Job

Job 1: Job worships when all is lost

Begin in prayer

Before we read about Job’s worship after terrible loss, let us come quietly before the Lord. Ask God to meet our family in our grief and show us why He deserves our trust.

Yahweh shall reign forever and ever.”

Exodus 15:18

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Teach us to worship You when we cannot understand our losses. Show us why Jesus is worthy of our trust amid loss. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Job lives in Uz, where his large household and many animals make him the greatest man among the people of the east. He offers sacrifices for his children because they may have renounced God in their hearts. Satan, whose name means adversary, challenges Job’s motives, and the LORD allows him to take Job’s possessions while forbidding any attack on Job himself. Successive messengers bring news of stolen livestock, killed servants and the deaths of all ten children. Job mourns and worships, blessing the LORD who gave and took away. Through these losses he neither sins nor charges God with wrongdoing.

As you read Job 1, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God deserves worship for who He is, even when His gifts are taken away.

Job fears God before any disaster comes, and the LORD Himself confirms his upright life. As the head of his family, Job offered the burnt offerings himself. Satan claims that this worship is bought by protection and wealth. The question reaches beyond possessions to whether God Himself deserves Job’s love. The LORD permits the test and sets its limit, so Satan never becomes an equal rival. Job knows the terrible losses, but he does not hear the conversation explaining the test. Tearing his robe and shaving his head express mourning, yet his grief turns toward God in worship. His empty hands acknowledge that every possession was first a gift. God remains worthy when Job’s possessions and children are gone.

How does Job 1 show us that God deserves worship for who He is, even when His gifts are taken away?

God knows the truth about Job’s heart.

The LORD calls Job His servant before Satan challenges his motives. Job’s reverence includes turning away from evil. The accusation comes from Satan, while God speaks of a faithful servant.

God sets the limit on Satan’s power.

Satan receives permission concerning Job’s possessions, but he may not touch Job himself. The disasters involve attackers, fire and wind. Those terrible events remain within the boundary God has set.

God receives worship from a grieving servant.

Job tears his robe and shaves his head as signs of grief. He also falls to the ground and worships. His praise acknowledges God’s right over gifts that Job could never claim as his own.

Memorise

Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.

Job 1:21

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, do I love God more than the things He gives me?

Job falls to the ground after losing the children he loved. His torn robe belongs beside his worship. Faith in God does not make those deaths small, or turn grief into something shameful.

Jesus entered a world of suffering and loss. Peter describes His innocent suffering and His trust in the righteous Judge in 1 Peter 2 verses 21 to 24. Then Jesus carried the sins of His people in His own body on the cross. He endured their punishment and completed everything required for their pardon. Death could not hold Him, and He rose bodily from the grave.

Bring your guilt and grief to this living Savior. Turn from sin and trust Jesus Christ. Everyone who rests on His sacrifice receives forgiveness, freely and fully. Those who belong to Him have a hope that survives the loss of every earthly gift.

Parent's note

Tell your children that Job’s worship includes real grief, and Jesus receives sinners who come to Him. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for His worth beyond every gift, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35-39

Lord God, thank You that Your worth does not depend on the gifts we enjoy. Please turn each of us from sin and teach us to trust Jesus. Help us care for grieving people and praise You with honest hearts this week. Amen.