3:1-10
Job has loved life and has revelled in God’s favour. Now his life is pain and misery and he cannot cope. There are many who would curse God, and satan intended Job to do this. But he doesn’t. Instead he wishes the days he was conceived and born had never been. There is no blame here, just sorrow. Some commentators judge Job for feeling so sorry for himself and not rushing to praise God, but I wonder how realistic that opinion is? When life is so overwhelming and unrelenting in its misery there are moments when the best of us fail and are overwhelmed by what life is bringing to us. At these times we all tend to ‘drop our bundles’ and succumb to feeling miserable and wanting to give up. All our strength is gone and we feel God has abandoned us and we are alone. The time for praising God comes later, when we are feeling less overwhelmed.
In 1 Kings 19 Elijah has a time like that. He flees Jezebel and runs to Mount Horeb. He felt totally alone and without hope. God’s response was to send an angel to offer words of compassion “the journey is too much for you” (v19) and food and drink. After he has rested God speaks to him. First, He gives Elijah rest.
There is the perfect way to act and the human way. God understands we are human and fail at times. He is a God of compassion. Harshness is never attributed to Him. It is important to remember that. Just as a parent sometimes can only hold their child and comfort them, God will hold us and let us be.

Job 2:11-13
Job’s friends travel to comfort him. This is their aim. To sit with him in his grief and mourning and give him the sympathy and comfort that friends by the convention of the day give. What they see appals them. They barely recognise Job. His body and head is disfigured by the painful sores that cover him. The friends tear their clothes, sprinkle dust on their heads and join Job in his mourning by sitting with him for seven days. At this point in the story they offer Job their support and give no opinion on his situation. Job observed seven days of mourning with his friends by his side.
When reading these verses I was reminded of the times in life when I have pursued what I believed was God’s will, only to fail and find myself sitting in the dust mourning what I thought should be. It is a confusing time. Did I do something wrong? I am sure I was right in what I was doing. Did I mishear God’s instructions? Why doesn’t He answer my question ‘Why’? How often I have found myself feeling sorry for myself or arguing with God that what He has done was not fair. Do you do that too? We are not unlike Job in our reactions to difficulties in life. I think this is why Job is such a fascinating book to so many people. But we are equally puzzled by the answer God gives. This is the journey of Job and the journey we will be on during this study.
Why God, Why?
Job accepts that he should accept the bad as willingly as the good, but he still struggles to understand why and struggles to argue with God. There is much for us to learn from this book.
 

2:1-10
The angels are back in heaven before God. God again speaks to satan about Job. This was the man satan tried to trick God into destroying, but it didn’t work (v3). So satan counters by claiming that of course Job wouldn’t sin because he was unharmed. So God gives him permission to afflict but not kill Job (v6).
Job’s response to being afflicted is to sit in the ashes of mourning and scrape his painful boils with a broken pot. There would have been remedies to relieve his pain but he could no longer afford them, having had all his wealth destroyed by satan. His wife could have offered him some care, but she seems more intent on dispatching him quickly. His friends and those he helped when times were good could have cared for him but they are nowhere to be seen. (Of course they do turn up, but not to offer practical help, but that is not covered in these verses).
Job’s wife’s behaviour is not that of a loving wife. It has been suggested that she is concerned about herself. Her husband has obviously sinned against God and she, as his wife, must be guilty by association. Perhaps she wants him to just curse God so God will kill him and get it over and done with. Perhaps she thinks Job is a good as dead and this will relieve his pain faster. It is hard to know. She is certainly used by satan to tempt Job to curse God. Very like the way satan used Eve to tempt Adam in Genesis 3:6.
The idea of suffering as punishment for sin, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, was a predominant belief in Job’s day. It still is among many Christians. In the time of Jesus pain and suffering was seen as discipline or a trial. In John 9:1-12 we read about the man who was blind from birth. The disciples ask Jesus who sinned, he or his parents. Jesus response in v3 is that it is neither. The man’s blindness was there to allow a display of God’s glory.  So for us, just as in Job’s time, there is a need to not interpret what suffering is about, but to comfort and support those who suffer.
So back to Job. Satan said Job would curse God if he was afflicted and Job’s wife is encouraging him to do that. But he does not. Instead he reproaches his wife for being so foolish. As his wife she should have known God better. He accused her of being a ‘fair weather’ follower of God. As the Message paraphrases “We take the good days from God – why not also that bad days?”
Job trusts God. He trusts that God knows what He is doing and is in control and he will not curse God. So satan is proved wrong. Despite terrible afflictions Job still refused to lose his faith in God and curse Him. Job believed God has the right to give the good and the bad and must be trusted. We must follow God no matter what. We are not to be fair weather followers who conditionally follow God. We must be like God who loves us unconditionally and unconditionally follow Him.