Job was a wealthy man of God. He was upright and blameless, often offering to the LORD, sacrifices for his children just in case they “cursed God in their hearts.” The Bible then tells us one day, as satan roamed back and forth on earth, the LORD mentioned to satan that Job “fears God and shuns evil.”

Satan explained to God that he doubted Job’s motives for following and loving God. So God allowed satan to bring suffering upon Job. The suffering included:

• Job’s oxen and donkeys were stolen
• his sheep and servants were burned up
• his camels stolen and other servants put to the sword
• his sons and daughters died in a house that collapsed in on them
• Job was personally afflicted with painful sores from his head to his feet

Job’s first response to his heartbreak and misery, was to prepare himself and fall to the ground in worship. He prayed to God asking many questions, yet still kept his heart right with the Lord. After Job finished speaking, God chose not to answer Job’s questions, but rather to point out to Job who is truly in charge.

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’? 

“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken. 

“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this. Job 38:4-18

Through it all, Job maintained his faith and trust in God – which is what we are all called to do. God then blessed the latter part of Job’s life with more than he had in the former, though this blessing does not always occur for everyone.

Job understood our lives are directed by God’s absolute plan; a plan not always to be understood by us. Pray today, for God to continue His absolute plan in you, and for you to have the faith and heart that Job had.

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