The book of Job is a fascinating book in regards to the power of God and the limited understanding of man. While many times, we as believers, simply pick and choose particular verses of this book to fit our need through helping friends or proving a point in a sermon. What we have to be sure of is to take the whole book and understand exactly what God is saying. Through this book we will be introduced to a true God fearing man, the infinite wisdom and power of God, and in between we will see the limited understanding of man.

Now, before we can get into the points mentioned above we first need to look at the person of Job. Job was a man that lived in in the land of Uz. Many people say that this land was in Arabia. Job, which means "treat as an enemy", is noted as a perfect, upright, God fearing man that eschewed evil. Before we go too far I want to look at a couple these adjectives or descriptive words of Job. The word "perfect" is not what we would ascribe to Jesus rather this word is defined as being complete or whole in a moral sense. So Job was a perfect and upright man that feared God and eschewed evil, or in other words he turned away from bad things. Job was a man with great integrity and character which was recognized by God Himself.

In this book we see the power of God in sense that God does what He wants when He wants and how He wants. This is demonstrated through the life of Job. In the first chapter of the book we see Satan himself coming into the presence of God in order to accuse Job of the motives for his believing in the Lord. In verses 9-11, we find Satan stating that Job only feared God because God had protected him on every side. The power of God is demonstrated in two areas. One, God already knew that Satan had come with the intention of attacking Job (verse 8). Two, God allowed Job to go through all of this pain because He knew the end result would prove the fact that Job would not curse Him. Both of these points reflect the omniscience of God. After the first attack from Satan (which is where Job lost all oxen, donkeys, sheep, camels, all his children, and all but four servants) God proved that He knew Job better than Satan because Job did not curse God to His face, as was said by Satan. Rather, in chapter 1:20 we find that Job worshipped God and in verse 21, Job blessed the name of the Lord. And finally in verse 22 Job is recorded as not sinning and not charging God foolishly. God was right and Satan was wrong. In the beginning of chapter two we find Satan attempting to cause Job to sin once again. In this attempt we must acknowledge that Satan was given boundaries for what he could do with Job. This also demonstrates the power of God in the fact that God set limitations on Satan as to what he could and could not do, reference chapter 1:12 and 2:6.

One of the many interesting things about this book is the friends that Job had. We can call Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite friends because it is found in chapter 2:11. And these guys, at this point could truly be considered true friends because according to verse 11 these guys came to mourn with Job and to comfort him. Their desire was to comfort him in all his hurt, through all his loss and pain. Unfortunately through all of Job's pain and hurt the comforting did not last long. As the story unfolds we find the friends beginning to diagnose the error that Job had made, found in chapters 4- 31. The only problem was that Job had not done any wrong. Through all of this counseling there is much to be seen and much to be learned. As each friend stepped to the plate, in order to pin point the "so called" sin that Job had committed we find the accusations to get more and more harsh. One of the points that struck me was where the so called wisdom of these friends came from. Eliphaz used the experience of life. Bildad's wisdom was inherited from those before him, and Zophar's wisdom was based on personal wisdom. Through this we find the scriptures coming to life because of 2nd Corinthians 3:19-20,

2nd Corinthians 3:19-20,"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God: for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain."

"For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure."

Chapter 32 reveals to us a fourth person in the mix named Elihu. Unfortunately, he too, covered the same issues of the other three. Even though he was a self proclaimed wise man, we find that he is no different. Elihu speaks for six chapters before God steps in and takes over with His demonstration of true wisdom.

As this book starts with the wisdom and power of God, so is how this book ends. From chapter 38 through 42 God begins to show true wisdom to Job. The first thing that God asks Job is, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" This again proves that the wisdom of the world is mere foolishness to God. After the address to the friends God moves to tell Job that he must be a man and give Him an answer of the questions that God is about to ask. Through the series of questions God helps Job to understand the infinite wisdom that He has. Some of the questions were as follows. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Can you send the rains? Can you send lightning? In chapter 40 we see that God demands an answer from Job, to which he can not give.

Finally, in chapter 42, we find that God corrects the friends (they had to offer burnt offerings), Job prays for his friends, and God restores all that was taken from Job. The Bible says that God "blessed the latter end of Job more then his beginning..." Through all that Job encountered we see that he remained a perfect and upright man that eschewed evil. God was right and Satan, as usual, was wrong.