Curse God and Die - The Book of Job

Published Mar 19, 2024, 7:00 AM

In this Bible Story, Satan makes a second attempt to break Job. Satan removes his health, and Job is faced with his wife and friends, who tragically fail to comfort him. This story is inspired by Job. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is Job 2:9 from the King James Version.

Episode 58: Once again Satan comes into the presence of The LORD, and once again God praises His servant Job, pointing out that even though He allowed Satan to take away everything he owned, Job still praised God. So Satan tries again to break Job, this time by taking away his health. Covered in boils and in grief, Job sits outside mourning his loss and praying to God. His friends arrive to comfort him, but, just like what can happen to us today, the conversation turns towards words of blame instead of comfort. But even in his anger, Job still does not curse God.

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Let us pray, then said his wife, unto him, dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die job to nine, my Lord. To day marks the day that I will begin to pre qualify who gets to speak into my life. I will not allow the length of time that I've known a person to be the reason why I keep them close if they continue to speak against you and what you have commanded. Holy Spirit, help me to protect my ears so that the only things I allow in are the words that are in alignment with what you have spoken to me about my future and destiny. Satan. You will not break me, You will not destroy me, no matter how many times you try to inflict me with pain. Lord, I decree and declare that you are my redeemer, and I know that you live whatever may come. I will not stop praising your name. Redemption and favor follow my life, and I know this to be true in Jesus' name. Amen, thanks for making prayer a priority in your life. To hear the Bible come to life. Stay tuned for the Bible in a Year brought to you by Bible in a Year dot com.

Curse God and die. In our last story, we learned about the righteousness of Job. The Lord showcased Job to Satan as an example of uprightness, integrity, and love. Job was truly unmatched in riches, familiar bliss, and devotion. Satan, in an attempt to expose Job's shallow faith, destroyed his property, riches, and family. Job stood over the corpses of his children, breathing in the ash from his burning fields, yet still praised God. His faith was unwavering. Now we learn of Satan's second attempt to break Job. Satan removes his health, and Job is faced with his wife and friends, who tragically failed to comfort Job. As inspired by the Book of Job.

Hello, I'm Jack Graham with today's episode of the Bible in a Year podcast. In yesterday's reading, we learned how God allows Satan to take away Job's riches and even his children. Satan had challenged God, saying that if he took away what Job had, that Job would curse him, Job would no longer serve him. But when Job lost everything, his response was surely grief, but through the tears there was worship. Never once did he accuse or curse God. Satan had underestimated this man's heart and the power of God to be faithful to his servant. Today, we'll see God remove another layer of protection, allowing the enemy to attack Job himself, leaving him without his health but still alive. He'll be joined by his friends and his wife, those closest to him who should offer him comfort and encouragement. But how will they respond to Job's challenges. Let's listen to today's reading to find out.

Satan stood again before the presence of God. The sound of Job's praises filled the accuser with more hatred and contempt. Again, the Lord asked, from where have you come. Satan gazed upon the Lord and said, walking up and down the earth seeking souls that may be deceived and corrupted. The Lord once again showcase to Job before him, saying, have you seen the faithfulness of my servant Job? His integrity and love towards me endures even after your vain attempts to destroy him. Satan snapped as he spoke, saying skin for skin, Job would give away his property in children to save his own life. But if you allow me to touch his bones and flesh, I promise you that he shall curse your name. So the Lord allowed it, he could harm Job and take his body, but he could not kill him, so Satan descended upon Job once again, hell bent on killing the spirit within him. Job awoke in the morning from his bed. The room was filled with ash from the fire outside his home. He coughed for minutes and then rose up from the bed. A sharp pain shut out from the soles of his feet. Job fell back on to his bed, looking at his feet and legs. They were covered in disgusting sold Job felt around the rest of his body to realize he was covered in oozing boils. They were tender to the touch and filled his entire body with pain. He felt poisoned unless he got rid of them, but he had to scar his body to do so. Job's silent weeping could be heard from his room as he took a broken piece of pottery to scrape off the sores. He sat there alone in his room, wincing in pain. Job's wife peeked her head in from the hall. She looked at her husband with glazed eyes. They were red from weeping throughout the night. Job, who had been praising God over the dead bodies of her children, was now covered in sores and pass She stood at the entrance of the room and said, do you still feel joy now? Job? Job looked at her. He was in too much pain to respond to her. She did not cry, she could spare no more tears. She scoffed at him and said you should curse God and die. Her words stung more than the sores. Job raised himself from the ground and walked past her. He limped down the hall and said, shall we only receive good from God and not bad? So Job left to go sit outside and pray. Job sat beside the wall of his home, overlooking the darkness and ash of his land. He did not smile. Instead, he closed his eyes and sought any semblance of comfort from God he could. Occasionally he would look to the direction of his son's house and cry. Job's friends, eliphaz bil Dad and Zofar heard of his hardship and made plans to go and mourn with him. The three friends approached his home and saw Job sitting on the floor outside. They could barely recognize him. His face was dirty with ash, his cheeks were covered in small sores, and his eyes were red from crying. Job sat there, wet with the puss oozing from his boils. His friends said nothing. Instead, they sat with Job, looking into the nothingness. Their silent presence was a comfort to Job. There they remained for seven days and seven nights. They would eat and sleep, but say nothing out of respect for Job. They saw that his suffering was truly great. The silence was palpable, and none of the friends dared to speak. First, then after seven days of complete silence, Job spoke, cursed be the day I was born, Job yelled. His friends were startled by Job's statement. Job beat the wall behind him, saying, let gloom and darkness consume my life. I pray that the thickness of night would drown me. Why did I not die at birth? To experience joy only increases the pain of loss. Why even give life to a bitter soul like mine? My soul knows no rest, no comfort, and no peace. Job's words cut deep into his soul. He lamented in front of his friends for a while. They sat in silence. Then, one by one, Eliphaz, Bill Dad, and Zofar began a barrage of explanations as to why God could have possibly allowed Job to suffer such a loss. Eliphaz suggested that God wanted Job to have a greater understanding of how to comfort others, and that sorrow gives him a greater depth of empathy. Bill Dad and Zo far chimed in with the possibility that Job must be partaking in some tremendous sin. Surely Job is under the judgment of God, or else he would not be suffering. Bil Dad contemplated the possibility of Job's children being the real sinners and thus bringing their deaths upon themselves. Their voices continued to shake in Job's brain. Their explanations offered him no peace, no resolution, and no respite from his suffering. The bickering rang in Job's ears. His heart began to beat fast as he listened to their quarreling and speculations. You are worthless friends and poor physicians, Job screamed, you think I have somehow sinned? Tell me what crimes have you witnessed in my life? I have made a covenant with my eyes that no evil thing shall enter into the windows of my mind. Show me a tangible reason for my tragedy, and I will be silent still. Job's friends insisted that his claims to righteousness came from a skewed image of God's justice and character. Job sighed deeply, and tears once again began to fall from his face. There is only one who will speak for me. Job stood to his feet and brushed the dust off of his clothes. He took a deep breath and looked to Heaven. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know I shall witness his faithfulness. Still, after more bickering and visiting for more friends to discuss the philosophical reasons for suffering, Job departed on a walk to sit in his own sorrow. What he knew of God's goodness did not align with his experiences, and he beat his chest and pain over it. In the quiet of the evening, Job wrestled with his faith in God and sought answers to the question of suffering and God's sovereignty.

In today's scripture, we see another meeting between God and Satan. The accuser. Satan has failed to prove that Job's faithfulness is conditional upon God's blessing, and God points this out to Satan, reminding him that Job still worship even when everything, his possessions, even his family, was taken away from him. He tells God that if Job were to feel his own health failing, if God were to allow Satan to touch him or harm him, Job's attitude would change, he says, this righteous man would show his true colors and curse God to his face in the midst of personal pain. This exchange, as the one from yesterday, show us some profound truths. First, God is always in control. That means God is sovereign. Satan answers to God, and even though there is an eternal battle between good and evil, now God is still on his throne and he commands the powers of the devil himself. There may be times when it seems the devil is getting the upper hand, but he is restrained by God's own will and God's own purposes. Secondly, God did not himself cause the harm to Job. Satan attacked him, and soon we're going to see that Job's friends will claim that this was somehow God's punishment, but nothing could be further from the truth. God allowed Satan to do physical harm to Job, but he was not permitted to kill him. And Satan once again leaves and gets to work on Job. He strikes Job with illness painful boils. Can you imagine the pain that he must have felt as these boils raging across his body. He was scraping his skin with broken clay just to remove the sores. He was in intense pain. Job's wife then enters the scene, and, rather than being a comfort to her diseased and distraught, pain ridden husband, she challenges him. Why is he still holding onto God? He should just curse God and die, she says. He rebuked his wife, reminding her that God is to be praised not only in good times, but in the bad times, even in the tragedies of life. Job was at this point all alone in his suffering humanly. But then three of his friends come to him. They see his pain, and in Job two thirteen we see what their first response is. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. It would be good if we could just stop right there. Sometimes the very best response to someone who is grieving, hurting in intense pain is just to be present, just to be there, no attempt to explain the pain, to make sense of the suffering that is inexplicable and unexplainable, Just to be there. Job needed his friends to sit with him in these moments of suffering. After this silence and suffering, Job gave voice to his feelings. He deeply lamented his pain, and he was not blaming God. He was simply pouring out his honest hurt and sorrow. His friends listened, and then they tried to offer explanations. I suppose their intentions were good at first, but they weren't helpful. They certainly weren't comforting. What begins our musings and questionings that become accusations against Job. Job must have sinned in some way, so that this pain and judgment has come upon him. He should just confess and own up to his mistakes. That's what his friend said. Some kind of friends, huh. They assumed that blessings were a sign of favor and suffering was a sign of sin. But Job knows something that his friends don't. That God is a redeemer and that God redeems our suffering, and in the midst of pain and problems that we can't understand or explain, God's presence is enough. So Job leaves his friends behind and goes to talk with God himself. There he will ask God what is happening and why? And we'll hear that conversation tomorrow. Let's pray. Dear God, help us to know how to comfort those who suffer and are in pain. Help us to show up and sit with people who hurt, and to give them your word, not our own. May we always trust you in the plans and purposes that we may not understand. And may we never ever doubt your love for us, because we know your love is an everlasting love that you've promised never to leave us or forsake us. In Jesus's name, Amen, thank you for listening today to the Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church. Download Theprey dot com app and make prayer a priority in your life. And if you enjoy this podcast, share it with others people that you love and care about, people who want to know the Bible. Help them understand the Bible as well. This podcast can make a huge difference in someone's life. If you want more resources on how to tap into the power of Jesus Christ in your life, then be sure to visit Jack Graham dot org.

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