Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Mark 12:30.

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:7.

When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. John 15:26.

When we think of all the people of Scripture whose lives are an example, how can we not consider Job and Job’s wife? In our chapter, Job 2, Satan still maintains that the only reason Job is faithful is because of God’s blessings to him. “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones and he will surely curse you to your face.” v. 4-5. A man will give all he has for his own life. Is that all there is? What will we give for our life with God?

Job has painful sores all over his body. We meet Job’s wife for the first time as she says to Job, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” v. 9. I remember when I was much younger watching an episode of The Waltons. The mother developed polio. She was a deeply religious woman and had given that example and faithful church attendance to her 7 kids. Her husband was a good man who didn’t share her love for going to church. When their oldest son, John Boy, couldn’t understand how God could allow his mother to suffer, he ended up blaming God and wanting to turn away from God. His Dad thought a few minutes and then said something that always stuck with me. So…as long as God does what you want Him to do, you’ll be faithful to Him? You’ll take the good but not the bad? If something difficult comes along, you give up?

Job’s wife enjoyed a life of wealth with 7 children, servants, everything anyone could “want”. And yet.

And Job’s answer to her? A lot like John Boy’s Dad said to him…Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” v. 10. In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. v. 10.

We’re introduced to 3 friends who upon seeing Job sitting in dust and covered with painful sores, sit with him in silence for 7 days and 7 nights, v. 11-13.

God doesn’t do what we expect and we see that throughout all Scripture. Some would scoff at the discussions between God and Satan. I think they miss the point. We don’t know.

What we can know are the trials, the painful sores, the sorrows of our own lives and the lives of others. What we can know is the love we find in family and friends, beloved pets. What we can know is the need to know God as He is. As we begin to experience His love, we begin to realize we would give all we have for our life with our Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit – who loves us faithfully. Our wounds and sorrows may go deep but His Spirit of Love goes deeper to heal and restore and redeem. Who else would or could do that for us?