Job in His Tribulation

Job in His Tribulation

Throughout the centuries, there are not many who have gone through sufferings and tribulations like Job. He lost all his children, all his possessions, and he became very sick. His friends’ interactions with him did not bring much comfort, but only exhortations instead. Job must have had a lot of grief and struggles in his thoughts throughout all this, since he lived his life for God and kept His laws—more than most others in his time.

This is a great help for us to note his response, in the middle of it, as is written in Job 1:22: “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” (NIV)

It is so blessed and preserving to remember that we should not sin—such as falling into bitterness or darkness—in the worst possible situations. There can be situations where we are treated unrighteously and, according to our understanding, the friends do not understand these situations. Jesus was our pioneer in being full of goodness when He was unrighteously treated. In Luke 23:34, Jesus said: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

Moreover, Job did not charge God that what happened was a wrongdoing. Perhaps we do not say that God has done something wrong, but we are saying this indirectly by complaining and blaming the situations and other people. God is in control and He has a perfect plan with a good purpose for us.

May we use Job as a good example in the situations of our lives. Nothing should become an excuse for us to sin. We can have full faith that God’s wisdom is in control and that we are able to grow in God’s nature through all these things.