I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 1-5.

    Something which struck me about the introduction to this passage is that Satan kept raising the bar on Job. When it was pointed out that Job was righteous, Satan claimed that it was only because he was wealthy. When Job lost all of his wealth, and even his children, he continued to praise God. Yet when that happened Satan did not admit that he had been wrong. No, he contended that Job only remained righteous because he was healthy. Here we see an example of the thought process of those who are always finding something to blame in others.They always find excuses for not admiring those who do what is right. Even when he was suffering terribly, Job refused to curse God. He accepted that the good he had previously received had been a blessing from God and that God was within his rights to withdraw that blessing. Job was willing to accept from God whatever God chose to deliver, whether good or bad.

    Finally, after much time spent suffering, Job expressed his desire to die. even here he did not condemn God. He merely wished that he had never been born, and failing that he wished that he could die. I do not think I have ever noticed before, but the Book of Job is an answer to proponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide. Job’s question for his friends was, “Why must I go on living? Why can’t I just die? Why must I go on suffering?” In response to this, Eliphaz, the first of Job’s friends to speak, essentially tells him, “Man up! You don’t have it so bad.” Further Eliphaz implies that Job must have done something wrong to be suffering as he was. Eliphaz was attempting to offer Job hope and comfort, but he got too caught up in trying to find the solution Job could implement to be fully compassionate.