Job Loses Everything

“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” — Job 1:21

Long ago, in a land called Uz, there lived a man called Job. He was a good man who loved God and stayed away from evil. Job had seven sons and three daughters, and thousands of sheep and camels and oxen and donkeys, and many servants. He was the greatest man in all the east.

The Bible tells us that one day Satan came before God. And God said to Satan, “Have you noticed My servant Job? There’s no one else like him on earth. He is a good and honest man, who loves Me and stays away from evil.”

“Of course Job loves You,” said Satan. “You protect him, and You’ve given him everything. But take it all away, and he will curse You to Your face!”

“Very well,” said God. “Everything he has is in your power. But you must not harm Job himself.”

Then, all in one terrible day, Job lost almost everything. Messengers came running, one after another. Raiders had stolen his oxen and donkeys. Fire had burned up his sheep. Other raiders had taken his camels. And then the worst news of all: a great wind had knocked down the house where his children were having a meal together, and all of them had died.

Job was heartbroken. He tore his robe and shaved his head, which is what people did in those days when they were grieving. Then he fell down on the ground.

And he worshipped God.

“I came into the world with nothing,” Job said, “and I’ll leave it with nothing. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

In all this, Job didn’t sin or blame God for doing wrong.

Then Job became ill too, covered in painful sores from head to toe. Three of his friends heard about all his troubles, and they came to comfort him. When they saw him, they hardly recognised him. They sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. Nobody said a word, because they could see how much he was suffering.

That was the kindest thing they did. Later, they started talking, and they got it all wrong. They kept telling Job that he must have done something terrible to deserve all this. But he hadn’t.

Job didn’t understand why all this was happening. He was honest with God about how much it hurt. He asked God, “Why?” again and again.

The book of Job teaches us that sometimes very bad things happen to good people, and it isn’t because they did something wrong. We don’t always know why. But we can still bring our questions to God.

Read it in your Bible: Job 1:1–22; 2:11–13

Dear God, when sad things happen and I don’t understand why, help me to keep trusting you, like Job. Help me to be a good friend to people who are sad, and to sit with them. Amen.