Be Still and Know

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Recommended: Faith and Suffering - Christian View

The book of Job in the Old Testament explores many questions we ask ourselves as human beings. Why do the good suffer? How can we comfort someone who is hurting? Does our sin bring us suffering? How do we keep our faith when times get hard? These are just a few that came into my mind while reading Job. We see human suffering on a daily basis. All we have to do is turn on the news and we are shown so many stories of human suffering that it makes you ask the question “If God is so good and just, why do so many people suffer?” The story of Job shows us that we should keep our faith when faced with the worst that God can throw at us. When we are faced with the challenges of life where does our hope lie? It is inevitable that we will face challenges or suffering in this life. It’s not a question of if, but of when. What we put our hope or our faith in will determine how we handle the suffering life brings our way.
The book of Job opens with Satan questioning God. Satan pushes at God by insinuating that people only give him praise when things are going good for them. God in turn asks Satan “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is no one like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that who fearth God, and eschewth evil.” (Wilkie and Hurt 91) Satan all but laughs in God’s face and says that Job is only his servant because his life is blessed. Now God must prove to Satan that Job is perfect and faithful. Job is just going about his own business, living a good faithful life, and suddenly his world comes down around him. First he loses all of his cattle, his employees are murdered and his 10 children are killed in a storm. This did not turn him from God. His reply to that was “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, And n...

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...el is advice, but they are really just condemning him. Job doesn't let them break his faith. He knows his hope lies in the Lord and he knows that if he strays from his faith he will not see the glory of Heaven. Job never received the reason for why he suffered. Like Job, we may go through many struggles and never understand why God would bring us to tragedy. It's not our job to question why, it's our job to know that if God brings us to it, God will see us through it. God does all things for our good. Job shows us that even when we don't understand it's important to always keep our faith. The best lesson to take from Job is in times of trial we should be still and know that he is God.

Works Cited

Wilkie, Brian, and James Hurt. The Ancient World Through the Renaissance. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2001. Print. Vol. 1 of Literature of the Western World.

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