Today I want to tell you a non-fictional story. The story is about a man who lived about 4000 years ago. The three great religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, all consider this man a prophet of God. We are talking about Job, whose book in the bible is considered to be the first book written. Job was a righteous man. He had a wife, seven sons and three daughters. Job lived in the land of Uz, which is north of Jordan, along the Syrian and Iraqi border. He was very rich. Job owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred pairs of oxen, five hundred donkey and a lot of servants. Job was a Patriarch or king in the middle east. He was the grandson of Esau, the brother of Jacob or Israel.

Because Job was a righteous man, God put a hedge about Job. Nothing or anyone couldn’t touch Job. The story goes that satan went to God and asked Him for permission to attack Job. God gave him permission to take everything but his life. Satan believed that if Job lost everything, he would curse God and died. The devil took his wife, his children, his servants and his livestock. The devil did all this and Job still praised God. The devil touched his body with a pox, which was very painful. Job’s three friends came to console him. They look at Job and lost hope. Then they told Job to just curse God and die. After all that happened to Job, he looked at them and said, Though He slain me, yet will I trust God.

Faith is not something that you can touch. But it is something that can move mountains. It is the hope of salvation from this world. God rewarded Job’s faith in Him. He restored to Job, a wife, children, servants and livestock. Job became a greater Patriarch in the end. Faith in God, Jesus, will get you from here to home, heaven, just like Job.

Crain Blanchard.

Joseph1637@juno.com

Joseph1637.com