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At some point, every thinking person is faced with this question: If God is the Sovereign Creator, who loves his creation and desires what is good for it, why is there so much suffering in the world? Are certain things beyond his control? Or does God for reasons known only to him, permit suffering?
We all go through challenges and suffering at one time or other in life. It’s one thing to experience a sudden tragedy—like the loss of a loved one or the discovery of some dreaded disease in your body. It’s quite another thing to experience the relentless misery of that loss and that experience week in week out, month in and month out or even years afterward.
I have seen people who have lost their loved ones, have taken the blow so well, but later to crumble under circumstances in pain, tears, and grief.
Soldiers have been known to get a leg blown off by a land mine and run on the raw stump back to safety, but then cry like a baby at the pain of surgery and healing.
What To Do When Misery Drags On for Months?
It is one thing to bear a sudden tragedy. It is quite another to suffer its pain for weeks and months and even years afterward.
So how do you deal with prolonged suffering in your life? That is why the book of Job is so relevant for us even today.
In one afternoon Job had lost his ten children and all his wealth. Shortly afterward he was afflicted with a horrible skin disease. Job went and sat in ash piles. In both these tragedies he kept his faith and revered the sovereign hand of God. Job conquered at that moment.
Job 1:21 “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
Job 2:10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
He affirmed the absoluteness of God’s control over all things, and he bowed in submission to these heavy blows.
But Job’s faith and reverence were not rewarded by a quick healing of his disease. God did not turn around his condition immediately. He had to face misery for months.
Turn with me to Job 7. Job 7:2-3 2Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired laborer waiting to be paid, 3so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.
Job’s Misery Had Dragged On For Months.
So the question now arises: Why? Had not Job shown that God was his most precious treasure, even more precious than health? God’s honor had been upheld. Why does not God now restore the fortunes of Job? Why not now skip to chapter 42 where the good ending comes? What is going on from chapters 3 to 41. He won the battle in Job 1 and 2.
The answer is that Job and we have much to learn about suffering and about God. There are those in the world who are enduring suffering month after month. We have an answer here as to why sufferings sometimes prolong looking at Job’s situation.
When Job was suffering from his loss and disease, his three friends came over to share his grief.
Job 2:11-13 11When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. 12When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. 13Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
Three Cycles Of Conversation
For the next 29 chapters, we have the conversation from Job’s three friends as to what they have to say about his suffering and the responses of Job. They are giving counsel to Job. There are three cycles in the conversation. Three times Job’s friends speak, and three times Job respond.
But today our question is: what does the author of this book want us to learn from the speeches of Job’s three friends and from Job’s responses to them as he endures month after month of misery?
The First Cycle Prompted by Job’s Outburst
The thing that prompts Job’s friends to make their speeches is Job’s outburst in chapter 3.
Job 3:1-4 1After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2He said: 3“May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’ 4That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it.
That is a different sound and statement from Job after his victory statements in chapter 1 and Weeks turned to months in suffering. Job did not get any better. Prayer after prayer after prayer goes unanswered. Now Job rebels.
Job 3:11-12 11“Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb? 12Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
Job 3:20-21 “Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, to those who long for death that does not come.”
Job cannot see any reason now for why he should have been given life if there is going to be so much extended misery.
And so he protests that the day of his birth should never have been. And of course this is a protest against God. When the three friends of Job heard this protest, they can’t stay silent any longer.
So Eliphaz speaks in chapters 4–5 and sets the course for Bildad and Zophar as well. He spells out a principle that runs through all the speeches of the three friends. Eliphaz spells out a so called what he felt “godly principle of justice” which he applies to Job’s situation.
Eliphaz Breaks In
Job 4:7-8 7“Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? 8As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
Eliphaz’s Theological Principle: Trouble comes to those who sin, but the innocent do not perish. Suffering is the result of sin and wickedness, and prosperity is the result of righteousness.
Now Eliphaz in his first speech is the most gentle of all. He is a friend and had come a long away to the ash pile to comfort Job. Also, he did sit with Job seven days in silence commiserating (feeling sympathy) with his friend. Eliphaz also softens his principle by saying all men are sinners.
Job 4:17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
This should make Job feel good. Eliphaz also admits in Job 5:17 that some suffering is the loving chastening of God.
Job 5:17 Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
Eliphaz’s Three Theological Statements Which Are Partially True:
Suffering Is The Result Of Sin And Wickedness.
Prosperity Is The Result Of Righteousness.
Brief Suffering Would Be The Chastening Of The Almighty And Not Punishment Of Sin.
If you look at certain verses in the Bible, this supposition is true. But this is not the whole counsel of the word of God regarding suffering. This cannot be related to Job’s situation.
The Insensitive and Superficial Application of Eliphaz’s Theology
So, Eliphaz mildly rebukes Job in Job 4:5–6 for being impatient and dismayed.
Job 4:5-6 5But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. 6Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?
This was an unnecessary rebuke to a righteous man in agony. That is the insensitive part of Eliphaz. Then he hints that Job has not really sought God the way he should. He says Job 5:8 But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.
As though Job needs to learn from Eliphaz that the way to get rid of suffering is to commit your way to God. Eliphaz implies that Job would be delivered if only he would commit his way to God.
Job 5:18-19 18For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal. 19From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will touch you.
Eliphaz knows some truth but now the whole counsel. It is too simple to say, “Just commit it to the Lord and your fortunes will be restored.”
Job Protests His Innocence
Job knows Eliphaz’s counsel is too simple because it doesn’t answer the hard questions of life. It doesn’t answer why some suffer in an extraordinary way even though they have not sinned in an extraordinary way, but in fact may be godly and upright people. It doesn’t answer why some prosper in an extraordinary way even though they are extraordinary sinners. So Job protests his innocence in 6:10
Job 6:10 I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
Job rebukes Eliphaz in Job 6:24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.
In other words Eliphaz’s simple principle of suffering coming from wickedness does not answer Job’s situation. Job cannot see how Eliphaz’ simple principle of justice answers his own case.
Now comes the next friend. When Bildad sees the response of Job, he cannot be silent.
Bildad’s Harsh Response and Admonition
Bildad responds in chapter 8, much less gently than Eliphaz. He vigorously insists on Eliphaz’ principle of justice, even for Job’s children.
Job 8:3-4 3Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? 4When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the power of their transgression. Your children were guilty of some unknown sin, Job, that’s why they were crushed in their house.
And the same goes for Job 8:11–13 11Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? 12While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. 13Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.
The problem must be that Job is not pure and his children are not pure.
So Bildad admonishes Job in 8:6–7 6if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state. 7Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.
Job Doesn’t Surrender
In the scripture… Job 9:22-24 22It is all the same; that is why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ 23When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. 24When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?
Job never surrenders his belief in the sovereignty of God, but he knows it’s too simple to say that things go better on this earth for all the righteous.
Job insists that he is not guilty as charged. He is righteous. Job then prays: Job 10:6-7 6that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin— 7though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand?
Zophar’s Response and Admonition
Now Zophar has been sitting there listening to this. In Job 11, he rebukes Job for claiming to be innocent and he tells him to put away his sin so that God might restore him.
Job 11:4-6 4You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.’ 5Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you 6and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin.
Job 11:14-15 14if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, 15then, free of fault, you will lift up your face; you will stand firm and without fear.
So according to Zophar, Job is suffering because he has iniquity, sin, and evil in his tent.
So according to his friends, Job is suffering because he refuses to put iniquity far from him.
Job’s Sarcastic Response
Job responds in chapters 12–14 with sarcasm. Everybody knows these moral commonplaces.
Job 12:3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?
Job 13:12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.
Job 13:4 You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!
Job 13:3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.
He longs to argue his case with God because he knows God is just and he is convinced he is innocent. That is the end of the first cycle of speeches.
The Following Cycles of Conversation
The next two cycles of conversations do not reveal any new arguments, but they show the three friends becoming more harsh and bitter towards Job and less credible. In the face of Job’s integrity and realism they are defeated.
Again and again the three friends insist that suffering follows wickedness.
Eliphaz: Job 15:20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless man through all the years stored up for him.
Bildad: Job 18:5 “The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning.
Zophar: Job 20:5 that the mirth of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.
The Impotence of the Theology of Job’s Friends
If you turn with me to Job 22, we have the last speech of Eliphaz.
Now, Eliphaz attacks Job brutally.
Job 22:4-11 4“Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you? 5Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless? 6You demanded security from your relatives for no reason; you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked. 7You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry, 8though you were a powerful man, owning land— an honored man, living on it. 9And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless. 10That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you, 11why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.
Eliphaz’s theology is all over the place and incapable of handling the realities of life.
Eliphaz is trying to justify the sufferings of Job with his little knowledge of God, at a man who is full of integrity.
In Job 25 Bildad makes his last speech. But all of this is so preposterous that when Bildad makes his last speech in chapter 25, he can only manage six little verses about the general sinfulness of man.
And when it is finally Zophar’s turn to round out the third cycle, silence. He has nothing to say at all.
And the symmetry of the book is broken because the theology of Job’s friends cannot sustain itself to the end. They cannot complete their cycle of speeches. Their simple principle of justice has not been able to stand.
Job is a good man. Yet he suffers far worse than many wicked people.
The correlation of wickedness and suffering in this world simply does not hold.
That is the main point of these dialogues. There is no correlation between prosperity and righteousness in this world.
A Change in Job’s Talk About Dying
Something happens to Job through this long conversation with his three friends. He begins in chapter 3 in utter dismay and he is angry against God. Also, he is rebelling against the day of his birth. He cries out against the wisdom of God in giving him birth. The duration of his disease had almost defeated the initial stand of faith that he took at the first (1:22; 2:10). But little by little you can watch his faith regaining its strength as he fights against the superficial theology of his friends. His faith finally breaks out into victory in chapter 19.
Just see through Job’s speeches and see how he is coming out of his situation.
In every speech up till then, Job had expressed the conviction that he would certainly die and go to Sheol in misery. Sheol is the place of the dead. He longs for it.
Here Job is responding to Eliphaz: Job 7:9-10 9As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return. 10He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.
There is not much hope in Job’s first speech. His second speech does not advance in his faith much further.
Here Job is responding to Bildad. Job 10:20-22 20Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy 21before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness, 22to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
But in the next speech, his response slowly changes.
Here Job is responding to Zophar about his death.
Here Job asks a question.
Job 14:7-14 7“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. 8Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, 9yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. 10But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. 11As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, 12so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep. 13“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! 14If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewalto come.
But there is a gradual change in the way he talks about dying.
Job 17:13-16 13If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness, 14if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’ 15where then is my hope—who can see any hope for me? 16Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”
You can see something happening. As Job relentlessly batters back the attack from his friends who are supposedly his consolers.
He shows their theology to be inadequate, something deep down is gaining strength within Job. Something is clarifying itself, something is wining within. It happens in our life also. With a little mustard seed of faith when we hold fast to our faith, suddenly a new insight in faith emerges.
When we get to chapter 19, there is faith that explodes out of the ground of unbelief. In chapter 19, Job reaches an answer.
Job 19:25-27 25I know that my redeemerlives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Job is finally sure that beyond the grave, even if he dies he will meet God as a Redeemer and not an angry Judge which his friends continually tell him.
He will be redeemed from all his misery—even if it will only be after death. There will be life and light not just death and darkness.
This confidence however does not answer all Job’s questions or solve all his theological problems. He still is utterly perplexed as to why he should have to suffer as he does and Job talks about it right until chapter 31. His suffering goes right on.
However, Job Silences His Friends
But Job’s confidence of new life after death does enable him to hold fast to three of his cherished convictions, namely:
The Sovereign Power Of God.
The Goodness And Justice Of God.
The Faithfulness Of Job.
God is God, God is powerful and Job has not abandoned his God. With those convictions he holds out against the simplistic doctrine of justice in the mouths of his three friends. He finally puts them to silence.
And we are left with the voice of Job (chapters 26–31) magnifying the wisdom of God:
Job 26:14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works; how faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”
Job is magnifying the unsearchable wisdom of God in his trials.
Job 28:12-15 12But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell? 13 No mortal comprehends its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living. 14The deep says, “It is not in me”; the sea says, “It is not with me.” 15It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
Job 28:22-24 22 Destruction and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.” 23God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells, 24for he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
Job 28:28 And he said to the human race, “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.”
Through it all Job is affirming his own integrity:
Job 27:6 I will maintain my innocence and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.
Job could counter the allegations and false theology of his friends and he finally found wisdom in the presence of God in his trials. He says he will believe in God and he will still maintain his integrity.
Now what lessons can we summarize from this lengthy passage of Scripture?
Five Lessons From Job’s Friends
1. Little Theology Can Be Harmful.
If you take most of the statements of Job’s friends separately, they sound like good theology. But their application is shallow and insensitive. It is wrongly applied to the situation of Job.
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.” Poet Alexander Pope,” Essay on Criticism.”
Proverbs 26:9 Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
A proverb in the mouth of a fool can kill a man just like Job’s friends using their little theology and applying it to Job’s situation.
That is why we at City Harvest emphasize on true, solid, deep theology. But let us be warned: You can kill people with false or little theology. If you listen to sermons with little theology, it can destroy your spiritual life. Drink deep at the fountain of God’s truth. Be like the Berean Christians.
2. Suffering And Prosperity Are Not Distributed In The World In Proportion To The Evil Or Good That A Person Does.
Here, Job is right:
In the Book of Job 21:30 that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity, that they are delivered from the day of wrath?
Again the scriptures say, Job 12:4 I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered—a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
Therefore, let us not judge one another before the time. Those who suffer most may be the best among us. And those who prosper the most may be the worst among us.
3. God Still Reigns Over All The Affairs Of Men, From The Greatest To The Smallest.
Today people question God for the evil that is happening in the world. It is amazing that the most common means used by people today to solve the mystery of suffering never occurred to Job or to his three friends. They never limited God’s sovereign control over all things.
In this book of Job, you will not find one sentence out of the mouth of God or out of the mouth of Job or out of the mouth of Job’s friends or Job’s wife that God is not in control over man’s life and the universe at large.
Today, people limit God at the drop of a hat (he couldn’t have willed that sickness, or that explosion, or the death of that child!). So he must not be in control. He is a limited God. We live in a man-centered age and blame God for everything. We say God would not allow this pandemic. God would not allow the death of this child, therefore, God is out of control. This is not true.
But Job and his friends have this great common ground: God reigns.
They never thought of the possibility that God is not in control.
Job 12:13 To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
God Still Reigns Over All The Affairs Of Men, From The Greatest To The Smallest.
4. There Is Wisdom Behind The Apparent Happenings Of The World, But It Is Hidden From Man.
Remember, there is God’s wisdom behind everything that happens to our life. There is God’s wisdom behind every event that happen in the world today. But most of the time the wisdom is hidden from us.
Job 28:12-15 12But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell? 13 No mortal comprehends its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living. 14The deep says, “It is not in me”; the sea says, “It is not with me.” 15It cannot be bought with the finest gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
Job 28:23 God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells,
Even in the NT, we can only seek God’s wisdom through a dark glass.
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
So let us be slow to judge God as inadequate or cruel or not having power to solve the world’s problems. It may appear chaotic, it may appear arbitrary (judgmental). But faith in God always affirms that no matter how chaotic and absurd things may seem to our limited view, they are in fact the works of infinite wisdom of God.
In the face of God’s sovereignty, the only appropriate response is to submit in trust, quietly confident in God’s love (Job 42:1-6). I can trust God, a God of mercy and grace, who is sovereign and will work out his purpose for me and through me.
5. Let Us Hold Fast To God In Pleasure And Pain.
God is the only constant. God is unchanging. We do not know many things from this side of the world. Only eternity will tell us why things happen the way they happen. Therefore, let us hold fast to God in pleasure and pain.
Most of the time we cannot understand God’s wisdom like Job.
Job is not alone in feeling this way. Prophet Jeremiah felt like this: ‘Why do the wicked prosper?’ (Jeremiah 12:1-4; 20:7-18). Then there are laments in the book of Psalm, they begin in despair but end in delight in the Lord.
There is no situation that cannot be brought to God for clarification and resolution. It is true that sometimes the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper.
Sometimes we go through prolonged suffering. Jesus suffered, the apostles suffered, and we as his children can also go through suffering.
Down through the centuries, the disciples of the Lord Jesus have been called upon to suffer for their faith, just as Jesus predicted in Mark 8:34-37. Apostle Paul suffered and through his suffering, God was dealing with him (2 Corinthians 12:9) and God was working through him to bring blessings to others (2 Corinthians 4:11-12). So suffering has a higher purpose but does not mistake it for achieving salvation.
Apostle Peter seeks to comfort and encourage Christians who are suffering for their faith in 1 Peter.
1 Peter 2:21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
Again the book of 1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good
The scripture reads, 1 Peter 3:15-16 15But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
Perhaps a final word has to be said based on Paul’s teaching on suffering in Romans 8:18-30. Paul says that the disobedience of Adam and Eve and its consequences have subjected all creation to futility. However, he adds that it was subjected in hope.
We hope to share the glory of God himself.
Romans 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Now until Him who is able to keep you from falling and to keep you in the hour of trial and suffering, be glory and majesty and dominion and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.
Find the first sermon in the BOOK OF JOB series below!
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