Lessons from Job

The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Job 1:21b

This is not a topic that I expected to be writing a devotion on...but God put this is my path and I wanted to share it.  I recently read thru the book of Job with several friends.  It was a group of women reading it and several of them have been through immense pain in recent years.  I knew it would open up some interesting discussion, I had no idea how much.  As we discussed and reflected on the entire book we were able to pull out several major points from it, I thought some of them may jump out at you too.
-Reading through the word and being immersed in it is so important before the struggles hit.  We all felt that the book of Job is probably easier to reflect on when you are not knee deep yourself. 


-Jobs friends were one of the greatest lessons for us.  When going thru a struggle sometimes it is better to just be there for a friend (quietly) than to try and explain the mind of God.

-Sometimes the younger people around us have great advice, we should be open to their wisdom too!

-Bad things happen to everyone, we live in a sinful world and it is part of that.  God has a big plan, much bigger than us!

-When we are suffering, it's okay to express what we are feeling to God.

As we headed into our study we were all a little nervous about if we'd get much out of it.  It was so nice to walk away from it amazed by what the Lord had just laid before us.  Have you checked out Job lately?  You won't be sorry you did!

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for the gift of your word and the pure, relevant examples you provide us from it.  Help us to never neglect this gift and to be constantly growing in it.
Amen
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