People that are uber wealthy seem to have it so easy. They have nice cars and private airplanes. Their children attend prestigious boarding schools, and they sit on boards with others in those circles raking in the big bucks. We peons often think things such as, “I bet they got rich illegally. They probably got that stuff by being crooked.” Haven’t you heard things or thought things like that? Sure, you have. It is human nature to think those type of things. But everyone is not crooked and immoral. Sometimes they are just smart taking advantage of opportunities that come their way. My dad used to tell the story about when he missed the opportunity to buy some Rolls Royce stock for around $10 per share. He didn’t buy it, but he had the opportunity and he regretted not doing it his whole adult life. Each time he heard the share price of RR, he would tell the story again with visions in his mind of what could have been. I often wished he would have bought those shares as I drove around Savannah in a 1966 Ford Custom 500 with a bum transmission and an Earl Scheib, dark blue paint job.

Job was a man that had great wisdom and knew how to be successful. He would be in the category of the extremely rich. The first five verses of Job tell us three things about the man that lived thousands of years ago. I will share those in a moment but want to call your attention to the end of verse 3. “… so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.” People often have this flaw in their thinking. If you are wealthy, you will never know pain, poverty, or heartache. That is a falsehood, and the life of Job proves it in spades. What can we learn about this saint of God from the first five verses? Then what can we learn from the remainder of this book?

  1. Righteous. Job 1:1. A man from Uz. This is an area that is located somewhere between Syria and Jordan today. His name was Job. Most likely he was a contemporary with Abraham, even though the two lived and traveled in different regions. We are told he was “perfect (blameless) and upright,” “feared (had great reverence to) God and eschewed (hated or shunned) evil.” His testimony started out great. I would love to have this testimony and you should also.
  2. Rich. Job 1:2-3. He was blessed in his family with ten children. Job understood that children are a heritage of the Lord. Psalms 127 & 128 hadn’t been written yet, but this truth has been around since God created man and is still true today. “Children are a heritage from the Lord and the children are like olive plants around our tables.” This great man understood his boys and his girls to be blessings from God. Verse 3 tells us about his wealth. Seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke (1000 oxen), five hundred female donkeys along with many servants that worked for him. He is called the “greatest” of all the men in the east. In ancient times, wealth was measured in the number of livestock and Job certainly had vast amounts.
  3. Religious. Job 1:4-5. His grown children were going to have a party. There would be all types of feasting which would last for several days. Job was concerned about the lives of his children that they wouldn’t act sinfully. He sent for them and sanctified them. He reminded them of the Lord. He offered burnt offerings for each one just in case they had sinned against the Lord. Many of us do the exact same thing when we offer prayers to the Lord on behalf of our children. We want blessings for our children just as the Lord has blessed us and we know that blessings come from obedience.
  4. Revealed. The remaining chapters and verses in the book of Job reveal this man. We know that Job caught Satan’s attention as the devil traveled around the earth. He accused him of only serving God because the Lord had made him rich and placed a hedge around him. Was this true? Would it be true in our lives? Do we serve the Lord because of His goodness to us? If we started suffering as Job, would we walk away? The remainder of chapter one gives us details of when the hedge was removed. In quick succession these events: 1:13, the children are partying again in the oldest son’s home. 1:14-15, the Sabeans attacked, killing the servants, and stealing the animals. 1:16, lightning strikes, killing sheep and more servants. 1:17, Chaldeans stole the camels and killed the servants who were working them. 1:18-19, the party where his sons and daughters were feasting was interrupted by a tornado. The house collapsed killing all ten of his children. In a heartbeat his life was changed. What did he do? 1:20 reveals the spiritual life of this saint. He ripped his clothing in half, shaved his head, fell to the ground and worshipped God. His blessings had all been pried from him, yet 1:21 closes with “blessed be the name of the Lord.” The trials and testing of God aren’t always easy, but the Lord has a purpose. Job’s revealing didn’t stop with the loss of children and wealth. Satan comes to the throne room of God once again in chapter 2. This time God allows Satan to take away his health. Sore boils from head to toe was his next test. The pain was so horrific that he sat in an ash heap with a piece of broken pottery to scrape the boils. His wife has already turned her back on him and the Lord. “Why don’t you curse God and die” (2:9)? He responds by saying, “You speak as a foolish woman.” “In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips” (2:10). He was revealed to be a spiritual man once again. Then three friends came along when they heard about all his trouble. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar loved Job. Sometimes, well-meaning friends don’t say the right things either. Over the course of the book, each one took opportunity to tell Job what he did wrong and that he surely had sin in his life for God to punish him like this. They were wrong and ultimately Job would be vindicated.

If you jump to the end of the book, you find this vindication. 42:10 God blessed Job with twice as much as he had before the troubles came. 42:12, “So the Lord bless the latter end of Job more than his beginning.” God doubled his wealth. He also had ten more kids. I guess that the non-supportive wife got her reward as well. She had to be pregnant 90 months. Job the old man, looked back on his life and saw the goodness of God even in the times of pain and heartache. He died at 140 and saw great grandkids unto the fourth generation. The last phrase in the book says he was “full of days.” God gave him a lot of time to enjoy, but it came with a price, the price of suffering and trials. Even the uber wealthy can have issues just as the rest of us do. At the end of his life, he truly was a man that had it all.