The Torture Of Job
By James Donahue
There have been many sermons of praise for Job, the man that endured years of severe torture by Satan, as God looked on, because Satan challenged God that he could destroy Job’s faith.
The Christian story is filled with praise for Job because he held on, in spite of all the woes brought on during the strange contest.
As Rob Bricken, morning editor at io9.com explained: “He kills all of Job’s children and animals, burns down his house, destroys his wealth, and then covers him in boils.” Job reaches a point where he wishes he had never been born and he even asks God to kill him. He also asks how God could be so cruel.
Good question. But then we have seen God do some really cruel things like slaughtering hundreds if not thousands of people just for being in the way of the Israelis on their way to “the holy land.”
God spares Job’s wife, who also suffers along with Job. But unlike Job, she urges Job to “curse God and die.” She is embroiled in bitterness. She is like Satan's advocate whispering in Job's ear. Job refuses to follow her advice, however. He teaches that men must accept all things, both good and bad, that come their way. These things must not affect a man’s love of his God.
After Job starts pleading to God for mercy, “God eventually gives him back animals and children – new ones, because the old ones are still dead,” Bricken wrote.
In the end, God proved Job’s faithfulness. The question that sticks in my mind, however, is how was it that God and Satan were hanging out together and even having this conversation?
By James Donahue
There have been many sermons of praise for Job, the man that endured years of severe torture by Satan, as God looked on, because Satan challenged God that he could destroy Job’s faith.
The Christian story is filled with praise for Job because he held on, in spite of all the woes brought on during the strange contest.
As Rob Bricken, morning editor at io9.com explained: “He kills all of Job’s children and animals, burns down his house, destroys his wealth, and then covers him in boils.” Job reaches a point where he wishes he had never been born and he even asks God to kill him. He also asks how God could be so cruel.
Good question. But then we have seen God do some really cruel things like slaughtering hundreds if not thousands of people just for being in the way of the Israelis on their way to “the holy land.”
God spares Job’s wife, who also suffers along with Job. But unlike Job, she urges Job to “curse God and die.” She is embroiled in bitterness. She is like Satan's advocate whispering in Job's ear. Job refuses to follow her advice, however. He teaches that men must accept all things, both good and bad, that come their way. These things must not affect a man’s love of his God.
After Job starts pleading to God for mercy, “God eventually gives him back animals and children – new ones, because the old ones are still dead,” Bricken wrote.
In the end, God proved Job’s faithfulness. The question that sticks in my mind, however, is how was it that God and Satan were hanging out together and even having this conversation?