What Have You Gotten Us Into – Job’s Wife
We don’t know her first name. We only know her as Job’s wife, aka, Mrs. Job.
job 2:9 meaning explained
Mrs. Job’s Story
The Old Testament book of Job relays the account of how God allowed Satan to purposely and vengefully attack Job—a faithful man of God.
This attack was physical, spiritual, and emotional in nature. But think about it. When Job lost his wealth, his health, his children, and his grandchildren, so did Mrs. Job!
Mrs. Job gets a lot of bad publicity for getting upset with God and with Job, but who among us wouldn’t do the same? She was grieving a terrible loss, fearful of the future, and distraught at seeing her husband’s condition deteriorate overnight for no apparent reason.
Mrs. Job was hurt, angry, scared, and full of questions that couldn’t be answered.
What we don’t ever talk about, however, is that Mrs. Job was obviously a submissive and loving wife. I say this because:
- She didn’t argue with Job when he set her straight about getting mad at God for what was happening to him/them.
- She and Job had other children together once the whole ordeal was over.
What We Can Learn From Mrs. Job
While we have to admit Mrs. Job had her moments of anger and frustration, when push came to shove, she was a submissive, loving, and faithful wife. She stood by her man when the chips were down and didn’t bail on him just because times were tough…really tough.
From Mrs. Job, we learn…
Lesson One:
Bad things happen to good people. While some of the bad things that happen to us are the result of our own poor choices and decisions, some of the bad things that happen are the result of a fallen and sinful world and just life in general.
God didn’t cause you to lose your job when the place went out of business. He allowed it to happen, though, because he is God…not a puppet master.
The death of a child or your spouse at an early age isn’t God’s punishment. It is his plan; a plan that we are incapable of seeing and understanding the wisdom of more often than not.
So rather than blaming God and being bitter and angry at him when bad things happen, trust him enough to know that he will give you the comfort, strength, and courage to face every situation and that when you do so, you will receive his blessings in abundance.
Reacting to suffering like job’s wife
Lesson Two:
Material wealth is not security. Money and things really don’t bring happiness and you really cannot take it with you.
Lesson Three:
Marriage is difficult but worth the effort.
While the culture of the day didn’t leave Mrs. Job a lot of options, she could have made Job’s life miserable (or more miserable), but we have no indication that this was the case.
Job is repeatedly described as a good and righteous man, so the fact that they had another family tells us that she recognized these qualities in her husband and appreciated them.
Your marriage is going to have its share of difficulties, too. Don’t give up. Instead, make God the center of your home and see your marriage as a ‘til death do you part’ kind of thing and work to make it the best it can be.
Lesson Four:
Mrs. Job was resourceful.
This woman also went from being a sort of matriarch in the community to having nothing.
This would not have been easy and it was necessary for her to become resourceful in getting by, but the fact that God blessed them so abundantly once Job went through his time of struggle and pain, tells me that Job was not the only reason God did this.
Being prudent with your money (having and sticking to a budget) isn’t always easy or pleasant, but the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from doing so is tremendous.
Also, realizing that the newest, latest, and best doesn’t make you a better person is essential for any woman who wants to know her true worth because this can only come from knowing and believing how precious and beautiful you are in God’s eyes.
This woman had grit and tenacity.
And finally, who was there to comfort Mrs. Job when she was grieving the loss of her entire family—except her husband? It certainly wasn’t Job.
He was too busy feeling sorry for himself, trying to figure out why these things were happening, dealing with his friends…and in the end, having a very intense conversation with God.
She had no one who really understood her pain. When she needed Job most, he wasn’t there for her. Yet somehow she managed to work through her pain and see hope for the future.
Unfortunately, the people we love and who love us are going to disappoint us from time to time. They aren’t always going to be there for us the way we want or need them to. That’s just part of being human. The great news,
job’s wife perspective
To Sum It All Up
Life is not always going to go the way we want it to. We are going to have our share of heartaches and difficulties—even a tragedy or two.
These things are not God’s way of punishing us. Life happens and all he wants is for us to trust him to handle it for and with us.
We also need to remember that true happiness cannot be found in material possessions or even in the love of another person.
We are all human and capable of messing up. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the only one who will never disappoint.