The Story of Job
The Message Performed by Soul Fire Youth Group Cast: Narrator God Satan Messenger Job Job’s Wife Eliphaz Bildad Zophar Elihu Narrator: One day the angels came to report to God, and Satan - the Accuser - came along with them. God: Where have you been? Satan: Going here and there, roaming the earth. God: Have you noticed my servant Job? There is no one like him - blameless and upright, one who fears God and shuns evil. Satan: So what? Do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart? Why, no one ever had it so good! |
| Satan:You pamper him like a pet, making sure that nothing bad ever happens to him or his family or his possessions, blessing everything he does - he can't lose! But what do you think would happen if You reached down and took away everything that he has? He would curse You right to Your face. God: We will see. Go ahead - do what you want with all that he has. Just don't hurt him. Narrator: Then Satan left the presence of God. Narrator: Sometime later, while Job's children were having one of their parties at the home of the oldest son, a messenger came to Job. Messenger: The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing in the field next to us when Sabeans attacked. They stole the animals and killed the field hands. I am the only one to get out alive to tell you what happened. | Narrator: While he was still talking, another messenger arrived. Messenger: Fire fell from heaven and consumed the sheep and the shepherds. I am the only one to get out alive to tell you what happened. Narrator: While he was still talking, another messenger arrived. Messenger: Chaldeans coming from three directions raided the camels and massacred the camel drivers. I'm the only one to get out alive to tell you what happened. Narrator: While he was still talking, another messenger arrived. Messenger: Your children were having a party at the home of the oldest brother when a tornado swept in and struck the house. It collapsed on the young people and they died. I'm the only one to get out alive to tell you what happened. |
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Narrator: Job got to his feet, ripped his robe, shaved his head, then fell to the ground and worshiped. Job: Naked I came from my mother's womb, naked I shall return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Narrator: Not once through all of this did Job sin, nor did he charge God. Narrator: One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan also showed up. God: And where have you been? Satan: Going here and there, roaming the earth. God: Have you noticed my friend Job? There's no one quite like him - blameless and upright, one who fears God and shuns evil. He still has a firm grip on his integrity! You tried to trick me into destroying him, but it didn't work. | Satan: A human would do anything to save his life. But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health? He'd curse you to your face. God: All right. Go ahead - you can do what you like with him. But mind you, don't kill him. Narrator: Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job was ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes. Wife: Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it! Job: You're talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God - why not also the bad days? Narrator: Not once through all this did Job sin; he said nothing against God. |
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Narrator: Three of Job's friends heard of all the trouble that had befallen him. Each traveled from his own country - Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite – and they went together to Job to keep him company and to comfort him. When they first caught sight of him, they couldn't believe what they saw - they hardly recognized him! They cried out in sorrow, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their heads as a sign of their grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven days and nights they sat there without saying a word. They could see how miserable he felt, how deeply he was suffering. Then Job broke the silence. He spoke up and cursed his fate. | Job: Let the day perish in which I was born. Let that day be darkness! May God above not recall it, nor any light shine on it. Let gloom and shadow claim it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months. Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning—because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide sorrow from my eyes. Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? Now I could be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep. Truly the thing that I fear has come upon me, and what I dread has befallen me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes. |
| Eliphaz: How can mere mortals be more righteous than God? How can humans be purer than their Creator? Why, God doesn't even trust his own servants, doesn't even cheer his angels, So how much less these bodies composed of mud, fragile as moths? These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow, and no one even notices - gone without a trace. When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses - we die and are never the wiser for having lived. Don't blame fate when things go wrong - trouble doesn't come from nowhere. It's human! Mortals are born to trouble. If I were in your shoes, I'd go straight to God, I'd throw myself on the mercy of God. After all, he's famous for great and unexpected acts; there's no end to his surprises. What a blessing when God steps in and corrects you! Mind you, don't despise the discipline of Almighty God! | Job: If my misery could be weighed, if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales, it would be heavier than all the sand of the sea! Let God step on me - squash me like a bug, and be done with me for good. What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life? When I lie down, I ask, 'When will I get up?' But the evening is long, and I'm exhausted from tossing until dawn. My body is covered with maggots and scabs. My skin is crusted over with sores; then they ooze. I'm not keeping one bit of this quiet, I'm laying it all out on the table; my complaining to high heaven is bitter, but honest. Confront me with the truth and I'll shut up, show me where I have erred. Look me in the eyes. Do you think I'd lie to your face? My integrity still stands! |
| Bildad: How can you keep on talking like this? You're talking nonsense, and noisy nonsense at that. Does God mess up? Does God Almighty ever get things backwards? It's plain that your children sinned against him - otherwise, why would God have punished them? Here's what you must do - and don't put it off any longer: Get down on your knees before God Almighty. If you're as innocent and upright as you say, it's not too late - he'll come running; he'll set everything right again, reestablish your fortunes. | Job: The question is, 'How can mere mortals get right with God?' If we wanted to bring our case before him, what chance would we have? So how could I ever argue with him, construct a defense that would influence God? Even though I'm innocent I could never prove it; I can only throw myself on the Judge's mercy. If I called on God and he himself answered me, then, and only then, would I believe that he'd heard me. Even though innocent, anything I say incriminates me; blameless as I am, my defense just makes me sound worse. Believe me, I'm blameless. I don't understand what's going on. I hate my life! If God is not responsible, who is? How I wish we had an arbitrator to step in and let me get on with life. Then I'd speak up and state my case boldly. As things stand, there is no way I can do it. |
| Zophar: Job, do you think you can carry on like this and we'll say nothing? That we'll just let you rail and mock and not interrupt you? You claim, “My doctrine is sound and my conduct impeccable.” How I wish God would give you a piece of His mind - tell you what's what! You can be sure of this, you haven't gotten half of what you deserve. If you scrub your hands of sin and refuse to entertain evil in your home, you'll be able to face the world unashamed and keep a firm grip on life, guiltless and fearless. | Job: Everything you know, I know, so I'm not inferior to any of you. I'm taking my case straight to God Almighty; I've had it with you - I'm going directly to God. I wish you'd shut your mouths - silence is your only claim to wisdom. Listen now while I make my case, consider my side of things for a change. Your recollections are worthless proverbs. Your answers are absolutely useless. Though God slay me, yet will I trust Him! Just wait, this is going to work out for the best - my salvation! Please, God, I have two requests; grant them so I'll know that I count with You: First, lay off the afflictions; the terror is too much for me. Second, address me directly so I can answer You, or let me speak and then You answer me. |
| Eliphaz: If you were truly wise, would you sound so much like a windbag? It's your sin that taught you to talk this way. You chose an education in fraud. Your own words have exposed your guilt. It's nothing I've said - you've incriminated yourself! Do you think it's possible for any mere mortal to be sinless in God's sight? Those who live by their own rules, not God's, can expect nothing but trouble, and the longer they live, the worse it gets. There's a lesson here: Whoever invests in lies gets lies for interest, paid in full before the due date. Some investment! | Job: I've had all I can take of your talk. What a bunch of miserable comforters! God, you have wasted me totally - me and my family! You have shriveled me like a dried prune, showing the world that You are against me. My gaunt face stares back at me from the mirror. People take one look at me and gasp. I can hardly see from crying so much; I'm nothing but skin and bones. Decent people can't believe what they're seeing. Yet I insist there is no violence in my hands, and my petitions are sincere. |
| Bildad: Why do you treat your friends like slow-witted animals? Why are you working yourself up like this? Here's the rule: The light of the wicked is put out. They will never again be remembered - nameless in unmarked graves. They are plunged from light into darkness, banished from the world. And they leave empty-handed - not one single child - nothing to show for their life on this earth. | Job: God destroyed my reputation, robbed me of all self-respect. He tore me apart piece by piece - I'm ruined! Then he yanked out hope by the roots. He's angry with me - oh, how he's angry! He treats me like his worst enemy. Everyone I've ever been close to abhors me; my dearest loved ones reject me. As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, And at the last He will take His stand on the earth. I will see God myself, with my very own eyes. If you're thinking, “How can we get through to him, get him to see that his trouble is all his own fault?” then forget it. Worry about your own sins and God's coming judgment, for judgment is most certainly on the way. |
| Zophar: Don't you even know the basics, how things have been since the earliest days, when Adam and Eve were first placed on earth? The good times of the wicked are short-lived; godless joy is only momentary. Right in the prime of life, youthful and vigorous, they will die. And why? Because they exploited the poor and took what never belonged to them. Such God-denying people are never content with what they have or who they are; their greed drives them relentlessly. | Job: It's not you I'm complaining to - it's God. Is it any wonder I'm getting fed up with his silence? Take a good look at me. Aren't you appalled by what's happened? No! Don't say anything. I can do without your comments. Why do the wicked have it so good? Their homes are peaceful and free from fear; they never experience God's disciplining rod. They have a long life on easy street, and die painlessly in their sleep. They say to God, 'Get lost! We've no interest in you or your ways. But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs? |
| Eliphaz: So what if you were righteous - would God Almighty even notice? Even if you gave a perfect performance, do you think he'd applaud? Do you think it's because he cares about your purity that He is disciplining you, putting you on the spot? Hardly! It's because you're a first-class moral failure, because there is no end to your sins. When people came to you for help, you took the shirts off their backs, exploited their helplessness. You wouldn't so much as give a drink to the thirsty, or food, not even a scrap, to the hungry. Come back to God Almighty and He will rebuild your life. Clean house of everything evil. Relax your grip on your money and abandon your gold-plated luxury. | Job: I am not letting up – I am standing my ground. My complaint is legitimate. God has no right to treat me like this - it isn't fair! I've obeyed every word he's spoken, and not just obeyed his advice - I've treasured it. There are people out there getting by with murder - stealing and lying and cheating. They rip off the poor and exploit the unfortunate. The poor, like stray dogs and cats, scavenge for food in back alleys. People are dying right and left, groaning in torment. The wretched cry out for help and God does nothing, acts like nothing's wrong! You are free to try to prove me a liar, but you won't be able to do it. |
| Bildad: God is sovereign – everything in the cosmos fits and works in His plan. How can a mere mortal presume to stand up to God? How can an ordinary person pretend to be guiltless? Job: What wonderful advice you've given to a mixed-up man! What amazing insights you've provided! Where in the world did you learn all this? God-Alive! He has denied me justice! God Almighty! He has ruined my life! But for as long as I draw breath, and for as long as God breathes life into me, I refuse to say one word that isn't true. I refuse to confess to any charge that is false. I'll not deny my integrity even if it costs me my life. I will quote your own words back to you: “This is how God treats the wicked, this is what evil people can expect from God Almighty: |
| Job: None of this is even a down payment on Wisdom! God alone knows the way to Wisdom, he knows the exact place to find it. He addressed the human race: “Here it is! Fear-of-the-Lord – that's Wisdom, and Insight means shunning evil.” Job: Oh, how I long for the good old days, when God took such very good care of me. When I walked downtown and sat with my friends in the public square, young and old greeted me with respect; I was honored by everyone in town. When I spoke, everyone listened; they hung on my every word. People who knew me spoke well of me; my reputation went ahead of me. I was known for helping people in trouble and standing up for those who were down on their luck. The dying blessed me, and the bereaved were cheered by my visits. All my dealings with people were good. I was known for being fair to everyone I met. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame, father to the needy, and champion of abused strangers. I grabbed street thieves by the scruff of the neck and made them give back what they had stolen. | Job: But now I'm the one they're after, mistreating me, taunting and mocking. They abhor me; they abuse me. How dare those scoundrels - they spit in my face!
They come at me from my blind side, trip me up, and then jump on me while I'm down. No one lifts a finger to help me! I shout to You for help, God, and get nothing, no answer! I stand to face You in protest, and You give me a blank stare! You raised me up so that I was riding high and then dropped me, and I crashed. What did I do to deserve this? Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help? I expected good but evil showed up. Each day confronts me with more suffering. |
| Job: I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes. Isn't God looking, observing how I live? Doesn't he mark every step I take? Weigh me on a set of honest scales so that God has proof of my integrity. If I've strayed off the straight and narrow, wanted things I had no right to, messed around with sin, go ahead, then - give my portion to someone who deserves it. If I've let myself be seduced by a woman and conspired to go to bed with her, then I'd deserve the worst punishment you could hand out. Have I ever been unfair to my employees when they brought a complaint to me? Didn't the same God who made me, make them? Have I ignored the needs of the poor, turned my back on the needy? Wasn't my home always open to them? Weren't they always welcome at my table? If I've ever used my strength and influence to take advantage of the unfortunate, then go ahead, break both my arms and cut off all my fingers! | Job: Did I set my heart on making big money or worship at the bank? Was I ever so awed by the sun's brilliance and moved by the moon's beauty that I let myself become seduced by them and worshiped them? If so, I would deserve the worst of punishments, for I would be betraying God Himself. Did I ever crow over my enemy's ruin? Or gloat over my rival's bad luck? No, I never said a word of detraction, never cursed them, even under my breath. Did I hide my sin the way Adam did, or conceal my guilt behind closed doors because I was afraid what people would say? You know good and well that I didn't. Oh, if only someone would give me a hearing! I've signed my name to my defense - let the Almighty One answer! I want to see the charges against me in writing. I am prepared to account for every move I've ever made - to anyone and everyone, prince or pauper. |
| Narrator: Job's three friends now fell silent. They were talked out, frustrated because Job wouldn't budge an inch – he wouldn't admit to an ounce of guilt. Then Elihu lost his temper. He blazed out in anger against Job for pitting his righteousness against God's. He was also angry with the three friends because they had not come up with an answer or proved Job wrong. Elihu had waited with Job while they spoke because they were all older than he, but when he saw that the three other men had exhausted their arguments, he exploded with pent-up anger. Elihu: I hung on your words while you spoke, listened carefully to your arguments. While you searched for the right words, I was all ears. And now what have you proved? Nothing. Nothing you say has even touched Job. And don't excuse yourselves by saying, “We've done our best. Now it's up to God to talk sense into him.” Job has yet to contend with me! | Elihu: Here's what you said. I heard you say it with my own ears. You said, “I am pure – I've done nothing wrong. Believe me, I'm clean – my conscience is clear. But God keeps picking on me; He treats me like I'm His enemy. He has thrown me in jail; He keeps me under constant surveillance.” But let me tell you, Job, you're wrong, dead wrong! God is far greater than any human. So how dare you haul Him into court, and then complain that He won't answer your charges? Elihu: God always answers, one way or another, even when people don't recognize His presence. In a dream, for instance, a vision at night, God opens their ears and impresses them with warnings to turn them back from something bad they're planning. Or, God might get their attention through pain, by throwing them on a bed of suffering, so that they can't stand the sight of food, and they have no appetite for their favorite treats. But even then an angel could come, a messenger who would mercifully intervene. Before you know it, you're healed, the very picture of health! Or, you may fall on your knees and pray – to God's delight! Then you will find yourself set right with God. |
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Elihu: You'll sing God's praises to everyone you meet, testifying, “I messed up my life – and let me tell you, it wasn't worth it. But God stepped in and saved me from certain death. I'm alive again! Once more I see the light!” Let’s put our heads together and figure out what's going on here. We've all heard Job say, “I've done nothing wrong, and I get punished anyway.” Do you think he's spent too much time in bad company so that now he's parroting their line: “It doesn't pay to try to please God”? It's impossible for God to do anything wicked, for the Mighty One to subvert justice. Don't wicked rulers tumble to their doom? When the so-called great ones are wiped out, we know God is working behind the scenes. Elihu: So why don't you simply confess to God? Say, “I sinned, but I'll sin no more. Whatever evil I've done, I'll do it no more.” You've compounded your original sin by rebelling against God's discipline, defiantly shaking your fist at God, piling up accusations against the Almighty One." He never takes his eyes off the righteous; He honors them lavishly, promotes them endlessly. When things go badly, when affliction and suffering descend, God tells them where they've gone wrong, shows them how their pride has caused their trouble. Here you are laden with the guilt of the wicked, obsessed with putting the blame on God! Don't make things worse with more evil - that's what's behind your suffering as it is! |
Elihu: Take a long, hard look. See how great He is - infinite, greater than anything you could ever imagine or figure out! Does anyone have the slightest idea how He arranges the clouds, how he speaks in thunder? No one can mistake that voice – His word thundering so wondrously, his mighty acts staggering our understanding. Mighty God! Far beyond our reach! Unsurpassable in power and justice! It's unthinkable that He would treat anyone unfairly. So bow to Him in deep reverence, one and all! If you are wise, you will most certainly worship Him. Narrator: And now, finally, God answered Job from the eye of a violent storm. God: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Pull yourself together, Job! Up on your feet! I have some questions for you, and you will answer me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who set its measurements? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Have you ever in your life commanded the morning or caused the dawn to know its place? |
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God: Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of distress, for the day of war and battle? Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you? Can you send forth lightning bolts that they may go and say to you, “Here we are”? God: Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Have you watched as the wild deer are born? Do you know how many months they carry their young? Are you aware of the time of their delivery? Have you given the horse its strength or clothed its neck with a flowing mane? Did you give it the ability to leap forward like a locust? Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, stretching his wings toward the south? Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer. |
Job: Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. God: I have more questions for you, and you will instruct Me. Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified? Or do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like His? Look on everyone who is proud and humble him, and tread down the wicked where they stand. Then I will also confess to you, that your own right hand can save you. Behold now the Behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass like an ox. His tail sways like a cedar in the wind. His bones are tubes of bronze; His limbs are like bars of iron. If a river rages, he is not alarmed; he is confident, though the Jordan River rushes to his mouth. Can anyone capture him when he is on watch? With spikes can anyone pierce his nose? |
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God: Can you pull Leviathan out of the water with a fishhook or tie its tongue down with a rope? Can you put a ring through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook? Will it plead with you for mercy? Will you play with him like a pet? Can you even fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears? Lay your hand on him and you will remember the battle; you will not do it again! No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him; who then is he that can stand before Me? Nothing can get through his proud skin – impervious to weapons and weather, the thickest and toughest of hides, impenetrable! Comets pour out of his mouth, fireworks arc and branch out. Smoke erupts from his nostrils like steam from a boiling pot. Flames of fire stream from his mouth. All muscle he is – sheer and seamless muscle. The sword that reaches him cannot avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. He regards iron as straw, Bronze as rotten wood. Arrows cannot make him flee. Nothing on earth is like him, one made without fear. |
Job: I'm convinced that You can do anything and everything. Nothing and no one can upset your plans. I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me, about wonders way over my head. I had heard about You, but now I have seen You with my own eyes. That is why I take back what I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show that I am sorry. Narrator: After God had finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite. God: My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. I will accept his prayer so that I may not do to you according to your folly. |
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Narrator: So Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what God commanded and God accepted Job's prayer. After Job had interceded for his friends, God restored his fortune - and then doubled it! God blessed Job's later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second Cinnamon, and the third Dark Eyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job's daughters. Job lived on another hundred and forty years, living to see his children and grandchildren. Then he died an old man, having lived a full life.
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