Job 1:1; 2:1-10
Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."
Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."
Having recalled the stories of God’s creative and redemptive power, stories he had heard over and over as a child, Job begins again to practice the rituals of his faith, and in doing that he recognizes in a powerful way the very presence of God.
It is one thing to challenge those who teach, but quite another thing to disrespect their authority. If this is inappropriate in human terms, then how much more so when we shake our fist at the Creator God when our lives are in disarray?
Job had been through a horrible time where he’d lost everything from his house to his self-respect. He owned nothing material anymore. His friends were no help at all. Worst of all. God seemed like he was hiding.
It wasn’t that Job was angry with the way God was treating him. No, Job’s bitter lament was because he could not find God, anywhere. God was just nowhere to be found. What do you do when it feels like God is hiding?
Job was a wealthy man. Everyone knew that God had poured on him blessing after blessing. Job was blessed with seven sons and three daughters; this was regarded as the perfect family, a sign of God’s pleasure. And then Job’s nightmare began.
It was my worst day at church . . . ever. As the service started, the pastor shouted–“God is GOOD!” Then he told us to shout it with him. And it kept going, all those people shouting: “God is GOOD!” I stayed as long as I could. Then I left. Fled, really.
Why do bad thing happen to good people? Why do seemingly good or innocent people suffer? Why do children die in natural disasters? Why are infants born with debilitating diseases? Job is the book in the Bible that deals with this issue head on.
Yahvé convirtió el cautiverio de Job cuando oró por sus amigos. Yahvé le dio a Job el doble que antes. Después de esto, Job vivió ciento cuarenta años, y vio a sus hijos, y los hijos de sus hijos, a cuatro generaciones. Así murió Job, viejo y lleno de días.
Entonces Yahvé le respondió a Job desde el torbellino: "¿Quién es este que oscurece el consejo con palabras sin conocimiento? Prepárate como un hombre, porque te preguntaré, entonces me responderás. ¿Dónde estabas cuando puse los cimientos de la tierra? "