Habakkuk is an often neglected book of the Bible. I’ll confess that before we studied it in the Bible Study Academy, I was unfamiliar with it. All I knew was that it paired well with Job, which we had studied the previous month. I had no idea what I was missing, and if you are in the same boat, I encourage you to study it out!
A Brief Summary of Habakkuk
The book of Habakkuk is three short chapters that begin with the prophet Habakkuk questioning God because the unrighteous Jews in Judah were oppressing the godly Jews. He was appalled by the treatment righteous Jews were receiving: violence, destruction, strife, contention, injustice. He took his concerns to the Lord because he didn’t see God working in their midst. But he didn’t realize he was about to hear what he least wanted to hear: God was going to send the Babylonians to conquer Judah.
In essence, God told Habakkuk, “You think this is bad? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” And He went on to describe the wicked Babylonians as a “bitter and hasty nation”; “dreaded and fearsome”; like leopards, wolves, and eagles; a nation that does whatever it wants with no regard for people or gods.
This leads into the second exchange between Habakkuk and God. Habakkuk was understandably disturbed by the news he heard from God, so he prayed. His fear was that the righteous would be swept up along with the wicked when the invasion occurred. After he brought his concerns to God, he waited for God to answer him.
And God did answer him. He told him that while He would use the Babylonians to judge the Israelites, He would also judge the Babylonians. He described the “five woes” of the Babylonians as an encouragement to Habakkuk that their sins against the Israelites would not go unpunished.
Habakkuk was so encouraged that the third chapter of the book is simply a prayer. He praised God for Who He is and what He has done. He remembered many of God’s mighty acts, and He chose to trust God even if his worst fears came true.
So what can we learn from studying this encounter between a prophet and his God?
God Is Sovereign
When Habakkuk first approached God, it was as if he didn’t think God knew what was going on. He echoed many of the Psalms when he asked “O LORD, how long?” But God not only acknowledged what was happening, He also had a plan for it.
It is important to notice in God’s response that the Babylonians were only able to conquer Judah because God allowed it. No matter how fierce and ruthless they were, the Babylonians were still subject to God’s sovereignty. We may look around and think the just are suffering while the wicked prosper, but we see such a small part of the tapestry that is eternity. God allows evil because it serves His purposes, and in the end, He (and by extension we) are victorious!
We also get a small taste of the doctrine of concurrence in this book because while God used the Babylonians to judge the Israelites, He also judged the Babylonians for their actions. The judgement of the Israelites was a correction, but the judgement of the Babylonians was annihilation.
God raises up nations, and He takes nations down. It is all in His hands.
Habakkuk Teaches Us How to Pray
It is interesting to see the progression of Habakkuk’s prayers through this short book. He prays three times, and each time, his relationship with God deepens.
In the first prayer, Habakkuk simply questions God: “God where are You? Don’t You see what’s going on?” It is a simple, heart-felt prayer, asking God for answers as he watches the injustice among God’s own people. It’s possible he didn’t even expect an answer.
After hearing from God, Habakkuk’s second prayer has more structure. He is still questioning God to make sure the answer He heard is really what God said because it seems unfathomable. But Habakkuk begins his second prayer by stating what he knows to be true about God: He is a covenant-keeping God, He is eternal, He is holy. Then he launches into his concerns about the impending invasion of the Babylonians.
Habakkuk’s third and final prayer in the book is straight worship. He recognizes that God is to be feared more than man. He asks God to bring revival in the in-between, while the Jews wait for their judgment. He lists many of God’s mighty works throughout history:
The plagues in Egypt
Crushing the enemies of Israel
The parting of the waters
The sun standing still for battle
In light of these things, while the coming judgment was scary, Habakkuk chose to trust God and His work. And he ends his prayer by changing his “what ifs?” to “even ifs”: Even if his worst fears come true and the righteous get swept up with the wicked, there is no food left for them to eat, there is no animal left in the stalls, he “will rejoice in the LORD” and “take joy in the God of my salvation.”
These prayers can guide us in our prayers:
Beginning by stating what we know to be true about God puts our requests into perspective.
We can come to Him authentically with our concerns and questions. He knows what they are anyway, so why not?
Remembering His past actions and blessings helps us to see that He is capable of doing anything.
Habakkuk 2:1 is a pivotal verse in the lesson on prayer. Two mistakes we often make when we bring requests before God are 1) we don’t really expect an answer, or 2) we demand an answer (or worse, we demand the answer we want). Habakkuk was willing to wait for God’s timing and God’s way of answering his prayer. We don’t know how long he waited, but he expected it, and he accepted it when it came even though he didn’t like it.
Spending Time with God Changes Us
Comparing the Habakkuk at the beginning of the book to the Habakkuk at the end of the book is a bit shocking! He went from almost accusing God of being absent to trusting God wholeheartedly with his future. What brought about this change in him? Habakkuk spent time with God.
Having grown up in a pastor’s home, I was around the things of God all of the time. We were at church every time the doors were open. I sang in choirs, watched the kids in the nursery, taught junior church, participated in evangelistic campaigns, cleaned the building, you name it. If there was hole that needed plugged, my sisters and I plugged it.
But it has only been in times when I intentionally sought to spend time one-on-one with God that I have grown and matured in the Lord. For most of my life I was an immature Christian. And while I would never claim to have “arrived,” I can honestly say that the more time I spend with God in His Word, the more growth I experience.
When we spend time with God, it changes us. His Word is living and active; it pierces us to the division of soul and spirit; it discerns our thoughts and intentions (Hebrews 4:12); and it shows us what He wants for us. It can take us from trembling in fear of the future to trusting that whatever happens, He’s got it, just like it did with Habakkuk.
The Book of Habakkuk Is for Us Today
You might be wondering how we can take a private exchange between a prophet and God and apply it to our lives today. Yes, it was for the Israelites then, but the Babylonians won’t be conquering anyone anytime soon, so how do we know it is meant for us now?
First, God told Habakkuk to write it down for future posterity. He told Habakkuk to make it plain so it could be understood by anyone and could be shared by anyone. This is an indication that it was not meant only for Habakkuk’s generation or even the ones shortly after his.
Second, some of the verses in this short Old Testament book are quoted in the New Testament by Paul and the author of Hebrews. The early church is removed from Habakkuk’s time by centuries. The culture, the language, and the beliefs were already different. And the promise of an anointed one in Habakkuk was already fulfilled.
Also, when we consider the sins of the Jews for which they were being judged and the wickedness of the Babylonians, which would bring about the “five woes,” we see that their sin is no different than ours. The wicked Jews, the ruthless Babylonians, and modern day sinners have a lot in common: pride, idolatry, injustice, etc. While the players may be different, the situation is the same.
So we can confidently claim the promises and the lessons from the book of Habakkuk for ourselves.
This is just the surface of the things I’ve learned through this short but powerful book! In the Bible Study Academy, we go deeper. We study the historical and literary context, dive into doctrine, do word studies, dissect the “woes,” look at cross-references, and more. If you would like to learn more about the Bible Study Academy, click the button below. We are saving a seat just for you!
If you would like to learn more about how to study the Bible, I invite you to download my FREE Bible study workbook, 6 Steps to Study the Bible on Your Own, at the button below.
If you’re like I was not that long ago, every time the book of Job comes up in your Bible reading plan, you cringe just a little knowing you are about to read one of the most confusing and depressing books in the Bible. Honestly, it can leave you wondering what the point is of the book. Why did God include Job’s story in the Bible—His love letter to us?
The book can be confusing because it can be difficult to know who is speaking, if we can trust that speaker, and the motivation behind the speech. But as we unpack the layers, we can start to understand the messages we’re meant to receive from the book.
Some of the lessons are pretty clear and some take a bit more effort. Let’s start with the clearer ones.
Suffering Isn’t Always a Result of Personal Sin
I went into this topic in a previous blog post, so I won’t unpack it in detail here, but while suffering overall is a result of sin in the world, your personal suffering is not necessarily a consequence of your personal sin. The book of Job makes it clear that Job’s suffering had nothing at all to do with his personal sin but with the fact that he was so faithful to God that Satan wanted to test him.
There are actually many reasons God allows suffering in our lives. Our suffering can absolutely be the natural result of our sin, but it can also be a means God uses to draw us closer to Him, to help us recognize blessings in our lives, or to show us the power of prayer or faith. Our suffering can be a tool God uses to teach others, or it can be to show us we are not alone.
We tend to quickly jump to the conclusion that if we are suffering, we must have done something wrong, but the book of Job shows us that is not always the case. It also teaches us a lesson about judging those around us who find themselves in a season of suffering. We must be gracious, acknowledging there may be things we don’t know… but God does.
Job Teaches Us Not to Assume We See the Whole Picture
Often when we see someone suffering, we assume we understand the purposes God has for that suffering. But the truth is we don’t see the whole picture. We see a very small piece of the tapestry God is weaving, and we see it from the underside, with all of the tangles and knots.
Because God sees the full masterpiece from the right side, He knows what is best for us and what is going to accomplish His purposes. We can’t, like Job’s friends, assume that we have the whole story. As readers of the story, we are privy to information Job’s friends didn’t have. And as a result, they judged him wrongly.
One of the points the book of Job makes is that we can’t make those judgement because we don’t have all of the information. We don’t see the full picture. The book of Job teaches us to be gracious and humble as we serve those who are suffering.
Trust God in Spite of Your Circumstances
Job’s faith is inspiring! He did not allow his suffering to affect his faith, his worship, or his convictions. In spite of the emotional and physical pain he was experiencing, he made the choice to trust that God knew the truth, and he would be vindicated in the end.
Notice that Job questioned God and this is not seen as a lack of faith. God is big enough to handle our questions, and He longs for us to turn to Him in our suffering. We can’t allow our pain to drive us away from God. We must lean into Him and His strength when we don’t have our own strength to support us.
While the book of Job seems to be an extreme situation, it sets an example for us to follow in the hard times of life. Will we choose to lean in to God, or will we follow Job’s wife’s advice to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9)? God longs to sustain us even in our questions, our anger, and our pain. And because He is God, He knows the end result.
God vs. Satan
One important lesson the book of Job teaches us is the relationship between God and Satan. We often think of them as equal but opposite forces—the age old story of good versus evil. But the book of Job shows us that they are not equals.
Satan must ask God’s permission to attack Job. The book makes it clear that God had been protecting Job from Satan’s attacks, and Satan seems to think this is unfair. It always amazes me that God brags on Job, and Satan uses that as a springboard for his request.
Not only does Satan have to ask permission, but after he afflicts Job with illness, we don’t see him again anywhere in the story. He seems to just slink off as he realizes that Job is going to make a liar out of him. What started out as a story that seemed to be about these two big rivals turns into a story about a faithful man.
The book includes one of the few exchanges between God and Satan recorded for us in Scripture, and it presents a very clear picture of their dynamic: All-powerful master and begrudgingly submissive servant. Little did Satan know he was playing right into God’s plans to overwhelm Job with true joy as a result of these tests!
Job Shows Us that God Is Big Enough
Because I have grown up in church, I have heard well-intentioned people often say, “You can be angry at your situation, but you shouldn’t be angry at God.” I go into this in more detail in my short e-book, Good Grief: Wisdom for Godly Mourning from the Book of Ruth, so I will summarize here. I feel this is a matter of semantics.
God is in control of my circumstances. He could change things if He wanted. So being angry at my circumstances is the same as being angry at God. And the emotion of anger in and of itself is not a sin. So it isn’t a sin to be angry at God.
What matters is what we do with that anger. Do we raise our fists at Him and curse Him for our circumstances? Do we turn our backs on Him and wait to heal before we can speak to Him again? Or do we come to Him in our anger, pour out our hearts to Him, and let Him give us the comfort only He can give even if He never answers our questions?
God is big enough to handle our questions and our anger. Job models that for us, as does Naomi in the book of Ruth. He isn’t afraid of our anger because He knows what we are feeling and He knows why and He knows how to heal it and He knows what the result will be. Don’t be afraid to lay all of your emotions at His feet, BUT don’t turn away from Him in the midst of those emotions.
True Joy Is Found in Knowing God
After Job experienced the tragedies of his children dying, his livestock being stolen, and his crops being destroyed, after he was stricken with physical illness that literally deformed his body so he was barely recognizable, after he sat through his friends judging him and berating him because he wouldn’t acknowledge that he broke God’s law, God spoke to him in a whirlwind. The God of the universe gave Job what he wanted: an audience with Him.
But it wasn’t exactly what he asked for because God didn’t answer his questions. He did better. He revealed to Job Who He truly is. He gave Job just a glimpse of His glory, just enough for Job to realize just how little He knew of God. And as Job’s knowledge of God increased, so did his awe of God. Job realized that even when all of the pleasures of this world disappear, God is enough.
While God’s gifts bring us pleasure and joy in this life, true joy comes from knowing Him. As we get to know Him, we fall deeper in love with Him, and the more we see ourselves through His eyes.
And what a blessing that today He doesn’t have to speak to us through a whirlwind in the chaos of this world because He has written us a beautiful love letter—a letter that is living and active and allows us to go deeper each time we read it. The more time we spend in the Word of God, the more we get to know Him, the deeper we fall in love with Him, and the more we experience deep, honest joy.
If you would like to learn more about how to study the Bible, I invite you to download my FREE Bible study workbook, 6 Steps to Study the Bible on Your Own, at the button below.
If you would like to join a group of like-minded women who are pursuing godliness together, check out the Bible Study Academy by clicking the button below.
Updated: A version of this post was published on May 13, 2020, under the title How to Be Victorious over Suffering.
When I hear people say the book of Job is their favorite book of the Bible, I will admit it gives me pause. A book about a man who loses everything, including his children, all in one day and then is physically attacked by illness and disease would not be my first choice as a favorite book of the Bible. And yet, there are so many lessons to be learned from Job.
Nothing I have gone through in my life compares to what Job faced, and I hope and pray that won’t change. But we all face suffering in our lives. It takes different forms for different people, but we will all experience it.
As Christians, how do we navigate suffering? Job’s friends did it wrong. They believed only one thing could be true about God: He punishes wickedness. As a result, they couldn’t help Job navigate his suffering because his suffering was based on his sin.
Job, himself, teaches us how to navigate our hardships as Christians. He demonstrates how to suffer yet still trust, how to remain faithful when we don’t understand what God is doing, how to lean in to God rather than pull away from Him when our hearts or bodies are broken. Are you intrigued? Let’s look at Job 23:8-14.
8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?
What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.
(ESV)
Seek God in Your Suffering
In verses 8 through 10, we learn that even in his suffering, Job was searching for God. This is a sign of a true child of God. He didn’t allow his suffering to cloud his knowledge; instead, he allowed his knowledge to test his feelings. In spite of Job feeling like God had abandoned him, he clung to the confidence that God knew where he was and was still sovereign.
Job also recognized that God was somehow working through his suffering. While he couldn’t see what God was doing and nothing that was happening made sense to him, Job understood that God can work through our pain, not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of those around us. A we read the rest of the book of Job, we find that God used Job’s suffering to touch Job’s entire community.
Job was determined not to disappoint God. He believed that when this season of his life was over, he would “come out as gold.” God was using his circumstances to refine him, and he was convinced he would succeed. What an incredible testimony to believers who are in a hard and painful season!
Know Him through His Word
How could Job be so confident that God would show up, he would survive, and he would actually be better on the other side of this situation? Verse 11 gives us some insight. Job could cling to this confidence because he knew God. He had prepared ahead of time for this struggle by spending time with God and getting to know Him.
Job was certain he had not sinned in a way that would cause this suffering. He knew what God expected of him, and he lived by those guidelines. He understood that, yes, suffering can be a result of sin, but that wasn’t what was happening. The only way he could know these things was because he had a personal, intimate relationship with God.
While it is never too late to turn to God and His Word, we are better served if we prepare ahead of time, building a foundation that will sustain us in hard times.
Obey God in spite of Your Feelings
Not only did Job know God, but he applied what he knew. He obeyed. He put into action the things he learned about what pleased God.
Verse 12 shows us that Job was invested in doing what God wanted him to do. And if we look back at the beginning of the book, we find that Job would frequently offer sacrifices to God on behalf of his children just in case they had sinned and weren’t repentant. He was dedicated in his service to the Lord.
It wasn’t enough to know God, Job understood he had to obey God, too. That meant obeying God even in the midst of his suffering.
Trust Him When You Don’t Understand
In verses 13 and 14, we see that somehow, in all of his suffering, Job trusted that what was happening was part of the plan God had for completing what He had appointed. Job understood that we cannot make God do anything through manipulation or blackmail. He will fulfill His purpose. This is the hardest step, and it depends on the other three steps.
This is good news because it means we can trust Him to accomplish his will no matter what. Our actions don’t thwart His plans, our suffering isn’t because someone else messed things up, our pain serves a purpose. And in all of it, we can give glory to God!
If we wait until the crisis hits to seek after God, we will not have the foundation we need to withstand the storm. What do you need to do to start seeking Him today? Do you need to make time in your schedule to spend time in the Word? Do you need to apply what you know to do? Or do you need to trust Him instead of relying on your feelings in your current situation?
If you are currently in a season of suffering or mourning, or you know someone who is, I have written a short e-book about mourning in a godly way. When I was struggling through the many facets of grief (some still ongoing), I had more questions than answers. God graciously took me through the book of Ruth during that time, which taught me some lessons about mourning, not as those who have no hope, but full of hope and peace.
To learn more about the e-book, Good Grief: Wisdom for Godly Mourning from the Book of Ruth, click the button below.
If you would like to learn more about how to study the Bible, I invite you to download my FREE Bible study workbook, 6 Steps to Study the Bible on Your Own, at the button below.
If you would like to join a group of like-minded women who are pursuing godliness together, check out the Bible Study Academy by clicking the button below.
A version of this post was originally published on August 24, 2016 under the title “Is God Bragging on You?”
If we are honest, when it comes to suffering, many of us live this life believing God is waiting for an opportunity to punish us. We think He’s keeping a list of checks and balances, shaking His head and tsk-tsking every time we mess up. When life gets good, we wait for the other shoe to drop, for something to go wrong, thinking we don’t deserve whatever good we get from life. Maybe things are only good because God plans to take it all away.
As I’ve been studying the book of Job with the ladies in the Bible Study Academy, I’ve realized this was the consensus among Job’s friends, too. They believed Job lost everything, his herds, his servants, even his children, because he had stepped out of bounds and offended God. Surely, God wouldn’t punish a righteous man!
But we are told at the beginning of the book that Job was a righteous man. God described Job to Satan as a “blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job. 1:8, ESV). As readers, we have information the participants in the story didn’t have. We are privy to a conversation between God and Satan. And God used that opportunity to draw Satan’s attention to Job. God bragged on Job!
What Causes Suffering?
While it is true that we might experience suffering in our lives because of sin we have committed, that is not the only reason we might go through painful circumstances. And the account in Job shows us one reason we might suffer is because of what we are doing right. Because of Job’s faithfulness, Satan attacked him on every front in an effort to make Job turn his back on God.
What if, and stay with me here, this is the rule and not the exception? What if God brags on His children more than we realize? This does not seem so far fetched when we consider that God sees His children through the blood of Christ. Scripture does not reveal many conversations between God and Satan, so maybe the few that are revealed are meant to show us a normal exchange between them.
What if our suffering has more to do with what we are doing right than what we are doing wrong?
My dad passed away in 2017. The last few years of his life were spent battling dementia. I shared details of the disease’s progression and how it affected our family in a post I wrote before he passed. He was a man who had spent his entire life serving the Lord. He was a missionary kid who grew up to go on to Bible college and return to the mission field.
He was a pastor and professor who spent 20 years training college students to go to the mission field once God called him back to the United States. But when he should have been enjoying his retirement, his mind was dramatically impaired. We watched him leave us while he was still on this earth. My dad had spent his life communicating the Gospel to those around him, and God chose to take that ability away.
What if God allowed this suffering to show Satan who the truly faithful are? What if God said to Satan, “Have you considered my servants the Lingo family?” To which Satan replied, “If you take David away, the whole family will crumble.”
I know I have taken some liberties here, but if there is ANY chance that this was a test of my faithfulness, I will not fail! If there is ANY chance that Satan is using this suffering to show God I will not remain faithful, I will prove him wrong! If there is ANY chance that God has bragged on me, I will do Him proud! I shudder to think of the alternative.
Are You Suffering?
What about you, friend? Are you enduring suffering today? Could it be that instead of it being God’s punishment, it is actually a reward? Could it be that God bragged on you like He did Job? We may not like it, and we may not see it as a reward in this moment, but James 1:2-4 reminds us that we are to,
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
ESV
There is purpose in the suffering, and there is a glorious reward that will make the sufferings of this world seem insignificant (something we currently can’t even imagine) (Romans 8:18).
I encourage you to stay the course. Run the race you have before you even when it is hard, even when it is heartbreaking. Remain faithful to God because He will prove faithful in the end. One day I wish to stand before Him and have Him say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
If you are currently in a season of suffering or mourning, or you know someone who is, I have written a short e-book about mourning in a godly way. When I was struggling through the many facets of grief (some still ongoing), I had more questions than answers. God graciously took me through the book of Ruth during that time, which taught me some lessons about mourning, not as those who have no hope, but full of hope and peace.
To learn more about the e-book, Good Grief: Wisdom for Godly Mourning from the Book of Ruth, click the button below.
If you would like to learn more about how to study the Bible, I invite you to download my FREE Bible study workbook, 6 Steps to Study the Bible on Your Own, at the button below.
If you would like to join a group of like-minded women who are pursuing godliness together, check out the Bible Study Academy by clicking the button below.
I used to dread reading the book of Job. Not only can it be very depressing, but also it is hard to know who I can trust as I’m reading it. Over the last few years, I have read the book multiple times, and my perspective on it has changed.
Read in Light of Truth
One of the reasons reading the book of Job is difficult is because it challenges our preconceived idea that, as long as we do what’s right, we will be blessed in this life. We long for a guarantee that our lives will be happy, that our kids will be prosperous, and that we will live to a ripe old age. This is what Job’s friends believed, too. They tried to convince him that he must have done something wrong to deserve his sorrowful situation.
The problem with this thinking is we can’t see the full picture. We only see our little section of the tapestry, and we see it from the wrong side with all of the tangles and knots. God see’s the full tapestry from the right side. He sees the masterpiece that our lives, intertwined with the lives of others, are creating.
We read in Job 1:8 that God brags on Job. He calls Job a righteous man. He allows Satan to attack Job, knowing that Job is faithful. (Click here for a blog post that unpacks this a bit more.)
As the readers, we have this information from the beginning. It is as if we are in on a secret that Job’s wife and his friends don’t know. So as you read the book of Job, keep coming back to Job 1:8. Hold everything said by his friends and by Job up to the light of the truth God spoke in that verse. Job held on to this truth through his suffering. He loved God and followed Him. He didn’t know why he was suffering, but he knew it wasn’t because of sin.
Prepare Now
“[…] staying rooted in our relationship with God gives us grounding wisdom” (Love God Greatly Bible 760), but this grounding has to happen before the suffering strikes so we can recognize bad advice and have the strength to endure. In order to not just survive, but even thrive in the hard times, we have to know our relationship with God is strong. We have to cultivate our spiritual walk, repent of sin quickly, and know the truth of Scripture so we can withstand the suffering that will come.
You might be asking, “what good is it to follow God if I lose everything in the process?” The answer is an eternity in His presence. As believers, it is important for us to live in the truth that this life is just a waiting room. Yes, it matters what we do here, but everything here is temporary. When we lose sight of that, we start to fall into the traps of this world that try to convince us this life is all there is, YOLO!
Turn to God
This doesn’t mean we have to paint on a happy face and pretend everything is alright. In fact, Job teaches us that it is okay to ask God “why?” when we are hurting and confused. Even if God is the One we blame, He wants us to come to Him with our pain. God wants us to give our grief back to Him. The key is to come to Him! This allows us to begin the process of restoration. The problem results when we allow our suffering to turn us away from God. Restoration will never happen if we don’t lay our pain at His feet.
And God will answer. He answered Job, though He didn’t do it the way Job wanted. God chose to answer Job’s questions by revealing His own character to Job. And in remembering who God is, Job’s perspective changed.
“The joy that comes through suffering is not because of a change in circumstances, but in the experience of knowing God more intimately through it” (769).
So I encourage you to read the book of Job. Sift everything through Job 1:8, and rest on God’s character as He describes Himself to Job. Maybe Job will become one of your favorite books of the Bible!
If you would like to learn more about how to study the Bible, I invite you to download my FREE Bible study workbook, 6 Steps to Study the Bible on Your Own, at the button below.
If you would like to join a group of like-minded women who are pursuing godliness together, check out the Bible Study Academy by clicking the button below.
