MEETING GUIDE 1: JOB, GOD AND THE DEVIL
SCRIPT (Based on Job 1:6-12):
Narrator: One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan, who was the designated accuser, came along with them. God singled out Satan and said…
God: What have you been up to?
Satan: Going here and there, checking things out on Earth.
God: Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him: honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil.
Satan: So do you think Job does all that out of the sheer goodness of his heart? Why, no one ever had it so good! You pamper him like a pet, make sure nothing bad ever happens to him or his family or his possessions, bless everything he does — he can’t lose! But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away everything that is his? He’d curse you right to your face, that’s what.
God: We’ll see. Go ahead, do what you want with all that is his. Just don’t hurt him.
Narrator: Then Satan left the presence of God.
MEETING GUIDE 2: JOB AND SUFFERING
SCRIPT (Based on Job 1:13-2:13)
NARRATOR: One day when the angels came to report to God, Satan also showed up. God singled out Satan, saying…
GOD: What have you been up to?
SATAN: Oh, you know, going here and there, checking things out.
GOD: Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him, is there: honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil? He still has a firm grip on his integrity! You tried to trick me into destroying him, but it didn’t work.
SATAN: A human would do anything to save his life. But what do you think would happen if you reached down and took away his health? He’d curse you to your face, that’s what.
GOD: All right. Go ahead, you can do what you like with him. But don’t kill him.
NARRATOR: Satan left God and struck Job with terrible sores. Job had ulcers and scabs from head to foot. They itched and oozed so badly that he took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself, then went and sat on a trash heap, among the ashes.
JOB’S WIFE: Still holding on to your precious integrity, are you? Curse God and be done with it!
JOB: You’re talking like an empty-headed fool. We take the good days from God, why not also the bad days?
NARRATOR: Not once through all this did Job sin. He said nothing against God.
Stephen Fry on suffering:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo
