The book of Job uses most of its ink talking about Job’s choices. The circumstances come pouring down in the first couple chapters. God’s response and the redeemed circumstances are in the last couple. In between, there are more than thirty chapters about Job’s struggle to respond to his circumstances.
This, more than anything, is what makes Job so famous and so relatable. Like Job, we deal with challenging, even tragic, circumstances. Like Job, we know God is good. And like Job, we struggle with how to live in a world where both of these things are true at the same time. How do we respond? What are we supposed to think, do, and say?
The quality of our life on earth (as well as our accounting to our Maker) will be determined not by our circumstances but by the way in which we respond to those circumstances. Life is going to throw all kinds of things at us. Pain. Joy. Boredom. And like Job, we have choices to make. The choice about how to respond to the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Job is an inspiration. Job chose to worship. Job chose to trust God, even when he could make no sense of what was occurring around him. Job chose to maintain his integrity, even when those closest to him urged him to despair. But all along Job asked questions. He pursued God for answers. The end result was riches that will never fade, a name that won’t be forgotten, and the highest praise from his heavenly Father.