January 4 – Job 1-5

Today’s reading comes from Job 1-5. Before reading I invite you to pray and asked God to speak to you as you read his word.

Today we begin the book of Job. In this chronological reading of the Bible we pause from Genesis because many Bible scholars and historians believe this would have been the time period Job lived and thus making this proper place to insert this book. Many of the circumstances found in the book of Job show a patriarchal society. Also we see Job offering sacrifices to God without the assistance of Priest, which indicates he lived before God gave his law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Also another indicator is the idea that Job’s wealth is measured in his flocks and servants. Couple this together with his lifespan of 140 years we are pointed to some time in the Genesis era.

The story of Job quickly unfolds with Satan coming before God along with the angels. God allows Satan to bring harm to Job’s family, his wealth, and even his personal health. From here we find Job mourning his loss and the beginning of the counsel he finds from his friends.

Throughout the rest of Job we will find Job and his friends asking the question if God is all loving, all knowing, and all powerful … why does he allow bad things to happen to good people? Job has been a righteous man. He feared God so much so that when his children threw feast he offered sacrifices for their protection (Job 1:5). Why has God destroyed his life this way? However through it all, he never curses God, even when prodded to by his wife (Job 2:9-11).

The struggle that Job is about to have is not much different then struggles we all face. If God is love as the Bible teaches, then why does bad happen in the world? Why do we see death, disease, famine, poverty, cancer, tragic accidents, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and many other cataclysmic events? Over the course of the next eleven days we will venture through Job and find the strength that only trials can bring.