DO YOU feel sorry for this sick man? His name is Job, and the woman is his wife. Do you know what she is saying to Job? ‘Curse God and die.’ Let’s see why she would ever say a thing like that, and why Job suffered so much.

Job was a faithful man who obeyed Jehovah. He lived in the land of Uz, not far from Caʹnaan. Jehovah loved Job very much, but there was someone who hated him. Do you know who?

It was Satan the Devil. Remember, Satan is the bad angel who hates Jehovah. He was able to get Adam and Eve to disobey Jehovah, and he thought he could get everybody else to disobey Jehovah too. But was he able to? No. Just think of the many faithful men and women we have learned about. How many can you name?

After Jacob and Joseph died in Egypt, Job was the person most faithful to Jehovah in all the earth. Jehovah wanted to let Satan know that he could not get everyone to be bad, so he said: ‘Look at Job. See how faithful he is to me.’

‘He is faithful,’ Satan argued, ‘because you bless him and he has many good things. But if you take these away, he will curse you.’

So Jehovah said: ‘Go ahead. Take them away. Do all the bad things you want to Job. We will see if he curses me. Only be sure that you do not kill him.’

First, Satan had men steal Job’s cattle and camels, and his sheep were killed. Then he killed his 10 sons and daughters in a storm. Next, Satan struck Job with this terrible sickness. Job suffered very much. That is why Job’s wife told him: ‘Curse God and die.’ But Job would not do it. Also, three false friends came and told him he had lived a bad life. But Job kept faithful.

This made Jehovah very happy, and afterward he blessed Job, as you can see in the picture. He healed him from his sickness. Job had 10 more beautiful children, and twice as many cattle, sheep and camels as he had before.

Will you always be faithful to Jehovah like Job? If you are, God will bless you too. You will be able to live forever when the whole earth will be made just as pretty as the garden of Eden.