opens with the problem and concludes with the solution The Problem of Pain: Why the righteous suffer, and the wicked prosper? The Wrong Answer of Job’s Three Friends: Suffering is God’s judgment for sin The enlightened answer of Elihu: Suffering is God’s way to teach, discipline, and refine God’s perfect answer: Suffering is a test of trusting God for who He is, not for what He does C GENUINE TRUST The book of Job teaches that the person with genuine trust worships God basically f o r who He is That person may have unanswered questions as to why God does what He does, but he still worships God wholeheartedly for who He is Job the combatant became Job the worshiper when he heard God reveal Himself to His smitten child (38:1 ) E Heavenor writes: “The Word came through a fresh vision of God… That Word brought a transformation which the word of man had been totally unable to achieve… The Word convinced Job that he could trust such a God.”19 V KEY WORDS AND VERSES Some of the main key words of Job are: sorrow, curse, cry, wicked, sin, Satan, how, why, perfect, righteous, just, and wisdom Read 23:10 as a key verse of the book Choose others from the Bible text VI APPLICATIONS What you think are God’s purposes in permitting Satan to exercise certain powers, limited though these powers may be? If Satan is the Christian’s active archenemy, what help does the child of God have in such a daily warfare? Does the book of Job give any answers? Read what the New Testament teaches in Luke 22:31-32 and Peter 5:6-11 Does all su ering of believers originate the way Job’s did? What answers to this question the following passages give: Psalm 66:10; John 9:1-3; Philippians 3:8; Hebrews 2:18; 5:8; Peter 2:21; 3:18; 4:1214; 5:10? How is a believer’s su ering related to Christ’s su ering, according to these verses: Corinthians 1:5-7; Philippians 3:10-11; Peter 2:21-23; 4:13; 5:1? How would you answer the following challenge of an unbeliever concerning the problem of pain: If God were good, He would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to what He wished But the creatures are not happy Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both.20 What is the connection, if any, between physical sickness and sin? Some of Job’s words reveal the depths of despondency to which a child of God may sometimes fall What preventives from this mood of despair does the Christian have today? What antidotes for despair does the believer have? “Neither is there any daysman [umpire, arbiter, mediator] betwixt us, that might lay ... may be? If Satan is the Christian’s active archenemy, what help does the child of God have in such a daily warfare? Does the book of Job give any answers? Read what the New Testament teaches in... transformation which the word of man had been totally unable to achieve… The Word convinced Job that he could trust such a God.”19 V KEY WORDS AND VERSES Some of the main key words of Job are: sorrow,... wished But the creatures are not happy Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both.20 What is the connection, if any, between physical sickness and sin? Some of Job’s words reveal the depths