Job

“I do not know of anything that members of the Church need more than they need the conviction and perseverance of Job.”¹ —Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

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Job and his family

Detail from Job and His Family by Greg K. Olsen

I was known as a man who feared God and avoided evil.² The Lord blessed me with seven sons and three daughters, and He granted me great material wealth, including “seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred [donkeys], and a very great household.”³

Satan believed that I would cease to be righteous and that I would curse the Lord if I no longer prospered temporally. The Lord allowed Satan to test me but would not allow him to harm me physically. Satan caused my livestock to be stolen or destroyed and sent a strong wind to knock down my house, killing my 10 children inside. Rather than cursing the Lord, I “rent [my] mantle, and shaved [my] head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped” the Lord.⁴

When Satan saw that I would not curse God, he wanted to test me with physical trials. The Lord allowed Satan to do so but would not allow him to take my life. Satan afflicted me with “sore boils from the sole of [my feet] unto [my] crown.”⁵ Still I retained my integrity, refusing to curse the Lord. My friends mourned with me.

My friends told me that my suffering was caused by my own wickedness and that I must repent, but I knew that I was a righteous man.⁶ The Lord later commanded my friends to repent. They were told to make a burnt offering and to have me pray for them.⁷

After seeing my faithfulness, the Lord caused my great suffering to cease, and He blessed me with “twice as much as [I] had before.”⁸ I now had “fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand [donkeys],” as well as seven more sons and three more daughters.⁹ The Lord truly rewarded me richly for my faith and patience.

I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life, both in my afflictions and in my prosperity. I boldly testified: “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”¹⁰