Book Of Job: Suffering Essay, Research Paper

Book of Job: Suffering

The book of Job 1:3, in The New Oxford Annonated Bible, states “Job was the

greatest man among all in the East.” He was a faithful servant of God, he owned

thousands of animals, and had many servants and friends. Job had a very large

family with seven sons and three daughters. Why was Job chosen to suffer and

receive punishment at the hands of the Lord one may ask? The major themes in

the book describe the ways Job deals with suffering and despair the Lord handed

him. How one deals with despair and suffering is what makes a person who he or

she is.

The Lord is not a stranger to suffering. Psalms 69:33-36, states ?The

Lord hears the needy and does not despise his captive people. Let heaven and

earth praise him. The seas and all that move in them. For God will save Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it;

the children of his servants will inherit it; and those who love his name will

dwell there.? God does not intentionally inflict despair and heartache on his

believers for no reason at all. I think the despair we experience, and how we

deal with it, is a test to show our true selves.

The Lord does not make us suffer because of what we have done. Through

suffering, we become better people and grow as an individual. You find your

identity through terrible experiences. I have dealt with serious heartache and

do believe that I have grown from it. I have learned how to react to certain

situations and how to overcome them.

I looked up the word “suffering” in the bible, I was directed to Psalms

73:21-26. It states, ?When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was

senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with

you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and

afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth

has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is

the strength of my heart and my portion forever?. These verses explain that God

is always with us. No matter how bad circumstances get, God will be beside us

through it all. This is the main reason that Job does not understand why God is

making him suffer. Job had always been true to the Lord’s word and had never

done anything to deserve what he was being handed. His fame, fortune, family,

and health were stripped of him for no apparent reason. In Job 1:21, Job says, ?

Naked I came from my mothers womb. naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the

Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised.? Still Job was

faithful to the Lord, Jobs faith was stronger than his anguish.

What makes people believe in the Lord and stand beside him through

everything? Wars, natural disasters, and disease are all events that can make

people doubt God, but the strong believers stick with the Lord. When Job had

basically his whole life taken away from him, he was all alone except for his

friends. His friends were there for him, but not in a way that he wanted them

to be. His friends kept asking him what he had done to deserve the suffering

God placed upon him. They told him that if he repented his sins, he would get

all he lost back. Job still insisted that he had done nothing wrong. His

friends were not giving him the support he wanted.

Job was in a lot of pain, physically and emotionally. He wanted to know

why God chose him to suffer. In comparing the book of Job to modern day, I

think of the Olympic Park bombing this last summer at the Summer Games. Richard

Jewell was the targeted suspect for a good 4 months, he was eventually dropped

as a suspect. This was good news for Jewell, but he will never be the same

person. He will forever live his life in the shadow of this terrible incident.

I wonder if Richard Jewell feels that he has become a better person due to his

suffering?

In the end, Job does finally get back all he had lost, and then some.

The unfortunate thing about this is he got back his children, but they were not

the same children as before. I am not a parent, but if I were to have my child

taken away from me and then be given a different one, it would be a horrible

experience. The love a parent has for his or her child can never be substituted.

There is no replacement for a human being, you can replace just about anything

else, however, no one can replace a lost life. If I were Job, I would have

given up on the Lord. After what had happened I still would be very upset about

how I was treated. It is the people that deal with adversity this way who are

rewarded in the end. All we can do is just keep on having faith in the Lord and

he will have faith in ourselves.