Job and His Tests

In the Book of Job from the Old Testament, Job is a man known for his integrity and a remarkable character who has lived a life full of faith in God. He survived series of terrible turmoil weighed on him. After having agreement with God, Satan afflicted several difficulties on Job to test on his character. Job consequently lost all his material possessions.  His farms where he raised thousands of calves and herds of sheep were struck with various calamities. Everything is killed and nothing is left. Not only that, a great tornado killed his beloved children while they are partying. Although he mourns for days, his fidelity and faith to God do not falter and his character never changes. He continues praising God even more.

Image by Hamed Saber via Flickr

Seeing him lament, his wife who lost the faith she once has told him to turn away from God. A controversial debate about God’s existence takes place when his three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar visit him when he is suffering from gruesome boils covering his whole body. In the middle of their exchange of words, for the first time they heard Job bemoaned about his life. Job expresses words of curse the day he was born. He asks why his sufferings took too long when he is to die in the end. He talks of his fears that he might not have the peace. For him with his condition getting worse, peace can only be attained through death.

In return, his friends rebuke him for his sentiments. According to them, he is unrighteous to question God’s piety considering that God had once blessed him with abundance and craft. Instead of giving him true wisdom of encouragement while he is in terrible condition, they mock Job with false accusations. Assuming that his sufferings are a result of egregious sins he had committed in the past, they ask him to repent. They chide him that God is blameless and would never cast away plagues to those who have not sinned. Though he longs for death and cries out openly about his despair, he is still confident with the integrity of his faith and looked forward to speaking with God about his sufferings he does not deserve. In the end, God tells Job that his reasons for letting him suffer were unfathomable to the human mind. As a reward of faithfulness, God restores back his riches, family and health.