September 8 Reading (Job 1-3)
If I weren't depressed reading about the exile, now I get to read about Job's troubles! Yeah! I wish now that Job would have been placed in the more traditional spot of near the front of our reading. Many scholars believe that the Job narrative actually takes place more during the time of Abram. In either case ... 10 days of Job ... here we go!

A couple of observations about our opening scene:
1) Job loved his children and was willing to sacrifice for them with a grateful heart.
2) Satan is limited in time and space ... he is a created being ... not diety
3) Satan could do nothing outside of the parameters that God established. He didn't ask for
more ... he knows that God is the one who sets the rules.

Job's perspective is radically different than King Nebuchadnezzar's in our previous story. He starts this ordeal by saying "The Lord have and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." Perspective.

Job and his wife do not see eye to eye on their journey ... the wife is ready to give up. Even as Job's own life experience worsens, she can't stand his faithfulness and steadfastness. In many ways, she is used to work against him just like the sores on his skin and his broken heart.

Finally, Job is broken and he settles into the beginning stages of a depression ... wishing his life would have never begun ... I can understand why.