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Loyalty In The Book Of Job

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In the book of Job, the faith of God's most devout follower is challenged repeatedly at the hand of the adversary. These tests of loyalty to God begin with the loss of many of Job’s possessions and family members and end with an affliction of skin sores. Despite these occurrences and the urging of his wife and friends, Job remains entirely in reverence to the glory of God. From this text, it is apparent that one’s faith and knowledge has more capability to provide happiness and ability than do material possessions.
In the beginning of the book, the adversary challenges God’s assertion that Job will continue to both worship and fear God unconditionally, telling God to “...Lay Your hand upon all that he has, and he will surely blaspheme You to Your face” (Job 1:11). The adversary believes that Job’s devotion to God stems from all of the things with which God has endowed him, but God insists that his loyalty is independent of what he has. God allows the adversary to take away much of the …show more content…

He exclaims, “They [the wicked] spend their days in prosperity...” (Job 21:13). Job questions why sinful people are able to live successful, materialistic lives when he, a man who “was blameless and upright” (Job 1:1), was unable to maintain his happiness in life due to what he believes to be acts of God. Job comprehends the severity of what it is that he has lost but neglects to consider the faith that he has not. People often focus more intently on that which they lose or that which they think that they deserve but have not been given rather than on with what they have been blessed. By emphasizing the negative aspects of their lives, people often overlook their true blessings and make themselves unhappy. It is not the removal of his material possessions that made Job unhappy, it is the shift in his focus from what he had in his life to what he did

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