Free «Job’s Life in Suffering» Essay Sample

Introduction

The life of a human being is long and accompanied by successes and failures. Many people believe that suffering comes in the life of man to act as a punishment for the wrongs that persons commit, while others consider that it is brought about by Satan. Suffering comes with a purpose. It occurs to educate individual. In other cases, it comes in the form of temptations. It may also appear as a test for a person’s faith in God. For example, Job suffered a great deal to proof his faith. Therefore, paper will focus on the life of Job in suffering to outline the teachings of Job’s story. It will likewise concentrate on the importance of Job’s suffering to Christians in general.

The Life of Job and His Sufferings

The story of Job is well written in the Bible in the book of Job. It reveals Job’s life before and after suffering. Job was a wealthy person who feared and honored God irrespective of being rich. One day, as the devil was moving around the world, he saw Job’s wealthy lifestyle and the fear of God in him. Thus, he appeared before God in order to challenge God about the life of Job. The devil criticized Job before God, claiming that Job had a righteous life because God had provided everything he needed in life. God was sure with Job’s morally right life position and allowed the devil to destroy everything that he had. The devil’s intentions were to destroy Job’s wealth so that this family man would doubt his faith in God and curse him. Satan started by striking all the livestock and servants apart from one who was left and reported to Job. After the two reporters reached Job, another one came about the death of all his daughters. The news shocked Job, but they never changed his faith in God. All he said was, “Naked I came and naked I shall return” (Seow, 20), and then knelt and worshiped the Lord.

Satan was disgruntled about Job’s faith in God. He wanted to show that there cannot be a righteous man in the face of the earth. Hence, he went for the second time and challenged God with an assumption that, if Job’s health was destroyed, he would curse God. God permitted him a second time, but warned him of touching his soul. The devil struck Job with boils in the whole body. It was an extremely painful moment of his life. People started suggesting that Job had wronged God and it was a punishment. His wife was among them as well and told Job to curse God and die instead of experiencing suffering. Job was not moved by what people said about him; instead, he worshiped God in the whole situation. God was happy about Job’s faith in him and ordered the devil to leave him. God restored Job’s wealth and doubled it. He was also blessed with beautiful daughters for his faithfulness to God.

Lessons Learnt from Job’s Life

The life of Job teaches Christians about different virtues related to faith, struggling with temptations, spiritual wealth, and overcoming suffering. Job was among the richest people of his time. However, he believed in God with a faith that surpassed the wealth (Bullock 2007). From his life, Christians learn that wealth at heart is the most significant wealth. For this reason, despite the losses that Job encountered, he was paid back with good because of his faith. Job’s life also teaches Christians about the difficulties that human beings can encounter and how to deal with them and remain committed to faith. It is explained through the challenge that Job faced with respect to his wife who tried to convince him to turn against God. Influence is one of the key issues that mislead individuals against faith and towards all sorts of evil. Therefore, Job’s suffering is a respectable teaching that encourages humans to act on their own without the influence.

The life of Job in suffering teaches us that Satan identifies people who have faith in God and he would like to mislead them against their faith. Thus, it is essential for individuals to stand firm in their faith during times of wealth and poverty, during happiness and sorrow. From the life of Job in suffering, Christians learn that God can allow the devil to test people who have faith in God (Wilson 2012). Hence, it is necessary for Christians to build a foundation in faith since wealth, friends, and relatives can be taken away during temptations and trials. With faith, temptations and sufferings may only last for a short time because later God will pay the faithful individuals in doubles.

Meaning of Job’s Life to Me

For me, the life of Job means full commitment to faith, believing that God has knowledge on all what happens to his people. Job understood the facts of life and the consequences of his actions. For this reason, he considered life truth, such as being born naked, as an attribute to stand firm in the faith. The consequences of suffering are blessings if one can stand firm in the faith. As seen on the life example of Job, all his wealth was carried away during his period of suffering (Seow 2013). However, he emerged wealthier than before after standing firm. There are many life events that stand during times of temptations and, being realized, they assist Christians to have more faith. As observed in Job’s life, he understood that all what he had in terms of material wealth had been only important to him at the period that he was in the world. Combining faith and facts of life made Job emerge victoriously and earn God’s favor.