ROOTED - Tuesday, April 7, 2026

Job 1:20, 21; 2:9, 10

20 Then Job arose and tore
his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and
worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from
my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and
the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your
integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said
to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we
receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did
not sin with his lips.

Reflection: Job’s Two Opening Statements

Written By: Pastor Jesse Caro

Job
is an especially difficult book to understand. I may say more about this
tomorrow, but I want to point out something that you may have missed. Job makes
two comments that, I think, frame some of how we might read the book of Job. In
chapter one, the Enemy approaches God for permission to attack Job. God agrees
but with the stipulation that Job is not touched. We then read that the
Sabeans, Chaldeans, the fire, and the strong winds came. We might have expected
to read that the Enemy did it… but the narrative suggests it was the fire and
wind, etc...  But when Job accounts for
why this happened, he blames neither the Enemy nor the fire and wind… but he
says, “the Lord gives and takes away… blessed be the name of the Lord” (opening
statement #1). Then we read that Job did not “sin” by attributing his
circumstances to God. In other words, Job was correct. God, ultimately, was
sovereign over it, and Job saw it accurately.

The
Enemy then gets permission to afflict Job physically, and Job gets boils and
sores, yet remains faithful. His wife, out of frustration, tells Job, “Why
don’t you just curse God and die?” Job responds, “Shall we receive good but
not evil from God?” (opening statement #2). After this we
read again, “Job did not sin in saying this.” That small little assertion (that
“Job did not sin…”) is only found these two places in Job.

Essentially,
these statements are the foundations of the book. The book of Job affirms that God
is sovereign, and that he does not owe us exclusively comfort. As far as I can
tell, the book of Job is wrestling with the idea that God can do as he pleases,
and that there is not necessarily a correlation between my circumstances and how
God feels about me. God with me can do as he pleases. I offer this to you as
you read the book and use that as a framework to determine whether or not his
friends are giving good or bad advice! In the meantime, be reminded that God is
sovereign over you… and loves you.

Prayer

Heavenly
Father, give us wisdom as we read Job and study your Word. Help us to rightly
discern what you intend to teach us.