Job

While on an LDS mission, my companion and I read the entire book of Job over a few morning study sessions. Up to that point , I didn't really know the story of Job. Since then, his story has stuck with me. Then this past Sunday, my wife and I taught our Primary class of 9 year-olds about Job.

Job was quite wealthy. He had "seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses." Even in today's industrial standards, that's a lot of livestock! And he had the servants to take care of all those animals and his household. That's quite an operation. Clearly, Job was a blessed man. Not only that, he was faithful to the Lord.

 

In the first few chapters of the book, God and Satan have an interesting discussion about Job. Satan claims that Job is faithful only because of his prosperity. So God allows Satan to try Job. Everything is taken away from Job, even his seven sons and three daughters die. And yet, Job remains faithful. Then Job gets boils which are an infection of hair follicles "resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue." (http://en.wikipedia.org/Boils).  That sounds painful.  And Job had them all over his body!  And yet, Job remains faithful to the Lord.  Then his friends turn on him and tell him is afflictions are his fault.  With nobody to support him, with nothing to his name, Job still remains faithful to the Lord.

Continuing the lesson, I shared Joseph Smith's experience in Liberty Jail. He was feeling depressed and alone. This was his answer:

 7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.

 9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

 10 Thou art not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither charge thee with transgression, as they did Job. (Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-10)

As I read those scriptures to the class, I choked up and had trouble keeping my composure.  I testify that God is always with us.  He is very aware of our struggles and of the storms in our lives.  No matter how difficult gender dysphoria gets, I know it's nowhere near what Job experienced.  It's nowhere near what our Savior experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane as he took upon himself the sins and sorrows of the entire world.  As the perfect example of empathy, He knows exactly how I feel when the GD is flaring, because He felt it.  I know God lives and that Christ is our Savior.  If we but stay faithful as Job, we will be blessed beyond measure; if not in this life then in the next.