Job's suffering

Job obviously suffered in all states man can suffer. He lost all his worldly wealth, and most of his family was killed all in one day. Watching this video about Chris Williams who lost his wife and two children in one day clearly puts that suffering into perspective for me. However Job, just like this man Chris Williams, didn't curse God.

He said in Job 1:21 "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

The next test was one that I struggle with. Health and strength. And it sounds like his test was far far harder than any I have experienced. Horrible boils, his face became so disfigured by his disease people couldn't recognize him. His breath and stench became so foul even friends couldn't stand to be around him. He was cast out with the outcasts and even they didn't want to be around him. His wife told him to curse God and die.

But again, he didn't.

Job 2:10 "But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not job sin with his lips."

This next part is from the Old Testament Student Manual

Job’s friends challenged God’s wisdom, and they saw Job’s suffering as a punishment sent from God. But Job had a greater understanding. He knew that God was there, although his prayers for relief were not answered as he might wish. Should his suffering really have been the result of personal sin, he begged the Lord to cause him to know so that he could repent ( v. 23 ).

But suffering is not always the result of sin. Suffering has a larger purpose, part of which is educative. President Kimball said:

“Is there not wisdom in his giving us trials that we might rise above them, responsibilities that we might achieve, work to harden our muscles, sorrows to try our souls? Are we not exposed to temptations to test our strength, sickness that we might learn patience, death that we might be immortalized and glorified?

“If all the sick for whom we pray were healed, if all the righteous were protected and the wicked destroyed, the whole program of the Father would be annulled and the basic principle of the gospel, free agency, would be ended. No man would have to live by faith.

“If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil—all would do good but not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency, only satanic controls.

“Should all prayers be immediately answered according to our selfish desires and our limited understanding, then there would be little or no suffering, sorrow, disappointment, or even death, and if these were not, there would also be no joy, success, resurrection, nor eternal life and godhood.” ( Faith Precedes the Miracle, p. 97.)