Job

Our reading through the Bible in a year program has already taken us through Genesis and Job. I grew up knowing the story of Job; rich man, Satan destroys him, he holds onto his faith in God...etc. But reading through the book in its entirety made me realize how whiny he is and somewhat self righteous. The general moral of the story is to not give up your faith when times get tough, but of course, like all books of the Bible, there is so much more going on. I felt bad for Job when Satan destroyed his family, his wealth and basically everything he had, and then was glad to read that some friends of Job's came and sat with him for a few days. It says they didn't even talk to each other. They sat in one another's company and were comforting Job in silence. I thought that was pretty cool of them to be supportive of their friend, but after the silence breaks they begin tearing him a new one. They call him self righteous and tell him not to judge God who is higher than all his pains. It caught me off guard. Why are these nice friends here to comfort Job but also to tell him how wrong he is in even asking God why this is happening to him.

This made me think of how often I question God. My family is not dead, or even sick. We have more than enough food and clothes. Our house is heated and stocked with all the supplies we could ever need. And my body is not covered in burns and boils. Yet when things are hard or finances are tight I find myself questioning God. "Why do we always have to stress about our money, Lord" or "Why do all our appliances break down in the same month" or "what have I done to deserve such a crappy day at work". But hearing Job's friends tell him how horrible it is to talk to God, the Creator of the universe, like that makes me humble.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that God is so much bigger than my problems, and is in fact the King of the universe. If he wants to destroy my body with boils or drain all our money from our accounts then that is His will. My response should not be to question him and focus on solely myself. My response should be to say "God you are good and all I have is yours, do with me what you will."

I think Job is more of a lesson on submitting to God and fearing him rather than a lesson on "never giving up your faith". It's true that Job does not renounce God or turn away from him, but he does wallow in his selfishness and forget God's ultimate authority and rule over all the earth. A reminder that no matter what, I should sing, "it is well with my soul".