Job

Scripture: Job 1-42

Lesson Aim: To show that we need to trust God at all times, the good and the bad.

Have you ever asked "why"? Little children do this all the time. They ask, "Why do I have
to eat this? Why do I have to go to bed? Why do I have to go to school? Why did I get
sick?"
Even adults ask "why" sometimes.

(1) Long ago there lived a man named Job. He was a very wealthy man and had a
beautiful home and ten children. His children were all grown and had families of their
own but they liked to get together and have fun just like families do today. Job was a very
godly man and he prayed for his children and offered sacrifices to God for them. The
family of Job was happy and so were Job and his wife. He was respected by other people
and they sought for his counsel and when he came to the city gate, everyone made room
for him to sit down.
Job also shared what he had with the poor, the fatherless, the widows, the blind and the
crippled. (Job 29:7-16)

(2) Job had many animals: 7,000 sheep, l,000 oxen, 3,000 camels, and 500 donkeys. It
took many servants to watch all these animals and take care of them.

Job did not know that someone was watching him and that someone was Satan, God's
enemy.
When the sons of God came to present themselves before God, Satan also came. The
Lord said to Satan, "Where have you been?" Satan told the Lord that he had been walking
to and fro in the earth. Then God asked him, "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that
there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God,
and escheweth evil?" Satan then told God that the only reason that Job was serving God is
because God had blessed him with so much. He said if God took away everything that Job
had, that Job would curse God. The Lord told Satan that everything that Job had was now
in Satan's power to do with it what he wanted but he could not touch Job himself. Oh,
how happy Satan must have been as he left the presence of the Lord. He had something
in store for Job and it was not good.

(3) Satan could not wait to begin because he knew that when he got through with Job, he
would curse God. Job started his day with the Lord as he had many times before. All at
once servants were running to Job with all kinds of bad news. One said that the oxen were
plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them and the Sabeans came and killed all his
servants and took away all the oxen and donkeys and he was the only one who had
escaped. Another servant came and he said that the fire of God had fallen from heaven
and had burned up the sheep and the servants that were watching them and he alone had
escaped. That servant had no sooner finished given Job that bad news when another one
came running up and said that the Chaldeans had come and killed all the servants that
were watching the camels and they had taken away all his camels. Job was probably
thinking, "what more can happen"? But Satan was not through yet. Another servant came
running up and told Job that his children had all been together at their oldest brother's
house and there came a great wind from the wilderness and it smote the house so hard
that it had collapsed and all his children were now dead.

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If you would have been Job, what would you have done? Satan was just standing back
waiting to see what Job was going to do. After hearing all this bad news, Job arose, tore his
mantle, shaved his head, and fell down on the ground and worshipped God. He said,
"Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Job did not sin and
curse God. He knew that everything that had been his was really God's and if God wanted
to take it all away, that was okay with Job. Can't you just see Satan after he heard what
Job said?

There came another day that the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord
and Satan was there to present himself before the Lord. Again, God asked him where he
had been and Satan answered that he been in the earth going to and fro. Then God said,
"Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect
and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his
integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause." Satan
then told the Lord that if Job himself had to suffer from some disease, that he would curse
God. Then God told Satan that Job was in his power and that Satan could do what he
wanted with Job but could not take his life. God certainly trusted Job that Job would not
fail Him. Do you think that God could trust you and I that much? Would our response
to trouble be like Job's?

(4) Satan then made boils to break out all over Job's skin from the sole of his foot to the
top of his head. He was covered with boils and they were so painful. Leaving his beautiful
home, he went and sat down on the ash heap among the ashes and took a broken piece of
pottery and scraped his sores. A few days or weeks before, Job's servants carried the ashes
from the fires out to this ash heap and now here is Job sitting there. His children and
animals are all gone and his body is covered with boils. "Surely now, he will curse God, "
Satan thought as he saw Job's wife coming to see what her husband was doing. We would
think that his wife would encourage him but she said, "Dost thou still retain thine
integrity? curse God, and die."
Oh, how her words must have hurt Job. He said to her, "Thou speakest as one of the
foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not
receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. Satan went away defeated. He had
done all that he could to get Job to curse God but Job had not. He still believed and
trusted in God but Satan was not through yet.

(5) He sent three of Job's friends to visit him there at the ash heap. Now true friends love
you all the time and they lift you up when you are down and encourage you. Job's three
friends,
Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar upon seeing Job could not believe that it was he. He had
changed so much and they lifted up their voices and wept. Then to show how sorrowful
they were, they rent their mantles and sprinkled dust on their heads and sat down beside
Job but didn't say a word because they saw he was in such pain from all the boils.

When his friends didn't speak, Job did. He did not curse God but he started asking, "Why
was I born? Why didn't I die when I was born? Why is all this come upon me? Why? Why?
Why?" Job was no different than you or I. When something bad happens in our lives, the
first thing we think is "why did this happen to me?"

Each one of Job's friends thought that they knew the answer and they took turns talking to

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Job. Eliphaz told Job that he had done many noble and wonderful things for others that
were sick and in need but now that it had come upon him, he was troubled. Eliphaz had
never seen an innocent or a righteous man suffering but he had seen people who had
sown wickedness reap the same so Eliphaz concluded that Job must have sinned and that
is why God was punishing him and that Job should be happy because God was correcting
him. Do you also think that every time a Christian gets sick or something happens to
them that they are being punished by God for some sin they are doing? Some Christians
are very quick to judge others.
Eliphaz certainly did not encourage or comfort Job but there are still two other friends.

Next, Bildad speaks. He starts out by telling Job that Job's words are like a strong wind
and that his children must have been sinned and that is why God took them. Then he
tells Job he must be a hypocrite because God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will
he help the evil doers. Bildad also judges Job and offers no words of comfort.

Maybe Zophar, Job's third friend will be the one to lift him up with good words. The Bible
says in Proverbs 25:11, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."
After hearing his two other friends, Job is no doubt ready and wanting to hear fitly spoken
words.
But Zophar is no better than the other two. He calls Job a liar and tells him that he needs
to put away his sin. He too thought that Job must have some sin that was causing his
troubles.

Job has heard about all that he wanted to hear from those three and in Job 16:1 he said,
"Miserable comforters are ye all." and in Job 19:2, "How long will ye vex my soul, and
break me in pieces with words?' Job told them he was miserable enough, he did not need
to hear his friends telling him that he was a liar, a hypocrite, and a great sinner. In Job
l9:21-22 Job says, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends: for the hand
of God hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my
flesh." Then Job spoke words that are a blessing to us even today. Job l3:15, "Thou he slay
me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him." Job 19:25, "For
I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth;
and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Job
23:10, "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as
gold." Job was saying that he did not know why all those bad things had happened to him
but he was still going to trust God. Maybe he felt that he did not deserve them all but he
was not going to curse God.

Elihu, a young man that had been listening to all of the speeches and Job's answers
suddenly spoke up and told Job that God is greater than man and that he does not need to
give an account of why He does what He does. Elihu was much kinder to Job and tried to
explain that Job should not question why those things were happening to him.

God Himself then spoke to Job and asked him if Job was there when the heavens and the
earth were created and many other questions did God ask Job to try to get him to realize
that his God was in control of everything that had happened to him. He just needed to
trust God. Job realized that he had spoke without understanding and he said, "Wherefore
I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Job acknowledged his sin and God forgave
him.

(6) God restored Job's health and gave him ten more children. He also gave him double of
all the animals that he had before so Job was once again a wealthy man.