#30SecondBible: Job

He Decides To Serve God Anyway

By Carol Bechtel

Job, a great guy, loses everything.His friends say it’s because of some secret sin but Job insists he’s innocent and we the readers know that he is because we’ve overheard God say so. Job ends up demanding an explanation from God. He doesn’t get one. But he does get a reality check when God speaks to him from the whirlwind. At the end of the book Job’s fortunes are restored and the friends admit they were wrong but Job knows now that it could all be taken away from him in an instant. But he decides to serve God anyway.

  1. When was a time you lost everything (or at least felt like you did)?
  2. What does it mean to be a good friend during a time of need?

The Limits Of Human Wisdom

By Carol Bechtel

Most people think that the book of Job is about why bad things happen to good people. And while that is the presenting problem the real theme of the book has more to do with the limits of human wisdom. Job and the other human characters know nothing about God’s wager that Job will serve God even if there’s nothing in it for him. They’re information is limited. The really remarkable thing is that Job does decide to serve God, even though he doesn’t understand and even though there are no guarantees.

  1. What are the limits of human wisdom?
  2. When was a time that you had no guarantee but you tried anyway?

Why?

By John C. Dorhauer

Why do the innocent suffer? The book of Job is what happens when a creative genius explores that question. The rich Job, a man of deep faith, loses everything and dares to ask God why. His friends say, “Confess your sin and get it all back.” To them God is a machine: drop in the right coin, get the right response. But Job’s suffering is too much, too intense for this to make sense. He shouts even louder to God, “Why?!" And God answers: “Did you build this? No? I didn’t think so."

  1. Why do the innocent suffer?
  2. If you were one of Job's friends, what would you have said to him?

Hard Questions

By John C. Dorhauer

I don’t like easy answers to hard questions. For many, sin causes bad things to happen. That’s their easy answer to the hard question, "If God is good then why is there evil?” Well, whoever wrote Job didn’t like that answer and neither do I. Job makes me uncomfortable. All the author does is say if God were smart enough to create this amazing world then we should be smart enough to trust her even when life gets really hard.

  1. Do you trust God? Even when life gets really hard?
  2. What’s your answer to the question, “If God is good then why is there evil?"

See the complete #30SecondBible series

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