Job 2: Things Get Worse, but Job Endures

The sons of God coming to present themselves...(BrickTestament.com)

If you're just joining us here we are going through a study of the book of Job. For a detailed and mind blowing introduction click here. Job, a book in the Old Testament, (the left side of the Bible), focuses on the life of a man named Job who although an extremely righteous man, suffers greatly. His life and story effect to verbalize some of the questions man has asked since time began i.e. 'Where's God when evil happens?' 'Why does God allow the righteous to suffer?' 'Why did God allow this to happen?' etc.

Last time we looked at the first part of Job's sufferings where Job lost all of his possessions, his servants, and his children in the span of about 10 seconds. Satan thought Job would curse God if God allowed him to take away his things and his family. Job to his credit still honored God. Now the story continues...

"Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. And the Lord said to Satan, 'From where have you come?' Satan answered the Lord and said, 'From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.' And the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason," (Job 2:1-3). 

Glowing and smiling women holding a bird = angels.

This scene played out in the first chapter almost exactly the same. The angels of God come to present themselves before the Lord. (Do I know what this means? No. Do I know if this is a regular occurrence where the angels report to God? No. Am I going to make any interpretations off this passage how God and the angels interact? No). I don't mean to skip over this or be flippant with the text. However, the point of the book of Job is Job, not so much angels. Therefore I'm going to focus on Job. If you're interested in angels I'm sure there are some weird TV shows you can watch. 

Satan comes back to God after taking away everything Job had in the previous chapter. God reminds Satan that Job has remained faithful and has not cursed God, despite all that Satan incited God to do to him. God praises Job as a man who "fears God and turns away from evil".*

"Then Satan answered the Lord and said, 'Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.' And the Lord said to Satan, 'Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes." (Job 2:4-8)

Observations/Thoughts: Observing, by the way, is a good place to start when you're studying or reading the Bible. All it takes is a pen, paper, and an inquisitive mind. (See also Sherlock Holmes).
- Satan cannot accomplish anything without the authority of God. He has to come to God for permission to mess with Job. God's absolute authority is on display.
- God allows Satan to mess with Job. This is troubling. More on this later.
- The character of Satan is on display. He, as Jesus says later, "comes to steal, kill, and destroy", (John 10:10). He is indeed the "accuser of the brethren", (Revelation 12:10), and his name means "adversary". You see the same attitude of argument and negativity that he exhibited in his interaction with Eve in the Garden of Eden. He seeks to destroy the people of God.
- God is proud of Job. Satan initially proposed that man, (in this case, Job), would forsake God if that man lost his possessions. Job continued to honor God. Now Satan states the only reason Job is still honoring God is because he is still healthy. Satan proposes that if Job lost his health then he would surely curse God. God then allows Satan to afflict Job, but not to kill him.
- Job is having a horrible time. He has lost his possessions and his children. Now he been afflicted physically with sores all over his body. He sits apart from the rest of society in the ash heap while he scrapes himself with pottery to find some relief from his pain.

You would think things couldn't get any worse for poor ole' Job. But..."Then his wife said to him, 'Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.' But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips." (9-10).

"Woman you're not helping."

Job's wife, at least in this instance, has become the tongue of Satan.
- (This is in no way a critique of wives or women. Nor is this an effort to keep women from rebuking their husbands when they do something stupid. More often than I can count my wife has corrected me for doing something stupid or selfish and she has been right to do so). However, in this instance, Job's wife speaks in the bitterness and anger of her spirit to her husband. She does not speak to him to help, to soothe, to encourage, or to care for him. She speaks to him with a poisonous tongue, encouraging him to deny his faith in God, curse the Lord, and die. In this she is echoing the desires and designs of Satan.
- This sort of thing is seen again in the Bible. Peter said to Jesus, "Get behind me Satan", (Matthew 16:23), when Peter attempted to discourage Jesus from going to his death on the cross. At that time Peter was speaking contrary to the will of God and Jesus rebuked him for it. In this instance, Job's wife is speaking not according to truth, but according to the "foolish women", (v10). She was speaking as Satan would speak. She was verbalizing what Satan desired of Job, that he would curse God and forsake his faith in him. "But stretch out your hand and touch his bone...and he will curse you to your face." (Job 2:5). God had praised Job to Satan because Job "still holds fast his integrity", while Job's wife despises him for it. "Do you still hold fast your integrity?" Poor Job is all alone. Not even his wife is by his side.
- Job, unlike Adam in the Garden of Eden, did not submit to his wife's encouragement to sin, but held fast to what was right before God.

Key questions in the book of Job: 
1. Does God act in men's lives according to their goodness or evil? In other words, if you are good, are you blessed by God? If you are evil, do you suffer?
- God does not act according to what man deserves. The Sabeans and Chaldeans were not wiped out the instant they killed job's livestock. Job's wife was not blown to bits the moment she told Job to curse God and die. Satan still exists as a fallen angel despite the fact he lives only to destroy men made in the image of God. Does this make sense to any of us? No. God's sovereign plan, in a fallen world, allows for good and evil, light and dark, chaos and peace. We do not understand the purpose, the meaning, or how all of this functions together to make any sense. Yet, "all things work according to the counsel of his will," (Ephesians 1:11). We do not and will not understand the actions or mind of God this side of heaven. God has, for his own purposes, permitted/allowed/decreed this calamity in Job's life. It is not according to what Job deserves, it is according to the purpose of God. Is that easy to digest? No. Is it Biblical? Yes.

Job, as portrayed by the BrickTestament.com

- Man, who lives on earth, is not punished accordingly for every evil he commits, (otherwise there would be a lot fewer of us in rush hour traffic). Man is given the opportunity to put his faith in Jesus Christ and escape the righteous judgment for his evil deeds, thoughts, and affections. God allows man to be forgiven of his sin through the righteous life of his son, Jesus. That's not fair. That is grace. Life is not fair. Thank God.
- Jesus experienced worse than Job. The most righteous and loving man ever to walk the face of the earth was convicted of a crime he did not commit. He was tortured and beaten even though his accuser could find no guilt in him. He was then hung on a cross to die an excruciating physical, emotional, and spiritual death. Jesus Christ did not receive what he deserved. He experienced what you and I deserve because of our rebellion against our Creator. Sinners, by the way, are allowed to turn from their sin and trust in what Jesus has done for them so they might be forgiven and declared righteous in Jesus. Again this is not fair, it is grace.

2. Will men follow and trust God in the midst of suffering OR is man's relationship with God dependent on his circumstances? 
Job could have thrown an enormous temper tantrum and cussed God out because of his circumstances. This is what Job's wife wanted him to do. Amazingly Job, to his credit, submitted to and trusted God. He did not allow what he could not understand to cause him to lose faith in who God was, or to curse the Lord. He trusted and honored God even in the most grievous pain and loss. Would I do that if I experienced what Job did? Frankly I'm afraid of the answer.

3. Is God sovereign over all things, even evil? 
Job understood that from God we receive both good and evil. He understood that all things work according to the counsel of his will. I do not believe the Bible teaches God is responsible for evil. Yet at the same time, he is somehow sovereign over all that happens and nothing happens outside of his control. Does this make sense to me? No. Is it Biblical? Yes. Will we understand it this side of heaven? No. The foolish thing to do would be to think up, or rationalize the problem of God and the existence of evil so that it makes sense to us. Some have said, "God cannot be both all powerful and all loving. If he was both he would not allow evil to exist." (If that's the case then God should not allow you or I to exist). This is the way a foolish person would speak. Just because we don't understand something it is not an excuse to rationalize it to a system that makes sense to our tiny brains. You and I weren't potty trained until we were three or four years old. Some of us can't even program our phones. We're not going to understand the mind of an all powerful and eternal God.

So Job endures continued pain and hardship due to the persecution of Satan. He experiences the unhelpful commentary and tongue lashing of his wife. He is all alone in his pain, sickness, and loss. Yet he endures as a man who trusts and honors God.

Sorry this is such a downer of a blog. I rather wish I wasn't doing such a difficult and sad book. Cheer up! Next time we get to meet Job's friends!

*Footnote: There is a notable contrast on the matter of integrity between God and our present day. In the Bible, integrity is defined by God, not man. In God's eyes integrity is "to fear God and turn away from evil". In our day and time "integrity" is defined by each individual as they see fit. Integrity in our day certainly doesn't involve fearing God. Furthermore, "evil" is a relative term for each individual. There is no moral standard outside of a person to define right and wrong. There is certainly very little discussion about "turning from evil" in our day.