Running head: HEALTHY GRIEF Healthy Grief Amber Norris Grand Canyon University: HLT-310V April 14, 2013 Healthy Grief The Book of Job is a profound story about a man who was "perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil" (Job 1:1). Job was a man who had a loving family, prospered and was very wealthy. For whatever reason, Satan challenged God regarding Job. Satan told God that if everything were taken away from Job, he would surely curse God. It was a “bet” of sorts. So God gave Satan the power to destroy everything Job had with the exception of Job’s life. Satan took away Job’s possessions, …show more content…
Job is seen voicing his anger, “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.” (Job 7:11) Pain is the emotion most closely related to and buried under anger. So, in essence, the pain drives anger and anger drives change. As it relates to the grieving process, anger instigates a form of strength and can provide the backbone and structure necessary to move on to the next stage. (Kubler-Ross & Kessler 2013) Although Job voices his anger it isn’t directed to God but rather the situation. Bargaining in the third stage and is the stage of negotiating. In their mind, a person will remain in the past, and try anything to return to the way things were before. (Kubler-Ross & Kessler 2013) At first glance, it appears Job doesn't ever go through the bargaining stage, he clearly expresses his sadness. He continues to praise and worship God in spite of the losses he is going through. However, one can observe how he clearly wishes he could return to the way things were before. "He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength, who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered." (Job 9:4) But his sorrow could certainly be seen as a type of bargaining with God to relieve his sorrow. The fourth stage is depression, the stage where one will experience feelings of emptiness and hopelessness. Some people worry that their feelings of despair will last forever. Yet this stage is
The view of fate the book of Job expresses, though similar in that it originates from God, differs in a few important ways. In Job, situations are predetermined to occur, but the personal choices of the people involved determine the outcome of the situation. The story of Job opens with Job's fate of suffering being planned. Satan presents himself in an audience before God. God makes example of Job, and Satan rebuffs, stating that Job's constancy is only because of God's preferential treatment. Satan tells God, "But put forth thy hand now and touch all he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."(40). In response, power is given to Satan to torment Job as a test. Job's life and finally health are viciously mangled and destroyed by Satan. Though Job does not know the reasons behind his great suffering, we are told that "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."(41), and "In all this did not Job sin with his lips."(41). Self-pity creeps into Job's thoughts and words, but there is no disenchanted turn from God. Instead in Job the reader sees a turn to God for relief and
In the book of Job God boasts to Satan about Job’s goodness, but Satan argues that Job is only good because God has blessed him abundantly. Satan challenges God that, if given permission to punish the man, Job would no longer worship him and turn from him and curse God. In one day, Job receives four messages, each bearing separate news that his livestock, servants, and ten children have all died due to marauding, yet Job continues to bless God in his prayers. Satan appears again with another test for job yet this time; Job is afflicted with horrible skin sores. Eventually he is also told by his wife to curse god but yet Job refuses her request and accepts the outcomes.
The Book of Job is of wisdom genre. Job was a righteous, rich man. God and Satan have a confrontation regarding Job’s faith in God. God allows Satan to test Job by taking away his family, sheep, camels, and servants. Job was passed the test. Job was tested again. This time it was his health that was taken away. Job speaks to his three friends and curses the day he was born. The four of them have a lengthy conversation as to why Job is being punished. Elihu enters the conversation and becomes somewhat angry with Job’s lack of faith in God. God speaks to Job in question form. Job repents. God speaks the three friends and advises them to sacrifice a burnt offering. Job was them made prosperous and was “given twice as much as he had before” by God.
Job is a man very limited by God. As illustrated, he has only a negligible amount of agency to begin with. By the time God and Satan finish with him, he has virtually no control over his own life. The fragment of agency he does cling to is his ability to choose whether or not to curse God. No one, except himself, could prevent Job from cursing God. Yet, he refuses to curse God, even though He is responsible for his suffering.
Despite them being righteous men of the Lord, Mephistopheles tempts Faust with earthly pleasures while Satan took everything from Job entailing his health, wealth, and family. Job endured the physical pain while Faust had to ensure both physical pain and the suffering of the multitude. However, when Satan did these things to Job, he expected Job to turn into a bitter man and try to curse God. However, Job remains ardent and adamant in believing in God. Job remains loyal to the Almighty, but Faust succumbs to Mephistopheles
In the book of Job, the relationship between Job and God is
Job, a faithful follower of God suffered the loss of his wealth to marauding bandits. In addition he suffered catastrophic demise of prosperity his seven sons and three daughters when the house in which they were feasting was made to collapse killing all of Job’s children. Job 4:18-20.The losses occurred all at once on
In the book of Job, Satan receives permission from God to inflict trouble against Job. Job lost many of his possessions including his livestock, children, and servants. Distressed, Job calls upon his friends to comfort him. Not having much sympathy, his friends
One of the most popular characters who faced depression in the Bible was Job. The entire book of Job deals with the question of “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This book can be seen as the testing of a man of God to produce righteousness, but it still begs the question of why such a Godly man had to go through such testing. Job started out as a wealthy man with plenty of servants, possessions, and a great family, but all of this was to be taken away from him. First his servants and oxen were taken away by the neighboring enemy. Job’s first response was not to curse God, but to praise him for all he had given him, and recognize that it was the Lords possessions to take away. Next, Job was stricken with painful sores all over his body. Again, Job’s response was not to accept the good from God but not the bad. Even when Jobs wife and friends were asking him why he was not cursing God, Job remained faithful. After this, Job cries out in what is one of the most mournful chapters of the Bible, but still he does
Before the loss of a loved one, a person may bargain with God saying that they will do anything if only their loved one’s life would be spared. After the loss, the hope is that life will go back to what it was before, and may include more bargaining with God (Kessler, 2012). Bargaining is seen through Job when he is visited by his friends who point out to him that he is being judged by God. He begs his friends to tell him what he is doing wrong and then bargains with God, pleading with Him to tell him what he is doing wrong (Lyon, 2000).
In stark contrast to God’s presence in Genesis, the character of God in Job strays from the ideal perfection of the divine. The concept of the ideal manifested in Genesis is embodied in God’s moral, reasonable, and rational behavior. In Job, on the other hand, rather than being reasonable, methodical, and creating life, God displays more human characteristics and plays the role of both creator and destroyer. The book of Job begins with God’s boastful bargain with Satan, which subsequently leads God to allow the total destruction of Job’s family and livelihood. Job is even attacked physically with “loathsome sores… from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (Job 2:7). In an uncharacteristically immoral decision, God gives Satan the power do
God never condemns Job’s doubt or despair . . . He actually seems to appreciate it.
The Book of Job has been praised but also neglected all at the same time. Its literary work is written in a poetry sense with a prose format and considered one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time. The Book of Job is one of first book of five generally called "The Books of Poetry", which contain Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. The Book of Job is written in the Old Testament of the Hebrew Bible and the main theme that is seeks out is "Why does God allow the righteous to suffer?" First of all I will be talking about the origins and history of the book, and then I will give a brief summary on the story and theme of what the Book of Job is addressing. I will then be breaking down, in
The Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible is characterized by the misery of a faithful servant of God, and how it relates to this character's ability to praise God. Job is an unwaveringly loyal and righteous subject of God, blessed with immense wealth and a beautiful family. One day God boasts to Satan of the innate goodness of Job, to which Satan questions “does Job fear God for nothing? … you have blessed the work of his hands … but stretch out your hand, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (The Bible, Book of Job, 1:6-12). If Job has faced no trials and tribulations, and only experienced the bounty that
Job argues with each man, never wavering in his insistence that he is guiltless. This great debate continues until Job becomes tired of his friends' ill advice and expresses his desire to argue his case with God himself. His friends fall silent, knowing that they cannot sway Job from his self-righteousness. God then appears to Job as a powerful whirlwind and questions Job, unmercifully, as to whether he could perform the works of God. It is through this barrage that Job comes to accept, without question, his lot, and the awesome power of God.