281 - Job

Wording of this Handout:

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Job.

Job's name sounds like "Joeb." Anyway, he was a good man who trusted God. This meant that he trusted God in the bad times as well as the good.

Job was the sort of man, who, if he was alive today might have been described as "a really good Christian." He tried very hard to do what God wanted. He stayed away from sin, and he did his best to live the way God wanted him to.

But God allowed Satan to destroy Job's family, property and health. These three terrible disasters struck in quick succession, leaving poor job sitting on the ground with sores on his body and for a while the only company he had was his horrible wife, who told him to "curse God and die!" He felt terrible!

However, through all this ordeal, he still maintained that he was not being punished for any sin he might have done. The sickness and the great losses he suffered were, he said, just something which God was doing, and he trusted that God knew what he was doing!

The trial Job went through has earned him a mention in the New Testament, and his example that was set forth was the best kind of patience. Job just sat on the ground and waited for the trial to end. He didn't know why his property had been damaged, of why his children had been killed, or why he had been suddenly struck down with sore...but he didn't gripe at God about it.

Thank you, God for dropping that meteorite on my new bicycle!

Job said: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I die; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:21 (Richard's paraphrase with King James version)