Jesus Christ Stories The Story of Job In The Bible Verse

Long ago in a land named Uz, there lived a man named Job. Job was a good man who loved and worshipped God. Job was also incredibly rich. He had vast numbers of sheep, oxen and camels in his possession, as well as many, many servants to look after his riches and his family. It was not only animals that Job had many of, he also had ten children, whom he loved very much. He had seven sons and three daughters, and his daughters were said to be the most beautiful girls in all of Uz. In fact, Job was so rich and with such a large precious family, many considered him to be the greatest man in all of the land of Uz. But this did not stop him from worshipping God faithfully. By all accounts, Job was indeed a good and God-fearing man. Job was so firm in his worship of God that God used him as an example of his most loyal followers. When God would speak to the angels of heaven, he would show them Job's life and explain that this is what a truly God-fearing man looks like. But one of the heavenly creatures, named Satan, was angered by God's appreciation for Job. Satan stepped forward and confronted God, accusing him. He would stop being so holy if God would take away his blessings. Why don't we put him to a test? Let us take away all the blessings that made Job's life so pleasant and see if he would still continue to worship you. Satan was certain that once Job was made to suffer, he would curse God and lose his faith. God agreed to let Satan test Job's faith. God made but one rule that Satan was not allowed to harm Job as he tested his faith. Satan agreed and got to work putting Job's worship to the test. On what appeared at first to be a normal day, one of Job's servants ran into his home in a panic. Master, master, I have terrible news. All of the oxen have been stolen and the servants looking after them were killed. I am lucky I was the only one to survive. But before Job could even respond to this terrible news, another servant rushed in with news. Master, I have come with terrible news. A fire broke out and killed all of the sheep. What? No! It seemed as though the worst had already happened, both of these terrible events in one day. But no, Satan's test for Job was far from finished. A third servant rushed into Job's home. Master, I come bearing terrible news. Enemies came and stole all of your camels and killed all of the servants who were looking after them. I came here right away to tell you. It might seem like nothing could be worse than this, but for Job the worst was still yet to come. A fourth servant entered bearing the worst possible news of all. Master, I am so sorry to be the one to tell you this. Your children were at a feast when a mighty gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew the walls of the building down. They are dead. Everybody expected Job to curse God for bringing such a terrible fate to him. In one day he lost his entire wealth and his family. Most men would lose their faith in such a moment and get angry at God, but not Job. Instead, he accepted that this was the decision God had made for him. God gave me all I had, and so God has the right to take it away. If this is his will, let it be. Satan could not believe that even though he had taken everything from Job, Job still refused to curse God. So Satan returned to God and asked permission to not only take Job's family and his wealth, but also his health. Let us make him sick, so sick that he is unable to stand on his own. I will prove that then he will lose his faith in you then. God allowed Satan to make Job sick, but with one rule. Satan was not permitted to kill Job. Satan agreed to this rule and prepared to test Job even further. And so Satan did as he promised, and the once healthy Job suddenly fell very ill. His body grew covered in horrible sores and felt terribly weak. The sores became very bad and itched and burned like fire. Eventually the sores became so unbearable that Job was driven to scratch them with broken pieces of pottery. Yet even then he did not turn to curse God. Even Job's wife could not understand his patience with God. She asked him what was wrong with him. Why wouldn't he curse God for sending him this terrible fate? Whatever I had was given by God. If this is his will, then let it happen. But no, Job refused to cave in. Eventually even Job's friends began to turn against him. They sat with him for several days in silence until eventually they spoke to him. They tried to come up with possible reasons for which God was punishing Job in this awful way. Surely Job must have done something terrible to upset God. Yes, otherwise why would God punish you like this? But Job refused to agree with them. He knew his faith in the Lord was strong. I know that my faith is strong. So why is this terrible fate befalling me? Why does God allow me to suffer like this? And so the Lord spoke to Job, appearing before him in a great storm cloud. God took Job on an incredible journey through the universe and showed him all the wonders that he had created. God showed Job how complicated the universe truly is. Job, as a human, could never understand God's work. Only God can understand the reasons why things happen the way they do. And it's nobody's place but God to understand why bad things must happen. When God made his point, he finished showing Job the universe and left him. Once God finished speaking to Job and Job was left alone, he couldn't believe his own foolishness. How dare he question God or try to understand the way God acts when he was merely a human? There was nothing left for Job to do but worship God and repent for his ways. Forgive me Lord. Allow me to repent. You are the Almighty and it is not my place to question why good or bad happens in this world. That decision is yours and yours alone. And so Job had proven Satan wrong. Even with everything taken from him, his family, his wealth, his health, Job still chose to worship God and repent for any doubt he showed. No matter what Satan did, Job could not be swayed from the righteous path of a God-worshiping man. But this was not the end of Job's story. Once Satan had tested him in every possible way, God decided to intervene. God healed Job's terrible illness, returning his strength and curing the awful sores that tormented Job day and night. At last, Job felt relief from his illness. But God was not finished with Job yet. Although we had allowed Job to lose everything, God was not going to allow Job to stay poor, sick, and lonely forever. In fact, God returned everything to Job that he had taken from him in double. The story of Job teaches us that God's ways will forever remain mysterious to us. Even if we wish to understand why God acts the way he does, it is not our place to question the will of the Lord.