When sorrow hits, we seem to lose sight of so much. Here are some thoughts and perspectives:

1. Satan can go to see God

“When the sons of God were come to be present before the Lord, also Satan came among them” (when angels went to see God, so did satan)

Job 1:6 Wycliffe Bible

2. God and satan talk/communicate

“…sons of God were come to praise him, and they stood before the Lord, and Satan was come among them, and he stood in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord said to Satan, From whence comest thou? Which answered, and said, I have compassed the earth, and I have gone through it.”

(Angels went to God and satan came along asking where he had been, and satan replied he was going around and through it [assumption, spreading evil]

Job 2:1-2 Wycliffe Bible

3. God can take as much as He gives, if needed

“If we have taken goods of the hand of the Lord, why forsooth suffer we not evils?”

(If we get good things from God why would we not also get bad)

Job 2:10 Wycliffe Bible

4. Remember you cannot expect that God owes you the life you have, Hs gives, but has expectations as well

“But now a wound is come upon thee, and thou hast failed (or fainted); it hath touched thee and thou art troubled.”

(Something is not how you expected, or you get offended, and now life is SOOO HORRIBLE)

Job 4:5 Wcy

5. Angels appear to some who suffer

“In the hideousness of [the] night’s sight, when heavy sleep is wont to occupy men, dread and trembling held me; and all my bones were afeared. And when the spirit went in my presence, the hairs of my flesh had hideousness (or stood up). One stood, whose cheer, or likeness, I knew not, an image before mine eyes; and I heard a voice as [a] soft wind.”

(In sleepless nights, and fear taking hold, I was scared. A spirit came to me, and my hairs stood up because I did not recognize this kind of being, and I heard their voice like soft wind)

Job 4:13-16

6. Our problems are not without cause

“Nothing is done in [the] earth without cause, and sorrow shall not go out of the earth, that is, adversity befalleth not to any man without cause.”

Job 5:6

7. God is there to protect us

“Certainly God shall make safe a needy man from the sword of their mouth, and a poor man from the hand of violent, either raveners.”

Job 5:15

8. Do not forget to keep positivity about God during trials

“Blessed is the Lord; therefore reprove thou not the blaming of the Lord. For he woundeth, and (then he) doeth medicine; he smiteth, and (then) his hands shall make whole.”

Job 5:17-18

9. Don’t get desperate when you are down

“For why to an hungry soul, yea, bitter things seem to be sweet; those things which my soul would not touch before, be now my meats for anguish.”

(When all my fine in my soul, I had standards, but now, I am open to anything below them because life is killing me)

Job 6:6-7 Wyc

10. Fighting will always be a part of life

“Knighthood, that is continual travail, and fighting against vices, is the life of a man upon (the) earth, and his days be as days of an hired man.”

Job 7:1

Job is definitely a book for those in suffering, losing, and keeping faith. Up until Chapter 9 it states there are void months, bad nights, being filled with darkness and sorrow, and how time just flies and hope avails us, but it also gives the most important aid- a solution!

“…God shall not cast away a simple man, neither he shall dress (or direct) his hand to (help) wicked men; till thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with hearty song.”

Job 8:20 Wyc

This life is hard, but with gratitude and appreciation for even the negative, God will not just ditch you. Maybe it is perspective that needs changing, karma to be fulfilled, or a lesson to be learned, but your dispair is not passed over. It is presented so blantantly that you just need to look for it.

Here are some ideas how:

• See how often negative things happen
• Do the negative events happen in close timing to another
• Do you praise God during these times, or just in good
• How long does it last
• Do you find any good from the negative events- change of attitude, connecting with others, helping the community, or just looking more to God

Take time and see what life is showing you, and see how you can break the cycles (also reach out and I can help too).