Why is This Happening to Me?
The first two chapters of Job give us the large-scale scope of what is happening to Job: He is stuck in a cosmic tug-of-war between God and the Accuser, Satan. Satan argues that God has blessed Job, and this is the reason he is righteous. If God would take away everything that Job owns, he would curse God. Job loses his livestock, his servants, and his children, but still does not blame God or sin in any way (Job 1:22). Satan then argues that if God were to strike Job’s flesh, this would surely cause him to curse God, so God allows Job to be infected with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head (Job 2:7). Amid all this happening, Job has no knowledge of the machinations behind the scenes. His only reality is the pain and suffering he is experiencing. His wife urges him to curse God and die (Job 2:9). His friends sit silently with him for seven days and seven nights (Job 2:13). But Job must eventually give voice to his anguish.
A Picture of Job
One of the most well-known Biblical stories about depression has to be the story of Job, a man who lost much but refused to curse God, a man who steadfastly upheld his innocence even when accused by his friends of sin, and a man who was humbled by a direct response from the LORD. Usually, a Biblical patriarch is introduced with a genealogy. However, Job is merely placed on the scene with no fanfare or even a reference to what time he lived in. Job is important not because of who he was related to but because of what he will experience. Therefore, Job represents anyone who suffers. The CSB characterizes Job as a man of “complete integrity” (Job 1:1). The ESV translates this phrase more literally: “blameless and upright.” What did the author of Job intend for us to know about Job from this first sentence?