Job Lost Everything – Except His Wife

Life Stinks Sometimes

There he sat, looking across the damaged soil of his life. How could this possibly happen? In one afternoon, his life took a sudden dark turn and Job was a swallowed in grief. The loss was numbing; all the while the pain was unbearable.

His oxen and donkeys: “The Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword..”

“The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and the servants…”

“The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword..”

His seven sons and three daughters: “…a mighty wind struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead.”

Do you feel the loss? What else could possibly happen to Job? Here he was the richest man in the East, blessed beyond imagination. You, might, know a man that owns a few cows. Job had 500 yoke of oxen; think 1000 head of cattle. My brother has a couple of horses. Job rode on 3000 camels and 500 donkeys. Sheep are a favorite 4-H project around here. A kid will spend a year raising a little lamb to be sold on the auction block at show. Job raised 7000 of them. Add in all the servants it took to run the ranch and keep the large family, and Job was the Bill Gates of the East.

And in one afternoon, it was gone. Our hearts go out to Job. His heart goes out to God. “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” We shudder to think that this might be our testimony.

Then the devil slithers back. What else can he take?

“Skin for skin!” satan hissed, as he asked God to allow him to touch Job’s body.

With that permission, he afflicts Job with painful sores from his head to the soles of his feet. Job is sitting in a pile of ashes, head shaved, torn clothing, and scraping his sores with a broken piece of pottery. His wife comes out to console, apply some ointment, and love him, right? Nope.

“Are you still holding onto your integrity? Curse God and die.”

Job’s wife

That’s Job’s wife’s one line in the whole book. No wonder we don’t know her name. She seems heartless doesn’t she?

What occurred to me last week, is that Wifey had endured great loss too. Those were here 7 sons and 3 daughters. That was her ranch and servants and retirement plan too. She had lost it all in one afternoon, right along with Job.

Until Job was afflicted with sores, she may have questioned her responsibility in this traumatic loss. The Bible tells us that Job had sacrificed a bull for each child every time they had partied the weekend away and may have sinned against the Lord. He covered all his bases with God. Job was the one with the reputation of pleasing God always. Maybe this tragedy had happened because of her lack in the “pleasing God” arena. Was she the blame? You know how we think?

But when she looked down and saw her husband covered in sores, she quickly assigned blame. Oh, how awful we can be. She no longer feels the need to repent or think how she could have been better. She despises him because if she had never met him, she would have never hurt like this. God hadn’t come through like Job always preached and Job was useless with only his integrity. What good had that done?

Job replies with “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” “Foolish woman” denotes a moral deficiency. In other words, he calls her immoral. Job calls it like it is and does not pacify her pain by promising it was going to get better.

But he stays.

In this era of hard marriages and easy divorces, we don’t understand how Job stays with a woman who would as much as wish him dead and condemned. He just stays.

His loyalty and commitment endures the coldness of friends too. Job endures a season of “friends” who come to visit. They sit with him for seven days and seven nights and never say a word, because of his suffering. Then they open their big mouths. I won’t go into quoting and discussing their arguments as to why this had happened to Job, but it’s definitely worth reading.

After all have spoken and Job has defended himself, there is an amazing discussion with God. Job is uncomfortably honest with God. God is embarrassingly straightforward with Job. Then Job repents. He has questioned God and he was found wanting.

Then God turns to Eliphaz and friends. “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right”. Yikes, makes me wonder how many times in my effort to make sense of life, have I not spoken “what is right”. Sometimes, we just make lots of words hoping that some of it makes a difference. Ugh.

The Rewards of Endurance

“After Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.

Job 42:10

You see Job stayed and he prayed. Praying for someone takes a certain amount of compassion. Job prayed for the friends who had spent days trying to convince him that this trial was punishment and was right…they just didn’t know what terrible sin Job had committed. Job prayed for them and in the King James Version it says “his captivity turned” when he prayed for his friends.

Then we read that God blessed the later 140 years of Job’s life more than the first part. God doubles the sheep, the oxen, the camels, and the donkeys. He gives more servants. And Job has seven more sons and three more daughters. These daughters are the most beautiful in the land. The Bible says that. I’m not writing a Disney princess story here.

So that means one thing. There were some sweet apologies and loving forgiveness between Job and wife. You don’t have ten children and live together another 140 years raising your great-great-grandchildren, by yourself. Love had come back to stay and Mr and Mrs. Job had to work things out..

We are not given the details. I don’t know how long the anger simmered and/or raged before love conquered again, but love never fails. She had said the most hateful statement to Job when he needed her the most. He recognized the cruelty and immorality of it. He certainly heard the devil saying, “She is only with you for the money. She doesn’t love you.” Job saw clearly that his wife didn’t know God like he did. She didn’t trust Him. She thought God deserved cursing for all the pain. they had endured. It looked like irrevocable differences, if there ever was a case.

Been there? Has your spouse or someone you love ever disappointed you so deeply in your time of need? Maybe your spouse hasn’t followed in the steps of Christ like you think he should. Does your love seem cold, maybe dead and buried with other losses you have suffered? Maybe even immorality has been displayed and you’ve lost all respect. Are the finances non existent and he has lost another job? Hang in there.

God does miracles. I’m a church secretary. (Yes, that is a miracle. ha.) What I really meant, is I have seen and heard marriages that I thought were over. The hurts were deep, the resolve to stick it out was gone, and the. counseling session was only to tell their side so that when the divorce happened, the church would know it wasn’t their fault. Then God stepped in. Hearts melt, pinched lips begin to giggle a little, and tears are wiped by the one that caused them. Only the Holy Spirit can comfort like that.

Stay there. Wait. Seek the Lord. Be honest with God. Job will show you how. Maybe the other party (spouse or friend) does nothing. Remember Mrs. Job is not heard from again. She is not recorded giving a lengthy speech of her justifications. Maybe she sat in her room and fumed and cursed until Job was healed. We don’t know. Just keep calling on God. Stay in pursuit of Him. DON’T GIVE UP.

Love NEVER fails.

1 Corinthians 13:8

Read it again. NEVER. This is not acting like it. This is the real thing. The love that says I’m here and I’m determined to love you and take care of you and enjoy our great-great-grandchildren with you. I will call on God when you aren’t listening. I will pray for you when you disappoint me. I will not look for another, when you have lost all. You and Me make one, so help us God.

Stay. See what God will do.