JOB and Jonah were faithful believers of God who faced serious challenges when they let their own way of thinking interfere with God's will.

Job was an extremely rich man who lived east of the Jordan River. Job had seven sons and three daughters. He had thousands of cattle and was very prosperous. But Job's wealth isn't what makes him important. What he thought about God and the experiences that led him to know God better—these are the things that matter most about Job. For example, Job "feared" God. This means that he respected and loved God very deeply. As a result, Job tried hard to stay away from anything that was evil. Job, as well as all his friends and neighbors, believed that if people were good, they would be prosperous and have good things in life. They also believed that if bad things happened to people, they must have done something wicked.

Very suddenly Job lost everything—his family, his cattle, his home, everything! When three of his friends. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, heard about his suffering, they came to comfort Job. He told them about his grief. With bitter words he cursed the day he was born, and wished he were dead in order to end his misfortune. Instead of comforting him, his friends condemned him for doing wrong. They felt God had punished Job for being evil. Job tried to defend himself, but his friends kept telling him that God was omnipotent and supreme. Men and women, they told him, were insignificant compared to God's grandeur. They also told him that God rewarded good people and punished evil ones.

At first, Job felt confused by what his friends said. He knew he had led an honest life. So he couldn't understand why God would punish him. Job longed to talk with God and to ask Him to answer all his questions.

Then Elihu, another friend, showed up. He said God is incapable of doing any harm or being unfair. he doesn't treat some people well and others poorly, because He created us all.

Finally, God spoke directly to Job, as Job had wanted. He asked Job a lot of questions. The questions showed Job that he didn't know as much about God as he thought he did. And his three friends were wrong about God, too. God showed Job that He is the only power, the only creator, and that He takes care of His creation. Then Job saw that he lacked wisdom and didn't know what God is really like. Job said that before, he had only heard what had been said about God, but now he "sees" God. This is a way of saying that he understands that God's presence is with him.

God told Job to pray for his friends, and he did. After this, Job once again had a family and friends, and a home.

Unlike Job, Jonah didn't want to obey God. God asked him to tell the people of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, that because of their transgressions, their city would be destroyed. But Jonah didn't want to help the Assyrians, because they had invaded Israel and been cruel to the Israelites. In order to escape obeying God, Jonah decided to go far away on a ship headed toward Tarshish.

On the high seas, there was a huge storm that frightened the sailors. According to the custom of the day, they "cast lots" to find out who was to blame for the storm. The lot fell on Jonah. So he told them that if they threw him into the sea, the storm would calm down.

This seemed to be the end for Jonah. But a big fish swallowed him, and he stayed inside the fish three days and three nights. In the fish's belly, Jonah prayed to God. This prayer showed how certain Jonah was that God always protects His children. After three days, the fish vomited out Jonah on dry land. Then, when God once again called on Jonah to go to Nineveh, he was quick to obey. He told the people there that their city would be destroyed in forty days.

Jonah would have loved to see Nineveh destroyed. Instead, he saw all the people, including the king, repent of the bad things they had done. Consequently, the city wasn't destroyed. And Jonah was very angry.

Then Jonah went outside of Nineveh where the sun was very strong and hot. God made a gourd grow near Jonah to give him shade. Jonah was happy about this. Then God made a worm wither the gourd, and Jonah was very upset. Later God helped Jonah understand that, just as he felt sorry for the gourd, God felt great compassion for all His children and all His creatures. Perhaps this helped Jonah learn not to wish evil on anyone, not even on those he might have thought of as enemies.

(You can read more of the story of Job and Jonah in the Bible in the books bearing their names.)