The Patience of Job
God asked Satan,
“Have you considered my servant Job?
There is none like him, on the whole globe.
He eschews evil and does what is good
I sure wished, some of your servants would.”
“Ha!” says Satan, as he throws God a challenge,
“On blessings received, Job’s good deeds all hinge.
Knock down the wall, surrounding his place
Job will turn, and curse you to your face”
God responds “In this man, I find no fault at all
But you have offered me a bet, and I’ll have to call
You have permission, to take all his things
You’re going to find, my name he still sings.”
Satan slaps his hands and rubs them together
“At last,” he says, “to Job’s back goes the leather.”
“Not so,” said God, “you may take his children and wealth
But don’t you dare touch his hide or his health.”
This part of the story, Job couldn’t comprehend.
It seemed that God, was no longer his friend.
Job suddenly lost, all bestowed blessings,
His children, his wealth and all of his things.
Cut to the quick, Job shaved his head
Sat in sack cloth and ashes and wished he was dead.
Job still had his health and his lovely wife
Who said, “Curse God and put and end to your life.”
Job replied, “You speak like a foolish woman
Married to a man but your heart is not in it,
The Lord He gives and He takes away
I will trust him, no matter what you say.”
Satan knows, he will have to eat crow
He continues to scheme and make a big show
God says to Satan, “Have you seen my servant Job
There is none like him on the whole globe.”
“Double or nothing,” is Satan’s next bet,
Let me touch his health and he’ll curse you yet.
All a man has, he will give for his life.”
God asked, “Couldn’t you just take his wife?”
“Now God You know, that those closest to him
Are often the ones, that cause man’s undoing.”
God responds, “I know what Job will do
Even if I allow you to afflict his body too.”
On this one point I don’t mean to lecture
But Job wasn’t getting, a very clear picture
If only he knew, that for the next six thousand years
Hurting people would identify with his pain and tears
Seeing life from Heaven’s point of view
Gives life purpose and a more glorious hew.
Job did not know he was God’s prize possession
He could only hurt and negotiate the confusion.
Never will we know the extent of Job’s misery
Nor the shock on the face of his three visitors,
They sat in sackcloth and ashes for a week
Job looked so bad they couldn’t speak
Suddenly the long silence is torn
Job wishes out loud he had never been born.
He cries allowed in desperate words
He makes it plain he’s upset with the Lord
Eliphaz the Temanite chooses to speak,
Even though his friend is critically weak.
“I think your suffering is really quite tame
All those who sew iniquity shall reap the same
Happy is the man whom the Lord corrects
Those that repent God always protects.
I hate to say this,” Eliphaz continues
“It’s hurting me more than it’s hurting you.”
Job replies, “It is evident that compassion you lack
But you make a great arm chair quarterback.
I have prayed and offered great supplication
It’s seems to me God has gone on vacation.”
Now Bildad the Shuhite presumes God needs defending
“How long will you go on your complaining unending?
Your suffering is evidence of your unsavory life
It is because of iniquity you experience great strife.”
“I know,” says Job, “if I say I have not sinned
By my own words I’m already condemned.
But you must understand; who stand under the steeple
Bad things often happen to very good people.”
Zophar is next to bless Job with his wisdom
“You repented of your sins? Maybe you missed one
Lift up your hands if they are so holy
God always hears the meek and the lowly.”
Job who is normally a man quite humble
Growls at his friends and under his breath mumbles
“He that is about to slip with his feet
Is a lamp despised in the eyes of him that is at ease.”
I hate to break your rose colored bubble
But man’s day are few and full of trouble
The things you teach I know too
You are physicians of no value
My sufferings seem to have come on a whim
Yet though he slay me, I will still trust him.
He always has walked with me as a friend
Now I can’t find him when will it all end?”
Then Elihu, whose presence is mysterious
He is younger than them but just as serious.
Paul said, “Let no man despise thy youth.”
Elihu must have at least one wisdom tooth.
He keeps it simple and addresses each point
It is more than evident, Elihu, God did annoint
He brings them a little closer to the truth
He is wise for his years and a little uncouth.
Now God speaks, out of the storm
Confusion and suffering, begin to take form.
The wisest of men experience wisdom and doubt
O the depths of his wisdom his ways past finding out.
Job’s words far from perfect, but very sincere
Not pious platitudes, he happened to hear.
He cried out before all, and made his complaint
When finally God appeared, he was silent and sane
I’m sure you have heard, of the patience of Job
God said, “There is none like him, on the whole globe”
The Anchor of Heaven was chained to his soul
Through all his suffering, his heart was made whole.
