Have you ever had so many things wrong that you were tempted to complain that God has given you to much to bare? Many of you suffer with depression, illness, chronic pain, today we start Job and it reminds me of this verse.
Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. 1 Peter 5:8
The LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” Job 1:7
Personally, this scares me until I remember that Satan’s defeated. We are according to verse nine of 1 Peter to, ” Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”
Job in the first five chapters of the book Job faces loss of his children, his livestock, his help, and his health. His wife expects him to curse God. His friends arrive and for seven days they do not speak, they just sit there. He examines his life in Chapter 3 and questions what is the point to life?
The friend Eliphaz speaks in Chapter 4 and then in Chapter 5 we discover we can’t blame fate when things go wrong. We can always go to God. In all the pain emotional, physical, and mental Job never did curse God.
I love the verses in the Message Job 5: 24-27
“You’ll see your children grow up, your family lovely and lissome as orchard grass. You’ll arrive at your grave ripe with many good years, like sheaves of golden grain at harvest. Yes, this is the way things are–my word of honor! Take it to heart and you won’t go wrong.”
What impressed you in reading Job Chapters 1-5?
What does his wife ask Job to do in Chapter 2?
Job states, We should take the _______days from God –why not take the _____days?”
How many days after the friends arrived before the silence was broken? Who broke the silence? What does this teach you about comforting a friend going through a hard time?
Beloved, if you suffer from depression, chronic illness, pain or you have lost a child, we will be learning a lot in Job. The reading for tomorrow is Job 6-9. Please share your observations.
