I presume you know the basics of the story: Job suffers, his friends challenge him with regard to what caused God to punish him, God shows up and responds to Job’s request for a hearing, God restores Job’s fortunes including a new family.
Knowing the end of the story is important, I believe, to how you should read the beginning and middle of the story.
After the LORD had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has. (42.7)This can change how you read chapters 38-41 when God speaks to Job out of a whirlwind. It’s also to understand Job’s humble responses to God in these chapters. Especially when Job knows he will find justice from God—“Would He use His great power to argue with me? No, He would give me a fair hearing” (23.6)—God’s words at the end are in response to a request for a fair hearing. But here’s the main point for this lesson: if you want to selectively read the book of Job, focus on Job’s words and what he says about God. Here are a few of such points:
- God surrounds some people with difficulties (3.23)
- God sees you; God looks for you (7.8)
- God performs countless miracles, not just the awesome works of creation (9.5-13)
- He encourages and thwarts judges, counselors, kings (12.13-25)
- God ‘hates me and angrily tears me apart’ as if to show that I’ve sinned (16.7-14)
- We need a mediator, as between two friends, for us and God (16.21)
These are just a few, and there’s a lot more—some were skipped between chapters 3 and 16. Some of them are not easy to read depending on how you would describe God’s character. I think they’re worth wrestling with. You may decide, like a pastor-friend of mine, that Job is the least favorite book because of how God’s character is perceived.
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