"For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of Summer. Selah. I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah." Psalm 32:4-5)
God can take away everything you hold dear, even the very knowledge of your standing in Him and focus your attention nowhere else but He. This truly is the state of every human save One and should He see the need, He has that prerogative. If we slip and stray into places long forgotten and totally off His map (He knows everywhere, just that there are places we shouldn't be.), He knows just what buttons to press to steer us back to Him. Job talks:
"Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh that I knew where I might find Him! that I might even come even to His seat!" (Job 23:2-3)
The argument could be made that everything Job had prior to his trials was second-rate. Paul tells Titus (1:6) regarding the children of a pastor: "having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly." The same could not be said for Job's kids. His wife, too, with her brilliant solution of "curse God and die." (Job 2:9) would necessarily not be able to go through the discipline of God due to lack of respect and humility. And so Job loses it all and then appeals to the Highest. He demands an audience with the Father and he gets it. I find it amazing how the book of Job begins with a behind-the-scenes look at the heavenlies. God and the devil go round and after that his "friends" have nothing to add of worth. We don't hear again of the devil past the beginning of the second chapter. And then God speaks from Heaven. The answer didn't lie in any of the aforementioned scenes or people or entities. God's will reigns supreme. This is the whole point to the book of Job. And the book God is writing about your life. This might sound ultra-fundamentalist. But this is my experience. The good, the bad, the ugly. God is above all of it. And if we forget that He loves us (He won't take that away from you.), we'll dry up.
"Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law." (Psalm 94:12)
But because of Jesus, we have someone who soaked up all the judgment of God. Now life is all about knowing and loving Him and following Him.
"Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast." (Psalm 36:6, emphasis mine)