Story Overview

After Satan approaches God and challenges the genuineness of Job’s faith and integrity, God permits Job to be pressed and tried by Satan within limits. Job essentially loses the most important things in his life, his wife tells him to curse God and die, and his friends accuse him of wrongdoing while he was actually innocent. The story concludes with Job’s outcry for justice and a plea for God to explain himself. God doesn’t respond with answers, but rather with his identity. Job “repents” and is satisfied with trusting God for his vindication, whether in his present life or the afterlife. Ultimately, God vindicates and restores Job beyond measure and uses his story to continue to shape our faith centuries later.

Themes in Job

• The infinite wisdom of God is often outside of our cognitive abilities
• There is an adversary who has his throne on earth; he steals, kills, and destroys
• Suffering is not always a result of particular sins
• God can be trusted in and through hardship

Scripture Verses

• Psalm 23:1-6
• John 10:10
• Job 1:20-22
• Job 42:1-6 & 12

Discussion Questions

1. What do we learn about the character of God and the character of Satan?
2. What does Job’s story teach us about faith, life, and the troubles we face?
3. What are some parallels to Jesus and Job?
4. What makes Jesus’ suffering more meaningful for us today?
5. Discuss some of your “Job-like” moments and how your vision of God was affected by it.

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Inviting Disorientation by Dr. Derry Long

Engaging Grief with a Good God by Cody Whittington