DeoQuest and TweetignwithGOD

 

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1.25 What is the moral of the story of Job?

Chief events of the Old Testament

Job had a good life and trusted completely in God, but then many terrible things happened to him (for example, he lost all his children and fell ill). In spite of his terrible fate, he continued to trust in God. The evil things in his life came from Satan (the devil), who thought that Job only believed because he had a good life (Job 1:6-12) Job 1:6-12: Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “Whence have you come?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand.” So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord..

Satan did all he could to make Job lose his faith, but Job continued to trust in God alone. His perseverance was finally rewarded: after Satan gave up, God blessed Job’s life (Job. 42:12) Job. 42:12: The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.. For us, too, the message is that trust in God is ultimately rewarded, now on earth or later in heaven. Despite the suffering that we see and experience every day in this world, both our life and our suffering are not pointless, thanks to God’s love.

Job shows that, also during times of pain or sorrow, you can put your faith in God. Trusting God is always rewarded, now and in heaven.
This is what the Popes say

Man can put [the question of the meaning of suffering] to God with all the emotion of his heart and with his mind full of dismay and anxiety; and God expects the question and listens to it, as we see in the Revelation of the Old Testament. In the Book of Job the question has found its most vivid expression. [Pope John Paul II, Salvifici Dolores, n. 10]