Job 1:13-22
Howard Hendricks, one of my seminary professors, shared a story highlighting the importance of guarding your words. He recounted how a friend had passed away, and at the viewing, his wife stood at the head of the casket to greet those who came to pay their respects. One person approached the casket, greeted the wife, and said, “Well, it could have been worse!” Hendricks remarked to our class, “The man was dead! How could it be worse?”
It’s hard to fathom how Job’s pain could have been worse. We might be tempted to say, “My situation pales in comparison to Job. I should never complain, question, or doubt.” If Job’s suffering serves as the benchmark for our suffering, then the response to our pain becomes, “Suck it up. It could be worse. Just look at Job.” But that is wrong thinking.
Our pain cannot be measured on a scale or compared to Job’s suffering or anyone else’s. Knowing that Job lost everything does not lessen the fear of losing your job. Understanding that Job lost ten children does not ease the profound grief of losing one child. Your pain is real. Your suffering is significant. Your grief is overwhelming. Your fear is genuine.
The purpose of Job is not to establish a framework for measuring our pain but to learn how to respond when it feels like our world is falling apart. How should I react when experiencing times of suffering? Let’s review the questions we will explore throughout our study.
Can I trust God when life doesn’t make sense?
Can I trust God during my pain?
Is God enough?
Last time, we observed that God permitted Satan to test Job. Satan wasted no time.
It all happened on the day Job’s children got together to celebrate. Job’s oldest son was hosting the party for his nine siblings, and they did not realize it would be their last time together.
The destruction began with Satan sending the Sabeans, who took Job’s five hundred oxen and five hundred donkeys and killed the servants who were attending them. One escaped to share the news (Job 1:14-15). Before he could finish, another servant reported that an immense lightning strike wiped out seven thousand sheep and all the shepherds (Job 1:16). While recounting the “fire from heaven”, another servant reported that the Chaldeans had stolen all the camels and killed the servants. One can only imagine Job’s shock and numbness when he heard the most devastating news.
Job 1:18-19
While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
Job faced calamities instigated by his enemies in the first and third events. The second and fourth were natural disasters, yet Satan was behind all of them. Four tragedies unfolded, with the final report causing Job to forget the first three. What would you do? Let’s closely examine Job’s response.
Job 1:20
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.
In Hebrew, this verse contains nine words, five of which are verbs with Job as the subject. When he heard the reports, Job was sitting but quickly got up. Tearing his robe symbolized his torn heart (Joel 2:13), while shaving his head represented his loss of personal honor. The most extraordinary man of the east no longer held that title. Then Job fell to the ground and worshiped, which means “to prostrate oneself, to cause oneself to be low to the ground.”[1] One commentator notes that “falling to the ground and worshiping are what separates Job from others. He did not shake his fist skyward and scream, ‘Why me, Lord?’ but bowed to the ground in humble acknowledgment of and capitulation to God’s sovereign will.”[2]
Job 1:21
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job’s worship of God was a profession of his faith. He was born naked and brought nothing into the world. Job recognizes that he will also be naked when he dies and will take nothing with him. He will be buried and return to dust. Paul wrote, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Tim. 6:7 NIV). When we die, a U-Haul won’t be towed behind a hearse carrying our belongings. Everything we possess in this life is given to us by God. He gives, and he can take away. We are merely stewards. Despite his grief, pain, and questions, Job affirmed that God was still worthy of praise.
Job 1:22
In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
The writer begins Job’s story by stating that the man was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). God will reiterate these attributes in the passage we will examine next time. Job’s response confirms that this description was a deep-seated truth. Job will have his doubts and questions, for he was human, after all. However, at this point, he does not question God’s love, justice, or sovereignty.
In less than one chapter and what appears to be just a few hours, Job went from being “the greatest of all the people of the east” to the least among them. Upon learning of these four tragic events, Job worshiped God.
This book is a story about faith. Will you trust God when you don’t understand? Will you trust God in your pain? Is God enough? We know Job’s response. What will yours be?
PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD
Read Job 1:13-22
Focus on Job’s response in Job 1:20-22.
Talking to God
Ask God to help you worship him even in your pain.
Have Questions?
Please ask if you have any questions about today’s reading or teaching. Our team is here to assist you as you explore God’s Word. Simply submit your question below, and we’ll reply soon.
For a deeper study of Satan’s work and the believer’s power to resist, check out my six-part sermon series Battle Ready HERE.
Be sure to listen to my conversation with Arie Harel about his mom and dad’s survival of the Holocaust and their response to God. See The Journey with Ron Moore Podcast, Episode 67 on your preferred podcast platform.
[1] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Job 1:20.
[2] Robert L. Alden, Job, vol. 11, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993), 61-62.
I love the image of “pulling a U-Haul behind the hearse”. It is at once funny, sad, and makes a point we all need to remember. My Spiritual Director suggested that I could “appreciate “ my belongings as long as God is always first.