Job

I'm working on my paper for my counseling program. I am doing ten different stories from the Bible and how they can apply to different areas in mental health. The first one I am doing is on Job...here is what I have so far....

Never has one suffered more than a man named Job. It is difficult to understand, even for the most seasoned Christians, why God would allow Satan to devastate Job’s life like He did. Imagine it. Job had lived a righteous life. Satan actually chose Job because he was so upright and blameless. And within one day Job lost his oxen, his donkeys, his servants, his sheep, his camels, and incredibly all of his children. It is painfully difficult even to read, let alone actually live through as Job did. What would I have done if faced with the same circumstances? I pray I am never confronted with anything even remotely similar, but I am pretty sure I would have screamed out to God. I would have cried in agony from the pain within my heart. I would have yelled, “Why? God, why?” What does Job do? He gets up, tears his robe, shaves his head, and falls to the ground and worships God. Worships. Wow. It sure makes me feel weak to read about this man’s strength. What is even more amazing is what he says. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21) The Bible says in all these things Job did not sin by blaming any of this on God.

We read a few chapters later that Job’s trials only continue. His body is stricken and his friends and wife are no comfort. He begins to wrestle with God to find answers. Despair starts to overwhelm him. At one point, he even asks, “will my eyes ever see happiness again.” Depression is coming on. That dark cloud is hovering. He goes on in chapter 7 to say it would have been better if he were never born. Suicidal thoughts? He mentions he would prefer strangling and death instead of his miserable disease stricken body. Yes, it is there. The sadness, the gloom, the longing to die. Job knew it. Job felt it. Job suffered from severe despair. He wondered aloud why he should go on living. He saw no end in sight. The light at the end of the tunnel was not visible. He even states a classic from someone who is suffering from depression in 7:21, “Have I become a burden to you?”

Hope is lost. Misery has made its home. Job’s thoughts have become self‐centered and he has given up. But not completely. He still seeks God for answers. He still turns to God even in his despair. He still holds on to a tiny bit of hope. He prays, he struggles, he asks. God can take it. God listens. God understands. Job realized there is no other way out. There is no other answer except for his Maker, so he seeks him. He doesn’t understand, but he trusts. He learns perhaps the greatest lesson of all. God allowed the pain and the heartache and the destruction and so it must be for his greater good. He learned to simply trust. He learned what it means to really place his faith in Almighty God. In the end, he did see his life restored. He did hold on to see God’s blessings again. And he enjoyed the latter parts of his life more than the first.