Regina Doman - The Story of Job

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina 2015 by Regina Doman and TAN Books. Illustrations by Ben Hatke. Cover design by Regina Doman. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the
written permission of the publisher. Summary: The simple yet mysterious story of Job from the Bible is retold in language suitable
for young readers with illustrations by Ben Hatke.

ISBN: 978-1-5051-1175-0 TAN Books P.O. Box 410487 Charlotte, NC 28241 www.TANBooks.com For all my children. Contents ,
there was a man named Job. And Job loved God. And God loved Job. Job was a good man.

He had a wife
and ten children, and huge herds of
sheep, cattle, donkeys and camels. He was very rich, and he and his
wife had a big house with lots of
land for their many children to live
on. And Job blessed God: he prayed
to God in the morning, and in the
evening, and before he went to
bed. He offered sacrifice to God
when he was afraid one of his
children might have sinned. Everything Job did
was centered on God. Now, one day, the devil came
before Gods throne,
and God said to him,
Have you seen my servant Job?
See how much Job loves me! And the devil,
who hates everyone,
and who would destroy this whole
planet and all the people, plants,
and animals if he could, said,
Oh, Job only loves you
because you give him stuff.

If you took away all his money and
his family and his nice house, he
wouldnt love you any more. He
would curse you!
Just wait and see. But God said, I dont think so. But I know you
dont understand love. The devil said, Theres no such thing as love! Let me take away all of Jobs things,
and youll see: his love for you will vanish! And God said
a mysterious and terrible thing: He said, He is in your power. So you can imagine
what the devil did.

First he sent raiders
to steal Jobs cattle and donkeys. Then lightning struck
and killed all Jobs sheep. Then an army
seized his camels. And then,
most terrible of all,
the devil sent a huge wind
that blew down the fine house
where Jobs ten children
were feasting. And all of Jobs
ten children died. All of these things happened
in a single day.

When Job received
all this terrible news,
what do you think he did? Job fell on his knees and cried, The Lord has given:
the Lord has taken away:
Blessed be the name
of the Lord! The devil was very angry to see
that God had been right: Job still loved God. So the devil went to God
and said, Let me make Job sick: once his health is gone,
he will curse you. Just wait and see! And God said another
mysterious and terrible thing: He said, He is in your power. Poor Job! Soon he was covered
with the most horrible kind
of sores all over his body. The sores were so bad he
couldnt eat or lie down to rest. His wifes heart was broken: she hated to see
her husband suffer. His wifes heart was broken: she hated to see
her husband suffer.

And she was angry and
grief-stricken because
all her children were dead. She said to her husband,
Curse God and die! But Job said to her,
You are speaking foolishly. Where did all the good things
we enjoyed come from,
if not from God? Are we only going to take
good things from Gods hand
and not take the bad things
He sends us? I will bless God. But Job was sad,
because he could not
understand why God,
who had always been his friend,
would allow these
terrible things to happen
to him. So he went off
and sat alone
and tried to pray
and to think. And then another bad thing
happened.

Jobs friends talked it over
and decided to come and see him. When they came to Job,
they said, We think we know
why all these bad things
have happened to you. You see, there must be a reason. We know that God is good
and loves good people. We also know that God punishes
wicked people. Job said, No, Ive done nothing wrong. Job said, No, Ive done nothing wrong.

And I dont understand why
God should treat me this way. Havent I always loved Him? Havent I always tried to serve
Him and keep His ways? He should not treat
me this way! Jobs friends said, You should not talk
that way about God! You are being irreverent! Why else would God punish you,
if you hadnt done some secret sin
you are hiding from all of us? There must be a reason
why this happened to you. Bad things like this
dont happen
without a reason! Job said, I dont see any reason. And I am upset with God! I am angry with God! I am trying to understand
what He did,
and it doesnt make sense. So I want God Himself
to come down
and explain it to me. Jobs friends said,
Why should God listen to you,
when you are a secret sinner? Why
dont you confess your sin
and say youll do better
in the future? Job was sad and frustrated:
he knew he hadnt done
anything wrong,
and he wished his friends
would understand.

So he decided to put his trust in
God again. He said to his friends: Only God can justify me.
Write these words down: carve them in stone
to last forever: I believe that
my Redeemer lives,
and that on the last day,
He will stand on the earth
and I will see Him
with my eyes. But none of this
made sense to Jobs friends. They said, You are talking nonsense. It is very straightforward. God rewards the good
and punishes the bad,
so you must be bad.

If you dont stop talking this