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FAIR Resources for Come, Follow Me – Restoration Scripture
Week 33: August 10 - 16: "Yet Will I Trust in Him"

Job 1-3; 12-14; 19; 21-24; 38-40; 42

Doctrinal Focus
Historical & Contextual
Apologetic Application
Practical Applications
Ideas for Teaching
Quick Reference

Doctrinal Focus

  • Key doctrines addressed in this week’s reading

Job’s declaration, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15), reveals deep covenant faith that is not dependent on circumstances. Even when Job loses everything and cannot see the reason for his suffering, he continues to turn toward God rather than away from Him. This teaches that trust in God is an act of will and devotion, not merely a result of favorable outcomes.

Job is described as “perfect and upright” (Job 1:1), yet he experiences intense affliction. His story corrects the false belief—voiced by his friends—that suffering is always a punishment for sin (Job 4:7–8). Instead, Job’s endurance demonstrates that God allows trials for purposes beyond immediate understanding, while still strengthening those who remain faithful.

When the Lord finally speaks, He asks Job a series of questions about the creation (Job 38:4–7), highlighting Job’s limited perspective. These questions are not meant to shame Job, but to teach that God governs the universe with perfect knowledge and order. Trust grows as we accept that we cannot see all things as God does.

Job wrestles with the prosperity of the wicked and the suffering of the righteous (Job 21:7–13), a question that remains relevant today. The resolution comes not through a full explanation, but through a greater awareness of God’s eternal power and justice. This aligns with the principle that many answers come “in the Lord’s time” and often beyond mortality (see also Job 42:1–3).

Job testifies, “I know that my redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25), expressing confidence in future redemption despite present pain. This powerful statement points to Jesus Christ and the promise of resurrection and vindication. Even in despair, Job anchors his hope in a Savior who will ultimately make all things right.

In the end, “the Lord turned the captivity of Job” and blessed him “more than his beginning” (Job 42:10, 12). While not all losses are restored in mortality, this account symbolizes God’s power to heal, restore, and exalt His faithful children. It reinforces that enduring trials with faith leads to spiritual growth and eventual joy in God’s presence.

Historical & Contextual Insights

  • Insights in this week’s study
  • The book of Job is set in the land of Uz, likely outside the boundaries of ancient Israel, during the patriarchal period (around the time of Abraham). The absence of references to Mosaic law, temples, or Israelite institutions suggests an early timeframe.

Job is portrayed as a wealthy and righteous patriarch who offers sacrifices on behalf of his family (Job 1:5), indicating a time when heads of households acted as priests. The narrative includes a heavenly council scene (Job 1:6–12), revealing a broader cosmic context in which mortal experiences are connected to divine purposes.

  • Understanding this setting helps us see that Job’s story addresses universal human questions—suffering, justice, and faith—rather than issues tied only to Israelite covenant law. It also highlights that God’s dealings with His children extend beyond one nation and encompass all humanity.
  • This matters today because it reminds us that trials are part of the shared human experience and that God’s plan applies to all His children. Like Job, we may not see the full picture, but we can trust that our lives are known to God within a larger, eternal framework.
  • Throughout the dialogues, Job’s friends insist that his suffering must be punishment for wrongdoing (see Job 4:7–8; 8:3–6). This reflects an ancient worldview that equated righteousness with prosperity and wickedness with suffering. While this principle can sometimes hold true, the book of Job challenges this oversimplified belief by presenting a righteous man who suffers deeply without cause.
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  • This misunderstanding leads Job’s friends to judge him unfairly, rather than comfort him. Their rigid thinking prevents them from offering true compassion and instead adds to Job’s pain (Job 16:2). This teaches that incomplete doctrine can lead to harmful conclusions when applied without discernment.
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  • The Lord ultimately rebukes Job’s friends (Job 42:7), affirming that they “have not spoken… the thing that is right.” This correction emphasizes that God’s justice is more complex than human assumptions and invites us to avoid simplistic judgments about others’ trials.
  • When God answers Job out of the whirlwind (Job 38–40), He does not explain the reason for Job’s suffering. Instead, He reveals His divine power, wisdom, and role as Creator through a series of questions about the natural world. This shifts the focus from “Why is this happening?” to “Who is God, and can He be trusted?”
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  • God’s approach teaches that spiritual understanding often comes through revelation of His nature rather than full disclosure of His purposes. By seeing God more clearly, Job gains peace even without receiving all the answers he initially sought (Job 42:5–6).
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  • This pattern is consistent with how God works with His children today. Rather than explaining every trial, He invites us to develop faith in Him. Trusting God’s character—His goodness, power, and love—becomes the foundation for enduring uncertainty.

If you have questions on this week’s reading, please email your questions to us here.

Apologetic Application

  1. Claim: “A good and all-powerful God would not allow righteous people to suffer.”
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  3. Response:
  4. Historical Evidence: The book of Job explicitly identifies Job as “perfect and upright” (Job 1:1), yet he experiences profound suffering. This ancient text directly engages the problem of evil, showing that this question has been wrestled with for millennia rather than ignored. It demonstrates that suffering is not a modern objection but a deeply embedded human concern addressed in scripture.
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  6. Eyewitness Support: Job himself maintains his integrity throughout his trials (Job 27:5–6), serving as a firsthand witness that righteousness and suffering can coexist. Additionally, the narrative voice confirms Job’s innocence, reinforcing that his afflictions are not due to personal sin.
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  8. Spiritual Confirmation: Job’s declaration, “I know that my redeemer liveth” (Job 19:25), reflects a spiritual conviction that transcends his circumstances. Believers today similarly testify that faith in God provides peace and meaning even amid suffering. This enduring witness suggests that suffering can coexist with a deep assurance of God’s reality and goodness.
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  10. Logical Analysis: The assumption that suffering disproves God relies on the idea that humans fully understand God’s purposes. However, God’s response in Job 38–40 highlights the limits of human perspective. If God’s knowledge is infinite and ours is finite, it is reasonable that there may be purposes for suffering beyond our immediate comprehension.
  • Claim: “Scripture promotes the idea that righteousness guarantees material blessings and the absence of trials.”
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  • Response:
  • Historical Evidence: Job’s friends repeatedly argue that suffering must result from sin (Job 4:7–8), reflecting a common ancient belief. However, the narrative ultimately rejects their view, and God rebukes them (Job 42:7). This shows that the text itself critiques and corrects this oversimplified theology.
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  • Eyewitness Support: Job’s lived experience contradicts the prosperity assumption—he is righteous yet loses wealth, family, and health (Job 1–2). His testimony provides a narrative counterexample that challenges the claim from within the text itself.
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  • Spiritual Confirmation: Many believers testify that trials refine faith rather than signal divine disfavor. Job’s eventual deeper relationship with God (Job 42:5) suggests that spiritual growth, not material prosperity, is a primary divine objective.
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  • Logical Analysis: If righteousness always led to prosperity, faithfulness would be motivated by self-interest rather than genuine devotion. The reality of righteous suffering allows for authentic faith, demonstrating that devotion to God is based on love and trust, not merely reward.
  • Claim: “Because God does not immediately answer human pain, He must not be involved.”
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  • Response:
  • Historical Evidence: In the book of Job, there is a long period where God does not speak while Job suffers and questions (Job 3–37). However, God eventually responds in Job 38–40, showing that silence is not absence but part of a larger process.
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  • Eyewitness Support: Job continues to seek God despite the silence, demonstrating his belief that God is still present (Job 23:8–10). His persistence reflects a lived conviction that divine silence does not equal divine neglect.
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  • Spiritual Confirmation: Many individuals report that periods of silence in their own lives are later understood as times of growth or preparation. Job’s final testimony—“now mine eye seeth thee” (Job 42:5)—suggests that deeper spiritual understanding can emerge after seasons of waiting.
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  • Logical Analysis: Immediate answers to all suffering would eliminate the need for faith and trust. A temporary lack of explanation allows for moral and spiritual development, preserving human agency and the opportunity to choose faith even without full knowledge.

Practical Applications

Practical solutions for someone in faith crisis:

Action Step: Verbally express your trust in God during a current challenge through prayer or journaling.

Trusting God shifts our focus from confusion to faith. Like Job, choosing trust—even without answers—invites peace and keeps us spiritually grounded instead of overwhelmed by uncertainty.

  1. – Identify a current trial or unanswered question.
  2. – Write or say a prayer acknowledging your feelings honestly.
  3. – Include a statement of trust (e.g., “I will trust Thee, even in this”).
  4. – Revisit and repeat this expression daily.

Encouraging Thought:

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). Trust is not the absence of questions—it is the decision to remain faithful despite them.

Action Step: Reach out to someone who is struggling and focus on listening rather than explaining their situation.

Job’s friends caused additional pain by assuming they understood the reason for his suffering. Choosing empathy over judgment strengthens relationships and aligns us with Christlike love.

  1. – Think of someone currently going through a difficult time.
  2. – Contact them with a simple message of care.
  3. – Ask open-ended questions (e.g., “How are you holding up?”).
  4. – Listen without offering quick fixes or assumptions.
  5. – Follow up with continued support.

Encouraging Thought:

Sometimes the most Christlike response is not to explain suffering, but to sit with someone in it.

  • Action Step: Study passages that reveal God’s nature and record what you learn about Him.

When Job encountered God, his perspective changed even without receiving full explanations (Job 42:5). Focusing on God’s character builds lasting faith that can sustain us through unanswered questions.

  1. – Read Job 38–40 or another passage describing God’s power and wisdom.
  2. – Write down attributes of God you notice (e.g., Creator, all-knowing, attentive).
  3. – Reflect on how these attributes apply to your life.
  4. – Pray to better understand and trust those qualities.

Encouraging Thought:

  • “I have heard of thee… but now mine eye seeth thee” (Job 42:5). Knowing God more deeply often matters more than knowing every answer.

Ideas for Teaching

Objective: Help learners understand how to trust God even when they don’t have all the answers.

Blindfold, small obstacle course (chairs, books, or objects)

Activity Steps:

  1. Introduction (5 min): Invite a volunteer and blindfold them. Ask them to walk a short path while you guide them only with your voice. Afterward, ask how it felt to move forward without seeing.
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  3. Scripture Discussion (5 min): Read Job 13:15 and discuss how Job chose to trust God without understanding his circumstances. Connect the blindfold experience to walking by faith rather than sight.
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  5. Application (5 min): Invite learners to think of a situation where they don’t have answers. Encourage them to identify one way they can trust God this week despite uncertainty.

Follow-Up Question: When have you had to trust God without understanding why something was happening?

Objective: Teach the importance of showing compassion instead of judgment when others are suffering.

Scenario cards (examples of someone going through a hard time)

Activity Steps:

Introduction (5 min): Ask learners to share what helps them most when they are struggling. Write responses on the board.

Scripture Discussion (5 min): Briefly review how Job’s friends responded to his suffering (Job 4–8) and how Job felt about their words (Job 16:2). Discuss what they did wrong.

Application (5 min): Divide learners into pairs. Give each pair a scenario and have them role-play two responses: one like Job’s friends (judgmental) and one Christlike (compassionate). Discuss the difference.

Follow-Up Question: How can you better support someone without assuming you know the reason for their struggles?

Objective: Help learners focus on understanding God’s nature rather than demanding answers.

Paper, pens, whiteboard

Activity Steps: 

Introduction (5 min): Ask: “If you could ask God one ‘why’ question, what would it be?” Let learners briefly share.

Scripture Discussion (5 min): Read selected verses from Job 38 (e.g., verses 4–7) and discuss how God responds to Job’s questions. Emphasize what we learn about God instead of what we learn about Job’s trial.

Application (5 min): Invite learners to write down 3–5 attributes of God they see in these verses. Then have them write how remembering those attributes could help them face a current challenge.

Follow-Up Question: How does focusing on who God is change the way you view your trials?

QUICK REFERENCE

  • God allows righteous individuals to experience trials for purposes beyond immediate understanding (Job 1:1; 1:20–22)
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  • Trust in God is a conscious choice, even in suffering (Job 13:15)
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  • Mortal perspective is limited compared to God’s infinite wisdom (Job 38:4–7)
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  • Not all suffering is a result of personal sin (Job 42:7)
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  • Faith in a Redeemer provides hope beyond present affliction (Job 19:25–26)
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  • Spiritual growth often comes through enduring hardship faithfully (Job 42:10, 12)
  • Why trust modern prophets?
  • God’s pattern has always been to speak through chosen servants, even when they are imperfect. Just as Job learned to trust God without fully understanding His ways (Job 38–40), we are invited to trust that God continues to guide His Church through prophets today. Spiritual confirmation, consistent doctrine, and the fruits of prophetic guidance provide evidence of divine calling.
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  • Why does God allow mistakes?
  • God works through imperfect people to accomplish His purposes, preserving agency and allowing growth. The book of Job shows that human understanding is limited and that God’s purposes are often higher than our expectations (Job 42:3). Allowing mistakes is part of a mortal environment where faith, humility, and reliance on God can develop.