The Bible Companion Book 5 Job

About the Book:

Book: The Bible Companion Book 5 Job

Author: Karen Westbrook Moderow

Genre: Bible Study/ Devotional

Release Date: August 26, 2024

Does God care when you suffer?

The Bible Companion Book 5 helps you face hard questions about pain and evil from a perspective of hope. A simple one-chapter-a-day format lets you engage with Scriptures without the pressure of schedules, homework, or heavy reading loads. Short daily readings and thought-provoking questions connect your story to God’s Word. For personal, group, or homeschool Bible Study.

In the Books of Wisdom (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs), God speaks to us in poetry—the language of the heart. These books reveal a God who is concerned not only about our minds and bodies, but also our emotions. Our journey begins with Job, a man who loses everything. Like us, he fears for himself and his family. What he discovers through his pain surprises him and challenges many of our assumptions about God.

My Thoughts:

I really appreciate the thoughts presented about each chapter. These meditations are simple, but practical, and often offer extra insight into the setting or characters of the Bible. Each one ends with a few questions to ask to help to apply the chapter to my own life. I have not quite finished this volume, but have not found anything yet that I disagree with, so I recommend The Bible Companion as an enhancement to reading the Bible.

In Book 5, the first of the books about God in Poetry, many thoughts are shared about Job and his friends and their discussions. Job has always been a book that I struggled with, and I have really enjoyed reading through this study guide as I read a chapter a day. I feel like I am understanding it much better now.

I received a review copy of this book from the author, and these are my honest thoughts about it. Links may be affiliate links, which will benefit Esther’s website if purchases are made through them.

About the Author:

KAREN WESTBROOK MODEROW is a Bible teacher and author who brings a storyteller’s perspective to Scripture. She holds master’s degrees in theology and creative writing and loves introducing others to Jesus through the stories told in God’s Word.

More from Karen:

Most of us have had a Job-like season in our lives. Mine came in 1996 when my eighteen-year-old son was in a terrible car accident that left him with a permanent traumatic brain injury. Mike was in a coma for four months. His prognosis was grim. We were told he would never walk, talk, or live independently.

Come Christmas, he was still in the hospital. I had no heart for celebration, but I wanted to buy a gift for my husband. He loves art so I stopped by a local gallery. Inside, I saw a bust of a man that I immediately recognized as Job. His face was twisted in pain. Behind the hand clutched to his chest, I saw a hole. Inside was a bleeding heart. I stepped back. Job looked just like I felt. Raw. Exposed. Bleeding. I stared at the sculpture a long time. I wanted to buy it, but couldn’t. I just couldn’t.

I walked out of the shop in tears wondering if I would ever smile again. The next months were spent in rehab with Mike. We renovated our house, brought him home, hired caregivers, and prayed that somehow God would heal Mike’s body and our broken hearts. The Lord comforted us during this time, assuring us He had a plan. He would take care of us and there would be an end to our suffering. Every day brought new challenges, but Mike began to improve. More importantly, our faith took root. The Lord brought people, resources, and hope. Against all odds, Mike learned to walk, talk, feed and dress himself. And against all odds, we found ourselves joyful as we journeyed with our son through each milestone. The story is long and complicated. One I’ve journaled in my book, Back Roads Home, but the point is, God was right. There can be joy, even in sorrow. There is hope, even in the dark. There are things in Mike’s life and ours that remain broken, but God’s presence during that difficult time saw us through. Pain was not the end of our story.

Time passed in roller-coaster fashion. As I rode the highs and lows, I often thought about the Job I saw in the art gallery and wondered how he was faring. Then one year, while looking for an anniversary gift to celebrate our anniversary, Job came to mind. Enough time had gone by that I could now embrace him as a fellow-sufferer and be glad our paths crossed. I called the artist and learned she still had the piece. (Either there isn’t much of a market for art depicting tortured souls or else he was waiting for me.) My husband smiled when I unveiled him. He hugged me and said, “We’ve been through it, haven’t we?” Yes, we have. And we had to wait until we were on the other side to appreciate him. Now when I look at him, I don’t just remember the pain; I remember the gifts of suffering—patience, perseverance, trust, love, hope, and so much more.

As I was going through the book of Job chapter by chapter for The Bible Companion, Job’s sculpture sat not five feet from me. His tortured face and silent tears reminded me that this world is full of sorrow. But the Bible—the book I ran to while in such pain—compels me to carry his story forward. Job-in-clay may be frozen in agony, but Job, the man-who-contended-with-God is not. He comes to trust his all-wise Creator and finds peace. So can we.  At its core, Job is a story of hope. Hope is woven throughout the book that bears his name. As a writer, my desire is to make that thread visible, especially to those who suffer in the dark.

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