The Comfort of a Wealthy Man

Yes – Job was a wealthy man. When and where he lived has not been precisely identified. But a fair guess would be that he lived in territory which is now part of present day Jordan, in the sixth century BC.

Clearly wealth was reckoned in those days through livestock. Job had it all going for him. He would never need for anything. And he had children to inherit it all from him. His daughters are on the record as being particularly attractive and beautiful.

But there was more. Did you notice (see bold above) that Job was “blameless and upright”? What could go wrong?

Well, it did – very much - go wrong. All his sons and daughters died together when a building collapsed. On that same day the Sabeans attacked his oxen, donkeys and servants in the south and took them away. From the north the Chaldeans took the camels and more servants. Lightning struck the sheep and all were lost. A while later Job contracted unrelenting and virulent skin disease. He was finished.

So the bigger question became, ‘Why did it go wrong?’ Why indeed?

The book of Job has been preserved in the national archives of Israel. Later it was added to the Christian Bible. It contains about 40 pages of fierce argument between Job and his friends as to the cause – the WHY – of Job’s awful suffering. It’s well worth reading.

There is a shorter version written by Job himself at the end of the book which bears his name.

These words need a little thought, don’t they... Here's how I see it.

1. In all his suffering he had learnt one thing that he never knew before. Almighty God can do all things. And what he purposes to do cannot, can never, ever be thwarted. 

2. In all his suffering and in all his arguments with his friends he had spoken many words. He now realized that his words were not just words – they were wonderful realities articulated by a man who knew his LORD but needed to know Him for real. He had, for instance, said :  I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

3. His knowledge – deep down personal knowledge - of Almighty God had been transformed into a new reality. He now saw himself for what he really was – he actually now despised himself – and was wonderfully comforted whilst still in his dust and ashes – comforted by the living God, his Redeemer.

Job no longer needed to ask “Why?” He knew why. He now knew the LORD of heaven and earth for real. That was the why of his devastated life...

The book of Job also records this wonderful truth: The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning.