Daily Devotional | Job, the Lord’s Servant

As a pastor I try to match individuals to ministries based upon their spiritual gifts. Once when I was trying to resuscitate a dying ministry, my wife asked me, “Have you considered this person?” Honestly, I hadn’t. That individual was the perfect person to lead the ministry. How had I not noticed?

In Job 1, the Lord asked Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” This question was addressed to the adversary. However, as students of God’s Word, we should “also” consider Job. This month we will do more than consider him as a person, we will also walk with him through his pain.

Job’s background is somewhat mysterious. He lived in the land of Uz. The exact location is unknown except that it was located “in the East” (v. 3). Job most likely lived during the time of the patriarchs. The author of the book is unknown, however the narrator had insights which could only be supplied by God (2 Tim. 3:16).

Job loved his family and had been blessed materially by God. He was known as the greatest person in the East. In fact, God stated, “There is no one on earth like him” (v. 8). Twice in the short introduction, Job is described by the phrase, “he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (vv. 1, 8). His life of serving God was good.

Then the unthinkable happened, and Job had to wrestle with the question: “Why did bad things happen to a godly person like me?” We all walk through difficult seasons at some time in our lives. If we knew what was going to happen and when it was going to happen, we might be better prepared. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work like that. It is our prayer that this study encourages you to trust God when life doesn’t make sense.

Go Deeper

Have you ever asked the question Job poses: Why do bad things happen to good people? What is your answer to that?

Pray with Us: Lord God, as we start this month’s study in the book of Job, we ask You to open our eyes and hearts to what You want to teach us. Help us understand what it means to trust you in humility, even amid life’s trials.

BY Eric W. Moore

Eric Moore is Professor and Chair of the Applied Theology Field at Moody Theological Seminary. Eric is graduate of Michigan State University, Dallas Theological Seminary, the University of Michigan, and Western Seminary. He is the author of Pastoring the Small Church and a contributor to the One Volume Seminary (Moody Publishers). He has pastored Tree of Life Bible Fellowship church for over two decades. Eric and his wife, Marilyn, live in southeast Michigan and have three children.