5 Facts About Job That Many People Don't Know

seven facts about job that every christian should know job understood hardship better than other people despite being an upright and spotless man in god's view job chapter 1 verse 8 he suffers a slew of disasters he loses his family servants home and good health leaving behind a nagging wife and friends who accuse job of bringing this on himself was job suffering in vain is there a reason for despair we'll delve into the book of job's unexpected insights on suffering number one who wrote job the author of this book is anonymous similar to the book of hebrews since the book records his death job chapter 42 verse 17 job himself likely did not write it some options considered include moses elihu and solomon however any of these authors could be true job was an actual historical figure regardless of who penned the book book is included in the bible between the books of esther and psalms and job is typically classified as wisdom literature by scholars the books in wisdom literature job psalms proverbs contain many passages and proverbs on this theme the book of job may be one of the earliest books we have today though dating it is difficult we know it's from abraham's time since so many elements in the bible could only have happened during that time period the author employs the word yahweh to refer to god just as moses did but there is no mention of the exodus the sinai covenant or the law of moses all of which were central to the old testament number two who was job and why does god let him suffer who was job and why did god allow him to suffer job is an upright man who came from the land of ooze modern-day saudi arabia he had amassed much money and had a happy family but as the story develops we witness him lose all of his earthly treasures in a single day job as previously stated had not sinned and god declared him to be blameless this is not to say that job was faultless as a human being he fought with sin in the same way that you and i do every day blameless and upright can suggest that job was a man of integrity who believed god as his redeemer honestly worshiped the lord loved his family and was consistent in his walk with god job chapter 1 verse 8-12 then the lord said to satan have you considered my servant job there is no one on earth like him he is blameless and upright a man who fears god and shuns evil does job fear god for nothing satan replied have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has you have blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land but now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has and he will surely curse you to your face the lord said to satan very well then everything he has is in your power but on the man himself do not lay a finger then satan went out from the presence of the lord number three why is job suffering we must zoom out to a moment in heaven where satan approaches god to understand why job endured so much job chapter 1 when god recounts job and his spotless ways to satan satan essentially points the finger at god and says it's because you've given him money and a great family take it all away from him and he'll curse you god permits satan to attack job's wealth and family but satan is required by god to spare job's life job weeps but does not condemn god in job chapter 2 satan returns and effectively says well he still has his wonderful health if you take that away from him he will curse you god allows satan to afflict job once more this time with a terrible skin disease nonetheless job does not curse god readers may be perplexed as to why god enables satan to torment job there are several probable explanations first as a test god may have allowed satan to take away job's belongings and family after all satan had said job's love for god was conditional on his riches second as we see in the story of joseph what someone means for evil can occasionally be redirected to something beneficial genesis chapter 50 verse 20. at the end of the story job not only has his health restored but he also has more possessions and a lovely family that he had in previous years job chapter 42 verse 12-17 the lord blessed the latter part of job's life more than the former part he had fourteen thousand sheep six thousand camels a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys and he also had seven sons and three daughters the first daughter he named jemima the second kaziah and the third kiran hapuk nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as job's daughters and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers after this job lived 140 years he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation and so job died an old man and full of years third god may have allowed job to suffer to show readers that not all suffering comes directly from our sins because sin penetrated the world through adam we feel its effects and tragedies that befall us in which we didn't play a direct role because everyone has sinned everyone feels the effects of sin but god doesn't leave the narrative hopeless he restores job as he will the earth and people who follow him number four our friends don't always give the best advice when we suffer many frequent expressions in english are derived from the book of job someone with the patience of job is someone who demonstrates perseverance in the face of him and suffering job's comforters are people whose comments make the suffering feel worse although his companions initially console him they shortly pronounced their verdict job must have sinned to bring this calamity upon himself job defends his conduct and claims he has never sinned but his companions attack him until god appears and chastises them for their foolish comments job chapter 42 verse 7-8 new international version after the lord had said these things to job he said to eliphaz the temenite i am angry with you and your two friends because you have not spoken the truth about me as my servant job has so now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves my servant job will pray for you and i will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly you have not spoken the truth about me as my servant job has similarly at times of tragedy our friends may be at a loss for words and end up twisting the truth or sounding pharisaical when your friends give you advice make sure to double check it with the bible even if they are using scripture they must read text in context and comprehend the author's original intent number five satan has a limit on his power when it comes to our suffering sin can only afflict us as much as god allows him to although he wreaks havoc on job's life god doesn't let him to take away job's life job chapter 2 verse 6. it may appear that the devil has boundless power during our darkest hours yet he can only move when god grants him permission christians frequently mistake satan and god for equals nothing could be further from the truth there is no one like god satan was created by god an omnipotent creator cannot be overthrown by the produced rest assured that god still has a beautiful plan for your life which satan cannot undo number six god doesn't always provide an answer for our suffering but he does still have everything under control job despite his faith wants god to explain why he allowed him to suffer god appears in a whirlwind and basically says don't question me you are finite and your mind can only comprehend creation past a certain point i am limitless and all-powerful nonetheless he restores job god demonstrates his infinite knowledge and power to job in order to show that he has everything under control it basically asks job to believe in god's assurances that he has a plan for his life job is reminded that he does not understand god he has no understanding of the animal world let alone the moral world so god's point is why are you attempting to argue with me job responds that god knows everything and that no scheme of his can be foiled he now understands that his questioning of god was utterly wrong and he despises himself and repents in ashes and dust although job's experience with god is humiliating the core of his dilemma is resolved since he has reconnected with god the exchange serves as a fantastic albeit unexpected climaxed number seven can suffering be a good thing let me put it this way anything generated by sin is not intrinsically good death disease and famine are all terrible things they demonstrate that we live in a world in desperate need of a savior as all of creation groans for one romans chapter 8 verse 21-24 new king james version because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of god for we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now not only that but we also who have the first fruits of the spirit even we ourselves grown within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption the redemption of our body for we were saved in this hope but hope that is seen is not hope for why does one still hope for what he sees however good things can come out of bad situations bringing back the example of joseph his brother sold him into slavery slavery and effective man's sinful nature is bad the wife of his masters falsely accuses him and they throw joseph into prison because of these false accusations genesis chapter 39 verse 19-21 new king james version so it was when his master heard the words which is why spoke to him saying your servant did to me after this manner that his anger was aroused then joseph's master took him and put him into the prison a place where the king's prisoners were confined and he was there in the prison but the lord was with joseph and showed him mercy and he gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison nonetheless god makes something good out of a negative situation because of his reputation as a dream interpreter in the jail joseph reads the pharaoh's dream about an approaching famine saves egypt and ends up as egypt's second in command genesis chapter 41 god does not always provide an explanation for our current suffering and our friends and family members can frequently do more harm than good when it comes to soothing us regardless of the difficulty we could be confident that god has everything under control satan only has so much power and occasionally great good can come from great hardship trust god as job did and never give up in the face of adversity even when it doesn't feel like it god is present for christians the book of job can be seen in the context of the new testament job knew the god of nature not the god of grace the cross of jesus puts a different value on human suffering job is a type of christ foreshadowing the one who suffered innocently centuries later jesus was a righteous man yet he suffered as if he were a guilty man through the cross we begin to see that god can use any situation for good all human suffering must be seen against the background of the pain of the cross the christian knows that there is life after death the problems of despair do not have to be settled in this life it is interesting to note that in the greek version of the book of job an extra verse has been added and it is written that he job will rise again with those whom the lord raises up lord [Music] you

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Length: 12min 29sec (749 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 30 2022