Anytime Job is mentioned, patience is always the theme. However, as I read the Book of Job, it was not his patience that carried him through his trials; it was his faith.

At a cursory glance, one might think it cruel that God would allow Satan to put Job through such a terrible ordeal. In one blow, Job lost his wealth, his children, and his health. It would be enough to break any man, except Job. The wounds of the heart are more painful than physical injury. "For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groaning pour out like water. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes." (Job 3:24-26)

When troubles seem to overwhelm us, we often wish the Lord would just take us home to escape the tribulations of life. We wonder why we were ever born. Job, too, had the same longings. "Why did I not die at birth? … For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest." (Job 3:11, 13) While his friends gathered around him to ‘comfort’ him, they only accused him of committing a sin against God for such tragedy to befall him. But Job knew in his heart that he had not sinned nor did he blame God. He knew that life is full of troubles. "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble." (Job 14:1) But Job did question God, just as we do when life forces us to our knees. "Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself?" (Job 7:20)

Yet, through it all, Job held on to his faith. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." (Job 13:15) He also knew that justice would prevail; "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth." (Job 19:25)

Each of us are going through some kind of storm right now. Life is a continuous trial. When the storms threaten to overwhelm us, we do not need to have the ‘patience of Job’ … we need to have the faith of Job.