Scroll to the bottom for thoughts/discussion questions!
One-sentence summary: Satan appears before God to accuse Job (the most righteous man on Earth) of loving God only for what He can give, so God allows Satan to take from Job his family and his health; Job sits in ashes and curses the day he was born, and his friends- after grieving with him in silence for seven days- "comfort" him by telling him that he must have done something to deserve it.
We take a break from Genesis to go to Job, as this daily Bible reading is in chronological order.
Here we learn of Satan's role in our suffering and God's sovereignty. Satan appears before God to accuse Job, a righteous man and "the greatest man in the east," of only loving God for what He has done for him. But before this, God initiated the conversation by asking Satan if he had seen how much Job loves Him. It has always been God's plan to prove to the authorities and powers of darkness that man can love God of his own free will.
God gives Satan permission to take from Job in a way we have never seen before in Scripture. It is worth noting that not only do we allow access for the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy, but that God Himself also at times gives Satan access... but only for an eternal purpose. Here, for Job, it was to teach us once and for all to trust in God's goodness and His sovereignty... and so that we would have a true example of patience in suffering!
Job's immediate response to the death of his family is to worship God and to say, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away." Lest we think Job is attributing evil to God, Scripture makes a point of saying that Job said nothing wrong here. So many people struggle with why God allows evil things to happen; in a way, the Scripture is saying that it is okay to wrestle with that, with the human emotion of why God allows bad things to happen when He is all-powerful and benevolent.
God is proud of the way Job handles the death of his family, and Satan accuses him yet again, saying in essence, that man is selfish and that Job will sing a different tune if his own body is suffering.
Sitting in ashes, his body covered in boils, Job curses the day that he was born, and it's quite the curse! He wonders why some people's suffering is so great that they long for death but live on.
Job's wife is horrible! She tells him to curse God and die. (There's one bad decision we know he's made!... Seriously, though, what?!)
Job says the thing he has feared has come upon him.
Job's friends come to sit with him and, seeing his grief is so great, don't speak for an entire week! Maybe we should sit with people when they are hurting without speaking a little more!
One of Job's friends speaks, and it is not good. He speaks his own mind, not based on experience, saying that from what he knows, the good are rewarded, and evil men are punished, adding insult to injury. It is better to say nothing than to say something that only further causes pain to someone in grief!
Thoughts/Questions:
I think one of the most difficult and weighty issues of all time is addressed in Job. Why does God allow bad things to happen to "good" people? And if He allows it, isn't it the same as if He has caused it? It is a very difficult pill to swallow that there are some things we will never truly understand this side of eternity. However (although it does not take the pain away immediately), once you have experienced God- His goodness and His love- you can trust that all His decisions are for the greater, eternal good of all.