Job is a terrifying book. Satan attacks Job as God stands back. Seeking to destroy a kind-hearted man, Satan gleefully anticipates Job cursing God for his misfortunes.

Satan lies and destroys, wanting all of us to curse God and die. The Lord, however, holds for eternity. The circumstances of our lives work out for the good for those who love God and are called to his purposes. Such was the way of Job.

Satan wants us to believe this world is all there is. If things don’t go right we should give up on God. But beyond our understanding lies a vast country, our true home. Satan blots out that hope.

The book of Job deals with bad things happening to a good person. Our world is filled with bad things happening to innocent people, which I cannot understand. It helps a bit to realize that an enemy exists, an accuser who works with whatever is at his disposal to cause me to join him in rebellion, to curse God and die. Filled with boundless evil, Satan yearns to twist my mind, hurt my body, smother my hope and shoplift my soul.

The Lord simply wants our trust. Job never got his questions answered, nor understood the cruelty of the opponent he faced. Yet in the midst of tragedy he proclaimed in an act of worship:

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

I’m not sure I could ever match Job’s faith. But I can take on his mantle of hope, trusting in our God who patiently waits in a land with no crying or mourning or pain.

Job 1 in Through the Bible in 2024

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