…Satan left the Lord’s presence and made sores break out all over Job’s body. Job went and sat by the garbage dump and took a piece of broken pottery to scrape his sores.
What a scene. Ouch. Lamentations 3:28-29. That’s the last we see of Satan in the book. It amazes me how God completely marginalizes this creature in the Scriptures / human history even though in many ways he is the protagonist in The Game.
His wife said to him, “You are still as faithful as ever, aren’t you? Why don’t you curse God and die?”
How difficult it is to watch those we love suffer.
Job answered, “You are talking nonsense! When God sends us something good, we welcome it. How can we complain when he sends us trouble?”
Marvelous. May I forever have this perspective engraved in me, Father (Lamentations 3:31-33).
Even in all this suffering Job said nothing against God.
In the plastic religion of today, this account would skip directly to Job 42:10-17. Sort of like the sanatized events described in Chronicles.
Three of Job’s friends were Eliphaz, from the city of Teman, Bildad, from the land of Shuah, and Zophar, from the land of Naamah. When they heard how much Job had been suffering, they decided to go and comfort him. While they were still a long way off they saw Job, but did not recognize him. When they did, they began to weep and wail, tearing their clothes in grief and throwing dust into the air and on their heads. Then they sat there on the ground with him for seven days and nights without saying a word, because they saw how much he was suffering.
I can so easily picture this tragic scene in my head. Neither his wife (Job 19:17) nor his friends (Job 16:1-3) were of any comfort to Job. Their fault (Job 42:7) would be to cling to their preconceived notions and formulas (Job 22:4-5) while having a clear counter example in front of them (Job 27:5-6). We are quick to judge, but would you sit with someone seven days and nights without saying a word? As for me, I probably would have sent Job a card…