he himself witnessed how a fool was crushed by his folly, and how his children suffered calamity, vs 3,4, and how the hungry and thirsty would eventually benefit from his harvest and fortune, vs 5.

*He adviced Job to submit to God’s discipline and repent, so that God can lift him up and bless him once again, vs 17!

These chapters reveal how a man can be considered so righteous, by God Himself, and yet God thinks it fit to allow Satan to inflict suffering on him, however, only to bring him to a higher plane of blessing! It shows us how, even a man as righteous as Job, could come to despair and hopelessness when struck with adversity for a prolonged period of time, and so wish he had never been born, although God himself thought so highly about him!

*It also reveals how wrong we can be in our judgment of others, when our judgment is made according to our human perception, instead of being led by the Word and Spirit of God!

So, let us determine to let God be God, and leave all judgment to Him, while we work out our salvation in being slow to anger, quick to listen and slow to speak, in any given situation, for mercy will always triumph over judgment, while judgment will be merciless to the one who shows no mercy to others, *James 2:13!
Amen.

Rowena Thomas
Mumbai, India.