My bible reading plan has had me in the book of Job for the past few weeks. It’s been a difficult read for a few reasons.

The length of the book, coming in at 42 chapters is one of the longer books, although it only takes about 1.7 hours to read in it’s whole.
Genre - the writing style of Job is what is called Wisdom Literature. Ecclesiastes and Proverbs are also in this genre. It is mostly poetry which makes interpretation difficult.
Content - Job is a story about suffering that God allows onto a human who is more righteous than most of us. The suffering is unimaginable and the honesty with which Job writes about his suffering is hard as well. Often times he longs for death to ease his pain.
What is the point of Job? We can struggle to understand why this book is in the Bible and how it connects with the overarching theme of the bible.

Thoughts

While doing study on this book, I came across a few helpful quotes that opened up the book to me in a new way:

"Here is the core and comfort in the message of Job: Beyond suffering, past our pain and loss, is a God who is not only all knowing and omnipotent, sovereign and free to do as He chooses but also always good and just, loving and wise, purposeful and perfect in all that He chooses to do or allow - and intimately aware of all it's effects on us...but HE is the center of all life, not we. When we ignore or doubt or deny these realities in the face of suffering, we not only harm ourselves but also rob others of an opportunity to see God as He truly is."
Beyond suffering by Layton Talbert.

What a humbling reminder that God is the center of life, not us. Even though that is true, the center of the world and universe is deeply aware of how suffering affects all of us. He cares for us.

Job as a type of Christ

On a messaging board, someone had asked how others interpret the Book of Job, these two answers were insightful and encouraging:

I realized while reading that Job is a type and shadow of Christ. I feel foolish that I had never realized that before, but it really hit me today.
Job is described as a righteous and blameless man. Satan is given authority to persecute Job to demonstrate how a righteous and blameless man ought to suffer, without cursing God and by remaining faithful. Job does fall and that is why he is not the reality of Christ, but a shadow. But he also is the mediator for his friends who fell worse and described God as He is not and cursed a righteous man in his suffering. Job advocated for his children's forgiveness at the beginning of the book and his friends/enemies at the end of the book. God forgave them because Job asked.

Do you see the overtones of Jesus here? A righteous man suffering? A man amidst his suffering pleading for the sake of others? A man being attacked by “evil” and remaining faithful to God? Redemption happening in the end? The Book of Job is dripping with gospel tones.

One of the things I love about the book of Job is that it shows us a different explanation for personal suffering other than "God must be punishing me." That was a very helpful realization for me. It opened the door to the possibility that God is refining me, not that I did something bad.

This comment is powerful because almost all of Job’s friends thought he was suffering because of some sin in his life. That was a commonly held belief in the ancient time period, even during the time of Jesus, people just assumed suffering meant you deserved it for some reason. But the story of Job and the testimony of Jesus speak otherwise. (John 9:3 where he says, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be displayed in him,")

I hope these thoughts help as you read your Bible. Don’t give up when you hit hard sections, meditation, study, and research can provide helpful ways to see all that God desires for you to see in the scriptures. It just may take some time.

Thankful for God’s presence in our suffering and His uncovering truths for us in His word,

Josh.

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