When God drew Satan’s attention to Job’s righteous behavior (Job 1:8), Satan responded, “Stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” (Job 1:9-11). When God granted Satan permission to test Job, he stripped Job of his possessions and his family and afflicted him with excruciating boils (Job 1:12-19 and 2:7). Job at first accepted his plight, saying, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21).
Job’s three friends were certain God was punishing Job for some secret sin, and as his ordeal continued Job gradually came to resent God, maintaining that he had lived righteously and his afflictions served no purpose. Elihu, one of his friends, realized Job had become so obsessed with his innocence (Job 33:8-9) that he was finding fault with God rather than looking for lessons to learn from his trials. In response to Job’s complaints he asked: “Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s?” (Job 35:2).
Instead of seeing his adversity as an opportunity to develop patience and learn from his suffering, Job became convinced God was not treating him fairly and accused God of acting unjustly towards him. He saw God as unresponsive, and not properly acknowledging his righteousness, which led him to question God’s justice and wisdom.
When God finally intervened, He drew Job’s attention to His awesome acts of creation and, in doing so, showed how little understanding Job had. How could Job argue his case with God as an equal? When Job finally realized this about himself, he repented, not necessarily of what he had done, but of what he was—a being capable of resisting and blaming God. He came to abhor himself for believing God could act from unrighteous motives “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know….Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3-6).
In the end Job saw that the basis of his problem was his lack of understanding and excessive confidence in his own righteousness, and that His critical attitude toward God was wrong. Job made a decision to live by faith in God’s goodness, and to never question it again, regardless of any provocation or temptation to do so.
Job’s experience highlights the folly of holding too high an opinion of ourselves. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall”. (Proverbs 16:18). When we are enduring discouraging and traumatic experiences, it is important to patiently trust God while awaiting the resolution of our problems. King David gives us excellent advice: “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14).
