The Book Of Job

Since I have been pressing through the life of Job, preparing for my sermon on suffering; I decided that we are going to be reading through the book of Job in the evenings as a family. I will be posting just the text reference that we will be reading, along with any questions and discussion topics that I think up before we actually are together as a family discussing these things. I have mentioned in previous posts that the questions I write are only meant to be spring board questions that provoke independent family discussion points.

One quick blessing to mention regarding last night. Ali (our eldest) wanted to gift Karie (my wife) and I with a night out alone. She offered to hold down the fort for a late Valentine’s Day present to us. We, up until last night, had not found the time to take her up on the offer. Rylee helped as well by making the meal for all the kids. We are thankful to them for their kind gift. Additionally, one of the tokens of appreciation that were given to each speaker at our conference is a small gift of money. Our Pastor mentioned during our first conference message that it was just enough for the said speaker to take his wife out for dinner. Karie elbowed me with a grin when he mentioned this. So last night we were able to have a nice meal at Axel’s Bonfire and Grill. We ate baked Walleye, seasoned green beans surrounded by a bed of white rice, covered with shaved almonds. We each had a glass of cranberry juice with a splash of soda (really living on the edge there). Karie followed it up with strawberry cheese cake, while I had a very large chocolate chip cookie covered in vanilla ice cream. After dinner we sat in the quietness of our van, sipping the dark roast decaf we brought in our tumblers. We talked for over an hour trying to catch up on many different topics we have not found the time to speak of lately. We returned around 8:45 to a quiet home with the little ones already put to bed. The evening was a blessing to both of us. We really needed it.

The Book Of Job

Read: Job 1:1–22 aloud as a family.

Questions:

• Does blameless and upright mean that Job was sinless?
• As a life pattern, Job feared God and turned away from evil. This was pleasing to God. What would it look like in each of our lives if we did the same?
• Do the text tell us that Satan was hanging out with the Angels, or came among them?
• Who initiates the conversation between Satan and God?
• Who brings Job up in the conversation?
• Why had Satan not been able to harm Job in the past?
• Is this same thing true for us today?
• Job lost most of his servants, the majority of his animals, and all of his children. If this happened to you, do you believe that your response would be the same as Job’s? If not, why not?