Reading
Job 1:1-5;Job 21;Job 31

1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil. 2There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east. 4His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts.” Job did so continually.


1Then Job answered,

2“Listen diligently to my speech.

Let this be your consolation.

3Allow me, and I also will speak.

After I have spoken, mock on.

4As for me, is my complaint to man?

Why shouldn’t I be impatient?

5Look at me, and be astonished.

Lay your hand on your mouth.

6When I remember, I am troubled.

Horror takes hold of my flesh.

7“Why do the wicked live,

become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

8Their child is established with them in their sight,

their offspring before their eyes.

9Their houses are safe from fear,

neither is the rod of God upon them.

10Their bulls breed without fail.

Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.

11They send out their little ones like a flock.

Their children dance.

12They sing to the tambourine and harp,

and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

13They spend their days in prosperity.

In an instant they go down to Sheol.

14They tell God, ‘Depart from us,

for we don’t want to know about your ways.

15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’

16Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out,

that their calamity comes on them,

that God distributes sorrows in his anger?

18How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind,

as chaff that the storm carries away?

19You say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’

Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.

20Let his own eyes see his destruction.

Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21For what does he care for his house after him,

when the number of his months is cut off?

22“Shall any teach God knowledge,

since he judges those who are high?

23One dies in his full strength,

being wholly at ease and quiet.

24His pails are full of milk.

The marrow of his bones is moistened.

25Another dies in bitterness of soul,

and never tastes of good.

26They lie down alike in the dust.

The worm covers them.

27“Behold, I know your thoughts,

the plans with which you would wrong me.

28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?

Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’

29Haven’t you asked wayfaring men?

Don’t you know their evidences,

30that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity,

that they are led out to the day of wrath?

31Who will declare his way to his face?

Who will repay him what he has done?

32Yet he will be borne to the grave.

Men will keep watch over the tomb.

33The clods of the valley will be sweet to him.

All men will draw after him,

as there were innumerable before him.

34So how can you comfort me with nonsense,

because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”


1“I made a covenant with my eyes;

how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?

2For what is the portion from God above,

and the heritage from the Almighty on high?

3Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,

and disaster to the workers of iniquity?

4Doesn’t he see my ways,

and count all my steps?

5“If I have walked with falsehood,

and my foot has hurried to deceit

6(let me be weighed in an even balance,

that God may know my integrity);

7if my step has turned out of the way,

if my heart walked after my eyes,

if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

8then let me sow, and let another eat.

Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

9“If my heart has been enticed to a woman,

and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,

10then let my wife grind for another,

and let others sleep with her.

11For that would be a heinous crime.

Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

12for it is a fire that consumes to destruction,

and would root out all my increase.

13“If I have despised the cause of my male servant

or of my female servant,

when they contended with me,

14what then will I do when God rises up?

When he visits, what will I answer him?

15Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him?

Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

16“If I have withheld the poor from their desire,

or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17or have eaten my morsel alone,

and the fatherless has not eaten of it

18(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,

I have guided her from my mother’s womb);

19if I have seen any perish for want of clothing,

or that the needy had no covering;

20if his heart hasn’t blessed me,

if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;

21if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,

because I saw my help in the gate;

22then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade,

and my arm be broken from the bone.

23For calamity from God is a terror to me.

Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.

24“If I have made gold my hope,

and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’

25If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,

and because my hand had gotten much;

26if I have seen the sun when it shined,

or the moon moving in splendor,

27and my heart has been secretly enticed,

and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth;

28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,

for I would have denied the God who is above.

29“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me,

or lifted up myself when evil found him

30(I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin

by asking his life with a curse);

31if the men of my tent have not said,

‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’

32(the foreigner has not camped in the street,

but I have opened my doors to the traveler);

33if like Adam I have covered my transgressions,

by hiding my iniquity in my heart,

34because I feared the great multitude,

and the contempt of families terrified me,

so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door—

35oh that I had one to hear me!

Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!

Let the accuser write my indictment!

36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder,

and I would bind it to me as a crown.

37I would declare to him the number of my steps.

I would go near to him like a prince.

38If my land cries out against me,

and its furrows weep together;

39if I have eaten its fruits without money,

or have caused its owners to lose their life,

40let briers grow instead of wheat,

and stinkweed instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.


Devotional

The book of Job is a long and challenging book of the Bible. While it tells the story of a man named Job, over ninety percent of the book is dialogue. This is one of the reasons Job is regarded as the first book of the wisdom and poetic literature. Job is also considered by some to be one of the oldest books of the Bible.

 In order to understand Job’s significance in the Bible and in the wisdom tradition more specifically, we must understand the basic framework of the wisdom tradition of the time. This tradition is highlighted in the book of Proverbs and states that in general, good things (blessings) happen to faithful people and bad things (curses) happen to unfaithful people. If one is good and faithful to the law, they will encounter many blessings, while those who walk away from God experience death, sickness, and other curses. 

In the book of Job, we encounter a man considered “blameless” with a great family, much wealth, and many friends - just what we would expect to be of a faithful man. I have included Chapters 29 and 31 above to give some perspective as to what the term “blameless” meant for Job. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes and Job loses everything, including his own health. The rest of the story is basically the dialogue between Job and his friends as to what this tragedy means. Job’s friends believe that this tragedy is a result of his sin while Job tries to prove his innocence. 

As you read over Job’s “track record”, what part stood out? 

If someone were to make a track record of your life, what would it say? 

Do bad things happen to good people? If so, Why? 

 

As we continue to read through the book of Job this week, we will walk through the age-old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Pray that God would give us the courage and faith to ask the tough questions and to open our hearts to hear God’s answers.