The Book of Job
MEMORY VERSE
Romans 8:18, ESV
For I consider that the sufferings
of this present time are not
worth comparing with the glory
that is to be revealed to us.
of this present time are not
worth comparing with the glory
that is to be revealed to us.
DAY 1
Job 1:1-3, 6-12, NIrV
1 There was a man who lived in the land of Uz. His name was Job. He was honest. He did what was right. He had respect for God and avoided evil. 2 Job had seven sons and three daughters. 3 He owned 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels. He owned 500 pairs of oxen and 500 donkeys. He also had a large number of servants. He was the most important man among all the people in the east.
...
6 One day angels came to the Lord. Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered, “From traveling all around the earth. I’ve been going from one end of it to the other.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you thought about my servant Job? There isn’t anyone on earth like him. He is honest. He does what is right. He has respect for God and avoids evil.”
9 “You always give Job everything he needs,” Satan replied. “That’s why he has respect for you. 10 Haven’t you guarded him and his family? Haven’t you taken care of everything he has? You have blessed everything he does. His flocks and herds are spread all through the land. 11 But now reach out your hand and strike down everything he has. Then I’m sure he will speak evil things against you. In fact, he’ll do it right in front of you.”
12 The Lord said to Satan, “All right. I am handing everything he has over to you. But do not touch the man himself.”
Then Satan left the Lord and went on his way.
BIBLE STUDY
The book that tells Job’s story is in the middle of our Bibles, but Job (rhymes with “robe”) likely lived around the time of Abraham. Like Abraham, Job followed the one true God. The Lord blessed him with a houseful of kids, countless servants, and huge herds of animals. One day, as God spoke with his angels in heaven, there was a disagreement about Job. Satan, an evil angel and God's #1 enemy, blurted out, "Take away these gifts from Job and I bet he'll curse you right to your face!" To put the devil’s words to the test, God gave him permission to put his sinister schemes into motion.
+ How many animals and children did Job have? (vs. 2-3)
+ What did God tell Satan he was not allowed to do? (vs. 12)
DAY 2
Job 1:13-22, NIrV
13 One day Job’s sons and daughters were at their oldest brother’s house. They were enjoying good food and drinking wine. 14 During that time a messenger came to Job. He said, “The oxen were plowing. The donkeys were eating grass near them. 15 Then the Sabeans attacked us and carried off the animals. They killed some of the servants with their swords. I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, a second messenger came. He said, “God sent lightning from the sky. It struck the sheep and killed them. It burned up some of the servants. I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, a third messenger came. He said, “The Chaldeans separated themselves into three groups. They attacked your camels and carried them off. They killed the rest of the servants with their swords. I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, a fourth messenger came. He said, “Your sons and daughters were at their oldest brother’s house. They were enjoying good food and drinking wine. 19 Suddenly a strong wind blew in from the desert. It struck the four corners of the house. The house fell down on your children. Now all of them are dead. I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
20 After Job heard all these reports, he got up and tore his robe. He shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground and worshiped the Lord. 21 He said,
“I was born naked.
And I’ll leave here naked.
The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away.
May the name of the Lord be praised.”
22 In spite of everything, Job didn’t sin by blaming God for doing anything wrong.
BIBLE STUDY
With God's permission, the devil put his foul plans into action! As a result of Satan's schemes, Job was hit by a tidal wave of terrible news. Before one messenger could deliver their sad news, others showed up to share even more! Thieves had stolen Job's oxen, donkeys, and camels and killed his servants. Fire from heaven had burned his sheep. And a windstorm had collapsed a house and crushed his children! But Satan had been mistaken. Though everything had been taken from him, Job didn't speak evil of God. In fact, he did the exact opposite: he blessed (or gave praise) to God’s name!
+ What did Job do after hearing all of this bad news? (vs. 20)
+ What does verse 22 say about Job’s response to hearing the bad news?
DAY 3
Job 2:1-10, NIrV
1 On another day angels came to the Lord. Satan also came to him along with them. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered, “From traveling all around the earth. I’ve been going from one end of it to the other.”
3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you thought about my servant Job? There isn’t anyone on earth like him. He is honest. He does what is right. He has respect for God and avoids evil. You tried to turn me against him. You wanted me to destroy him without any reason. But he still continues to be faithful.”
4 Satan replied, “A man will give everything he has to save himself. So Job is willing to give up the lives of his family to save his own life. 5 But now reach out your hand and strike his flesh and bones. Then I’m sure he will speak evil things against you. In fact, he’ll do it right in front of you.”
6 The Lord said to Satan, “All right. I am handing him over to you. But you must spare his life.”
7 Then Satan left the Lord and went on his way. He sent painful sores on Job. They covered him from the bottom of his feet to the top of his head. 8 He got part of a broken pot. He used it to scrape his skin. He did it while he was sitting in ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still continuing to be faithful to the Lord? Speak evil things against him and die!”
10 Job replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. We accept good things from God. So we should also accept trouble when he sends it.”
In spite of everything, Job didn’t say anything that was sinful.
BIBLE STUDY
Satan tried his best to do his worst, but his wicked wish did not come true. Though Job had been buried under an avalanche of terrible news, he did not curse God to his face. Still, the evil angel wasn’t ready to give up yet. “God, let me strike his flesh and bones,” he sneered, “and I guarantee he’ll spit right in your face!” As before, God agreed to this test. With his evil power, Satan covered Job’s body with painful sores. All the miserable man could do was sit in the dirt and scratch. Seeing the sorry state her husband was in, even Job’s own wife begged him to call it quits, curse God, and drop dead!
+ What did God tell Satan he was not allowed to do? (vs. 6)
+ What did Job say to his wife? (vs. 10)
DAY 4
Job 2:11-13, NIRV
11 Job had three friends named Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They heard about all the troubles that had come to Job. So they started out from their homes. They had agreed to meet together. They wanted to go and show their concern for Job. They wanted to comfort him. 12 When they got closer to where he lived, they could see him. But they could hardly recognize him. They began to weep out loud. They tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13 Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him. That’s because they saw how much he was suffering.
BIBLE STUDY
After hearing news of Job's nightmare, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar hurried to comfort their friend. Covered in dust and sores, Job looked like a completely different person to them! They weren’t sure what to say to their suffering friend. So they were silent for seven days, sitting in the sand with Job. When these three men finally opened their mouths, that’s when the trouble started! Chapters 3-37 of Job describe the back and forth between Job and his friends. What was their main message to him? “Job, you are suffering because you sinned. Say sorry to God and it will finally stop!”
+ What did Job's friends do when they first saw him? (vs. 12)
+ Why did his friends say nothing for seven days? (vs. 13)
DAY 5
Job 38:1-11, NIRV
1 The Lord spoke to Job out of a storm. He said,
2 “Who do you think you are to disagree with my plans?
You do not know what you are talking about.
3 Get ready to stand up for yourself.
I will ask you some questions.
Then I want you to answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you know.
5 Who measured it? I am sure you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 What was it built on?
Who laid its most important stone?
7 When it happened, the morning stars sang together.
All the angels shouted with joy.
8 “Who created the ocean?
Who caused it to be born?
9 I put clouds over it as if they were its clothes.
I wrapped it in thick darkness.
10 I set limits for it.
I put its doors and metal bars in place.
11 I said, ‘You can come this far.
But you can’t come any farther.
Here is where your proud waves have to stop.’
BIBLE STUDY
After 35 chapters of Job and his friends arguing about why Job was suffering, it was God’s turn to do the talking! For four chapters, God pounded Job with a flurry of questions. Skim through chapters 38-41 and try to count all the question marks you see – there's a lot! What was the point of God's windstorm of words? To show Job and his friends how much God knew (and how little they knew) of how his world works and why people suffer. Job and his friends thought they had the answers. But God ran the entire universe. These mere men couldn’t even begin to understand all that He knew!
+ Write down one of the questions God asked Job in the verses you read today.
+ Look at all of chapter 38. How many question marks can you count?
DAY 6
Job 42:10-17, NIRV
10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him successful again. He gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came to see him. They ate with him in his house. They showed their concern for him. They comforted him because of all the troubles the Lord had brought on him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
12 The Lord blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than the first part. He gave Job 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels. He gave him 1,000 pairs of oxen and 1,000 donkeys. 13 Job also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first daughter Jemimah. He named the second Keziah. And he named the third Keren-Happuch. 15 Job’s daughters were more beautiful than any other women in the whole land. Their father gave them a share of property along with their brothers.
16 After all of that happened, Job lived for 140 years. He saw his children, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. 17 And so Job died. He had lived for a very long time.
BIBLE STUDY
The book of Job is a big book that tells a pretty short story. It goes like this: Satan thought Job only followed God because he had been blessed with so many gifts. “Take these away,” Satan sneered, “and Job will curse you to your face.” So God gave the evil angel permission to do his worst. Yet, despite Satan’s schemes, Job did not speak evil things about his God. And in the end, God gave Job a double blessing: twice the number of animals and ten more children!
So why is the book of Job so long? Because of the huge section in the middle. For 35 chapters, Job and his friends spent a lot of time discussing questions that all of us want answers to. These were important questions like “Why do people suffer?” or “Why do bad things happen to us?”
It’s too bad that Job didn’t get a chance to read the Bible book with his name on it. If he had, all of his questions would have been answered. He would have learned the secret of his suffering. It wasn’t because he sinned. And it wasn’t because his children sinned. Instead, he suffered because of the sinful schemes of Satan!
The book of Job teaches a very important lesson. Though all of us feel like we are the star of our own story, we are really just one itty-bitty part of God’s great big story. It’s the story of history that shows what an amazing and glorious God we serve!
Like any good story, there are happy highs and sad lows. There are crafty villains and courageous heroes. There are births and deaths, smiles and tears. And the truly awesome part about God’s grand story is that it’s too big and deep and wide for any one of us to tell. God is the only one who knows what part each of us will play.
Like Job, we all live our lives as part of God’s story. As much as we might want to, we can’t read a book with our name on it, one that tells us exactly why everything is happening to us. But there’s good news: there is a great big book that tells us exactly how God’s great story ends! As you can probably guess, that big book is the Bible.
Here’s the short version of that grand story: In the beginning, God created a very good world. But our first human parents sinned, and a very bad thing cursed God’s good world: death! However, God had a rescue plan already figured out. Many years later, he sent his own Son into the world to rescue sinful human beings. That Son, Jesus, defeated sin and death by dying on a cross, then rising from the dead.
Here’s the happy ending of God’s great story: any sinner who trusts in Jesus will spend forever in God’s kingdom on a brand new earth! We may not know why everything happens to us. We might not know how our own stories will end. But we can be sure of this: if we believe in Jesus, we’ll all be a part of God’s great happily ever after!
+ What did God give to Job in the end? (vs. 12-13)
Fun Fact: You might have wondered, “Why did God not double the number of Job’s kids, too?” Well, he did! Although his first ten children had died, Job would be reunited with them in God’s forever kingdom. And now, they would be joined by ten more!
© 2023 Andrew Doane. All rights reserved.