Maybe you can relate to Job today. Maybe your health has just vanished, and pain has become a constant companion. Maybe you’re trapped in debt and feel like you’re out of options. Maybe you’re struggling with addictions and feel powerless to overcome them. Maybe your relationships are a wreck, and you feel like those who are closest to you are pulling you in the wrong direction (2:9). Maybe you find yourself in the grip of grief, believing that you’ve lost everything that is important to you, that you have nothing to live for.

And maybe you feel this way even though you have faith in God. Maybe you’re trusting in Christ as your Savior and you really try to follow Him as your Lord. And you just don’t understand why everything seems to be going wrong, when Jesus promised you abundant life (John 10:10).

If that’s the case, let’s sit with Job for a few days (2:13). Let’s listen to him. After all, he would certainly understand whatever kind of loss we are going through. He was willing to ask God the hard questions. And unlike his friends, he knew there were no simple, obvious answers to his problems. He knew all those health-and-wealth preachers were full of bunk.

But through it all, he kept his faith in God and kept his focus on God. Oh, he tore his clothes and shaved his head, expressing his grief in the way people did in that place and time. But even in the depth of his despair, he did not sin or charge God with wrong (1:22). Instead, he kept on worshipping, kept on praying, kept on trusting, even when nothing made sense.

So, let’s sit with Job awhile. Maybe he has something to tell us.

Job 1:20-22 (NASB)

20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.
21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.