The book of Job is an interesting book for many reasons.  As the book opens, we see a dramatic scene in heaven where God is talking to Satan about one of God’s servants.  In the next few verses, we learn that Satan goes to attack Job.  Job’s response is outstanding!  His response to the adversity carries a valuable lesson for all of God’s people today.

Job 2:4-10 shows us that in the midst of his adversity, Job kept his integrity and did not sin.  According to Proverbs 24:10, a person who can withstand adversity has strength.

Clearly, Job’s strength was not small since he withstood the adversity.  And, it can be the same with us when we go through adversity.  Sometimes people hold together quite well on big adversities, and they keep to the big picture.

However, what about the small ones?  What about the small annoyances and actual adversities we hit everyday?  They can just seem to wear on us.  Yet, we need to persevere.  We need to hold up just like the woman in one of the parables of Jesus who persevered in going to the judge to try to get righteous judgment.  She held up until she received an answer (Luke 18:1-8).

Are we able to hold up in our adverse situations?  How do we handle adversity on a daily basis when things just don’t go the way that we want?  Of course, there are going to be difficulties in life that we find adverse to us.  The book of Ecclesiastes speaks to us of those situations.

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 (13) Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? (14) In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.

We need to have a mindset that is Biblical!  We need to realize that adversity is a test and trial, and we need to know how we are going to need to think.  Whether it is a big or small adversity, we need a Godly approach.

Jesus tells us that it is by patience that we possess our souls.

Luke 21:19 (NKJV) By your patience you possess your souls.

The better we are at handling small adversities, the better we will be at handling bigger adversities.  If we are faithful in little things, we will be faithful in bigger things.  That’s a Bible principle (Luke 16:10).  Just as we must learn to fall on our knees before our God on big adversities, we must realize that we should do the same thing on smaller adversities.

In the parable of the sower, Mark 4:16-17, Jesus described a typical approach many use when facing adversity.  Notice, Jesus said they endure for a time, but when affliction or persecution appear, people become offended (inferring discouragement, even to the point of giving up).

Mark 4:16-17 (16) And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; (17) And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

When we heard the Word of God, we may have eagerly accepted it, but as time passed and we were faced with adversity, we may have no longer liked what we were feeling.  Once we come into adversity, we have to deal with it.  A passage in Luke tells us how.  The answer involves patience.

Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

How do we look at what we are going through?  During adversity, what do we think about?  Do we just concentrate on the tough times we are facing?

In the book of James, God’s Word describes how to approach trials and adversities. Notice, this passage also mentions patience and adds the dimension of joy.

James 1:2-4 (2) My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; (3) Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. (4) But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Clearly, God’s answer is to have patience and endurance.  That is what Job did when he went through his horrific trial.

Most of us have daily problems that can occur with our spouses, our family, our friends, or at work.  If we can count it joy when we have problems, we are learning to do it God’s way.

The idea is, if we have a good heart, and follow what God wants us to do, we will learn what God wants us to learn.  We will grow in perseverance and patience.  In fact, we can “be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Remember what Jesus taught us in Luke 21:19?  It is by our patience that we possess our souls.

After Job’s long trial, God restored Job.  It is important to realize that in all Job suffered, God did not call Job unrighteous or self-righteous.  In fact, Job learned extremely valuable lessons about God.  We need those lessons also.

Job 42:10-17 (10) And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. (11) Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. (12) So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. (13) He had also seven sons and three daughters. (14) And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. (15) And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. (16) After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. (17) So Job died, being old and full of days.

At the end of Job’s trial, God gave him twice as much as he had before the trial began.  While God may not bless us with twice as much, He will give us the blessing of being in His kingdom.

God promises His Kingdom to us.  He wants us to use His Holy Spirit and to call on Him when we are in adversity.  He does not want us to make our own rules when things don’t go the way we want.

God blessed Job in his patience.  So, let’s all remember, By patience possess you your souls!