1. Poetry Books Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon

2. The Poetry Books – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Songs of Solomon
These 5 books are called poetry books because they are simply that, poetry. We’re not to take these books as narratives, where facts are being told and stories are being shared.
These books are written to help engage the heart more than the mind.
They’re written to communicate feeling and experiences, which is why these books are much easier to relate to compared to others. We can spend more time reading them than other books because when we read them, we connect on an emotional and heart level more than an intellectual level.

3. Job
The theme of Job is testing. Throughout the entire book, what we read is that Job was tested and he and his four friends try and explain this test. They sit and they contemplate the struggles of life. This is something that we can all relate to. Life is hard, there will be tests, there will be trials, there will be things that we go through.
The book of Job is poetry, but we often treat it as a narrative.
The book of Job is thought to be written before any other book of the bible. In other words, before Moses sat down to write Genesis, the book of Job was already literature amongst the Israelites. It’s thought that Job lived maybe around 2000 – 1000 BC.
The author isn’t known, but it’s thought that the story of Job was passed down through tradition, either in stories or in an informally written way, until it was properly written down and recorded. We know that Job was a real person because he’s mentioned in other books of the bible.
Ezekiel 14:14; 14:20; James 5:11.
As we read Job, we see that it actually unfolds more like a play.

4. Job
In Job, what we find is that there’s an opening act, where there’s a premise, a setup, an introduction to what’s about to happen, followed by the actual events. After the events though, we see Job and his four friends in deep discussion, and most of the book of Job is actually about what they’re all saying about Job and his suffering and his life. Finally, it ends with God saying His part and then a conclusion where the story is resolved.
The question? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good people suffer? Why does God allow pain and suffering in the lives of those who are loyal to Him?
What I mean is that we can see clearly that Satan was the source of all of Job’s troubles. Everything that Job went through was because of the devil. But even with that knowledge, it’s not enough.
Think about it like this. If I were to tell you, and this is true, that the devil is the cause of all the suffering that innocent children go through, what will you do?
It’s an easy and truthful answer – all suffering comes from the devil.
Suffering is so great a thing that in all honestly, it cannot be justified. No reason, no explanation, no justification is enough to explain suffering. Especially if we are to believe that God can do anything.
And so the book of Job addresses this very topic, that good people suffer, not because they deserve it, not because God did it, but because Satan can have his way on earth.

5. Job
So let’s do a quick character study and see the various understandings of suffering are.
Satan’s idea of suffering was this – Job only followed God because he was selfish. In other words, because God blessed Job and protected Job and allowed Job to flourish and do well, Job would follow God. Satan had the idea that Job only worshipped God because of what he could get for himself.
So if Job suffered enough, then Job would turn away from God. The idea was that suffering, pain, misfortune, would be more powerful than Job’s loyalty to God. Satan saw suffering as a way to take people away from God. If it hurts enough, they’ll abandon God. Satan is the originator of suffering, but his idea is to use it to take people away from God.
Job’s friends saw suffering as a consequence of Job’s disobedience and sin. Their understanding was that suffering would fall upon anyone who does the wrong thing. It’s an unavoidable and natural consequence. For something so bad to happen to Job, it must be because he did something equally sinful. That level of misfortune only happens when you’ve done something that has taken you away from God.

6. Job
Job also has an understanding of suffering. This is the man who’s going through it, the one who understands the situation completely, and the one who knows himself better than his friends. When Job looks at suffering and at his life, he sees suffering as unfair. He’s actually more confused than anything else. He hates the pain that he’s going through, he mourns, he laments, but he doesn’t know why it’s happening. He doesn’t understand how he can go through so much difficulty when he has God. He doesn’t abandon God or turn away from God, but he doesn’t know why he must face such a difficult circumstance when he hasn’t done anything wrong.
In a sense, he already knows that what his friends are saying is wrong. His friends are saying that he’s done the wrong thing to deserve this, but Job knows his heart.
Job knows that he hasn’t done anything to deserve this, so he knows that suffering doesn’t come from sin. So if suffering doesn’t come from sin, it means that he and God are close and everything’s good, so why does he still have to suffer? Why is he going through this while the evil and the wicked are thriving?
Job questions God. Job doesn’t blame God, he never says that God caused it, but he questions God about why God isn’t doing anything about it. Why is God not acting on his behalf? Why did God allow the suffering? So Job sees suffering as a bad thing, but he’s confused about the purpose or the origin.

7. Job
God then speaks to Job. And God has a perspective on suffering which may not be all that satisfying to us.
In Job 38, we find that God answers Job not by explaining suffering or by giving some kind of incredible philosophical answer, but basically, God explains suffering to Job by saying, “I am God, you are not.”
And as you read through God’s reply, all He does is that He tells Job that there’s just no way that Job would ever understand. Job isn’t able, Job doesn’t have the power that God has, and Job won’t ever get it.
See if a normal person did this to you, it would be quite upsetting. It’d be patronising and you’d feel looked down upon and talked down to, but God’s allowed to do it.
We need to remember that God is still God. And God basically explains that He’s done EVERYTHING. He’s more than able to do anything and when Job asks about suffering, God responds with everything that He can do and what Job can’t do. He explains how big He is, how in charge He is, and how God is greater than what we think.

8. Job
Job 40:8 - “Would you discredit my justice?     Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
This is a very small portion of what God says to Job, but it brings context to everything that He’s saying. God is basically explaining everything that He’s done so that Job, and us, will realise that we simply don’t understand.
The creator of the universe doesn’t need to explain suffering or the way of life to us.
Our lives might seem long and really important, but in the grand scheme of eternity, we truly don’t understand. We can’t discredit God’s justice. We can’t condemn God just so that we feel better about ourselves.
Job 42
Essentially, what we learn from the book of Job is that suffering is going to happen.
To everyone. It’s not God doing it, it’s the devil doing it. But it’s also not unique to any person. Everyone suffers.

9. Job
And when we ask the question why, the answer is that there’s no answer on this side of eternity. No human words or understanding will ever justify suffering for us.
In eternity, things will make sense, but for now, we need to realise that suffering simply is. It’s not God punishing sin, it’s not because God wants to test us or He enjoys our suffering, and even though it’s from the devil and from sin, ultimately, we need to accept that suffering exists.
And what the bible says in Chapter 42 is that Job repents.
He doesn’t repent in the sense that he had sinned, because God Himself says that Job spoke the truth about God, so it wasn’t that Job had sinned by questioning God, by being unsure, by being uncertain. That’s not a sin. It’s ok to not be sure and to ask God and to even go to Him with your concerns.
But the word repent means to change your mind. And what Job had to do was to repent by changing His mind about how he connected God with suffering. Job had a revelation of who God was.
When Job had this revelation of the largeness of God, he repented, he changed his mind and his thinking, and instead of thinking, “why did God let this happen” and begin the process of blaming God, he understood that God was above and beyond suffering. God was greater than suffering.

10. Job
The theme of the book of Job is about testing and suffering, but it’s also a question of integrity.
Is the gospel only powerful because of the effect that it has or is the gospel worth all the sacrifice and all the commitment and everything that comes with it, simply because it’s the gospel?
Is there integrity in the gospel as it is? If nothing else happened in our lives, is the good news still good news?
We know that the gospel is powerful, but what we need to understand is that the gospel isn’t true because it’s powerful, the gospel is powerful because it’s true.
Job proved Satan wrong, the gospel is bigger than life – the good, the bad, the failings, the successes, every part of existence. No matter what happens in life, the gospel is still good, it’s still powerful, it’s still more than able, and we need to hold true to God regardless of the circumstance.
Before Job ever saw any change in his situation, Job learnt to have submissive faith. He saw God as God, no matter his circumstance.
We then read that God turns everything around, that he blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former. He had double what he began with.

11. Job When we read Job, it’s important to note a few things:
Remember that it’s poetry, so it’s not that the devil and God have meetings and discuss what they can do to people.
Context is really important when using the book of Job to understand or explain or even teach from. Remember to see if it aligns with other scriptures as well.
Even Job’s experience was very much from his perspective. He saw things in a very specific way and didn’t fully understand God. He did not sin in what he said, but he also didn’t have the right perspective, meaning he lacked revelation.
It’s not that we can’t teach from the book of Job, but remember that it’s written to engage the emotions more than the mind. The poetry in it helps us connect and relate, but we’re not meant to take it as literal teachings.