As the very name of the God-fearing man Job implies, and really means, during a certain period of his life he did become: An object of hostility. Initially, the three men who came to console him were shocked and beside themselves with sadness over what was happening to him. Nevertheless, they later proved hostile in their denunciations of him. They also spoke in error against God⁽¹⁾ All this while he suffered extreme pain from the malignant sores from his head to his feet⁽²⁾, and after having lost both his family and his property.⁽³⁾

Job successfully proved to the heavenly host, and to christians on earth, that it is possible to remain faithful to God, even when satan through his evil designs pressures us into a low tormented condition, and when we may feel we are not being protected by God. Job had everything that was taken from him, and his health⁽⁵⁾, restored. The testing of Job was, of course, an extreme case. He was greatly liked, respected, and very wealthy. Yet he did not curse God for the sad loss of his family, or because of his painful sufferings.

"Awake! be on the alert! Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls around looking for someone to devour. Stand up to him, firm in faith, and remember that your brother Christians are going through the same kinds of suffering while they are in the world. And the God of all grace, who called you into his eternal glory in Christ, will Himself, after your brief suffering, restore, establish, and strengthen you on a firm foundation." (1 Peter 5:8-11 NEB).