Out of all of the people in the Bible (not including Jesus), Job is my favorite. If you don’t know the story of Job, He was a great man of God with and even greater story. Job had everything he could ever want. He had several children, a house, plenty of cattle and good health. Satan wanted to tempt Job.

Satan told God the only reason Job was so committed to him was because of the blessings he had given him. He went to on tell God that if you took them away, Job would hate you and completely shut you out of his life. God allowed Satan to tempt Job as long as he didn’t kill him.

Everything that Job once had was lost. His family was killed, all of his cattle were gone, and his home was destroyed. Job even had boils all over him that caused bad pain. After all, this had happened Job bowed down to the ground and said, "I was naked when I was born, and I will be naked when I die. The Lord gives me these things and He has taken them away. Praise the name of the Lord."

I have to admit I wouldn’t have handled this situation as Job did. I don’t know what I would do without my family. I would have probably questioned God and grew angry at Him. That’s what a lot of us would do, but Job just praised Him.

Because of Job's faithfulness in the Lord, he was able to experience joy in the midst of sorrow. Job's own wife even began to question him and ask why he was so grateful to God when He had taken everything away from their family. But Job answered, "You are talking foolish. Should we only take good things from God and not trouble?"

Although things we go through might not be as severe as Job's, we have a choice to choose the way we respond. You may think, "what do I have to be joyful about in a time like this?" How about God loves you so much He sent His only son to die for you so you could spend eternity with Him in heaven. If that’s not something to be joyful about then you may not truly understand the feeling that is the joy of Jesus.