Day 4 – Job 1-5

Talking Points

• We meet Job, a man described as being “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” Job intimately knew and truly worshiped God.
• Satan operates with God’s permission. He is not above God or even equal with God.
• Unspeakable hardships come upon Job — one terrible thing after another. His health fails, and life becomes unbearable. Job’s wife and friends give him logical, worldly advice. They can’t understand how Job’s fate could be anything but somehow his own fault. Great truths about suffering must be considered, when reading this account.
• Job despairs, even wishing he had never been born. Yet, Job continues to worship God. He doesn’t curse or blame Him. What a tremendous response! God is worthy of our worship despite any circumstance. As we were reading that part, my daughter said, “That is big!” Amen – that is big!

Thoughts

In the midst of great hardships or mind-boggling circumstances, we are often told to “just trust God.” It seems to be our go-to answer when the issue is too difficult to understand. “Just trust God.” In the account of Job, we see his unwavering, admirable trust in God played out in real life. It’s what carries him through. Maybe what we overlook is that his trust in God was established in his deep, intimate knowledge of God. He knew who God was. He remembered His character and nature. This knowledge led him to worship God. That worship led him to trust.

May our understanding of God grow. May we respond in deep worship. May both of those leave us in company with Job — with an unwavering trust.