Today, we conclude a four-week look at one of the most interesting people in history – the man named Job.
Job is a really good man. God even calls him, “…a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil …”(Job 1:8). He’s so good in fact, that God tells Ezekiel years later: “even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God” (Ezekiel 14:14). So God places Job on par with Noah and Daniel here. But the plot really thickens because despite his goodness, Job suffers. This is where Satan enters into our story, the master of destruction, and he seeks to destroy God. God gives Satan nearly unlimited permission to do destroy everything that is meaningful to Job’s life – only God says, “Don’t touch Job’s life.” Job loses his family, his wealth, and his health in a matter of days. Most hurtful, he loses to his ten children to a wind-storm (Job 1:18-19). Things are so bad that his family deserts him and he sits outside of town on an ash heap, scrapping the sores of his body (Job 2:8). Friends attempt to console him but to no avail. God finally speaks to Job in words we find perplexing but Job finds comforting (Job 38-41). Now, we come to the end of the story where Job’s life turns around.
“After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.’ 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer. 10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. 12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days” (Job 42:7–17).
This feels like a “They lived happily ever after” kind of passage, doesn’t it? The brothers and sisters that deserted him earlier have now returned. Job lives a long life and has more children (the first 10 being in Heaven and now he’s given an additional 10 children). He is blessed to see four generations of his family including the beauty of his daughters. Job has shown everyone that he serves God out of a pure heart. But no matter how happy the ending is, Job still carries the losses of his life with him.
This is a book about people who live right and their lives go wrong. And when such a thing happens, how then should we think about God? Essentially, we wonder, “How does God treat His friends?”
1. Innocent People Can Suffer
Yes, there are truly no innocent people because everyone of us have sinned (Romans 6:32). But when a priest abuses a young person, we all know the young boy did nothing to deserve this kind of treatment. Sometimes evil is purely random and irrational. The active shooter down in Sutherland Springs just a year ago is an excellent example. Amidst the tears, our minds inevitably float to wondering why God didn’t intervene to save us like Superman or Batman would. Why doesn’t God give rewards to the righteous in proportion to their goodness? “Good people should be healthy and wealthy because righteousness pays even in this life,” is the thought. But we soon learn that suffering isn’t doled out in perfect proportion to someone goodness or another person’s evil character. Job helps us when evil is so great that is cannot be explained – what some call irrational evil.
When non-Christians were asked what is their biggest barrier to faith, the number one answer among Americans was the following, “I have a hard time believing a good God would allow so much evil or suffering in the world.” Some 30% Millennials and 29% of Generation Z (born between 1999-2015), identify this as a barrier for their belief. Many think that unjust suffering is the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith in every generation.
Did God Treat Job Fairly?
There is question that has bugged me for a longtime when I study Job, “Was Job Treated Fairly?” This is a natural question for many people, including skeptics. When you read the opening lines of Job’s story and you witness God and Satan seemingly talking about Job, the whole thing strikes you as uncaring. Some of you have told me that you don’t understand what God is doing in the book of Job and you struggle with this. You expect this kind of behavior from Satan but God’s presence frankly troubles many here. I must say in passing that even asking this question is a dangerous one because when we question the very practices of God Himself, we must question God with humility and reverence.
1.1 God Is In Total Control of Totally Everything
God is responsible for the good things in Job’s life as God is responsible for the bad things in Job’s life. Yes, Satan is the instigator of the misery of Job and inflicts the pain and misery upon Job, but Satan works under the permission of God. Satan asks God’s permission to torture Job and Satan respects the limitations God has placed on him when he torments Job. God is in charge of both the good and the bad that enters into our lives: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b). Job tells his wife: “’You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). And it’s important to know that everything in our world is governed by God: “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
God is the creator of all and He is the ruler of all. When we say God is in control of everything, this includes our suffering. While God is over both good and evil, the Bible teaches us that we are to praise Him for the good but we cannot blame Him for evil. God is ruler over all but we cannot blame Him for evil. God rules over Job’s life and your life, but He uses the evil intentions and actions of wicked people for good purposes. He even guides or uses natural evil and irrational evil.
Let’s slow it down to catch the full impact of all Job is teaching us here. Who is responsible and who is in control of all this suffering and pain in Job’s life. Job’s pain was because of marauding tribes, the Sabeans and the Chaldeans. These men were responsible for their actions. Plus, his pain was because of natural disasters such as fire and windstorms. This doesn’t preclude science that we witness with the weather report on the evening news or in our phone apps. But soon, we move from the “seen” to the “unseen” where we witness Satan’s evil handiwork was all over this. Yes, humans were responsible for murdering Job’s children but behind them stands Satan. And behind Satan stands God Himself.
Now, this really bothers us. We are bothered by God and Satan’s conversation because Job suffers so greatly. His ten children die not to mention livestock. What if God and Satan had a conversation about you or me like this? I’ve thought many times when reading the first chapter of the book of Job, “God, please don’t bring my name up if you speak to Satan?” We are left to wonder, does God not care about us? Are we just players on a field that He bets on us like someone would carelessly do in Vegas?
God does care about us and we are infinitely more confident of this than even Job was. Why? Because of the cross of Jesus: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:31–32)? We must continually keep the cross of Jesus Christ on the forefront of our minds. We know more about God’s love than Job could have because of Jesus Christ. God always gives His children more than we deserve.
1. Innocent People Can Suffer
2. How Should I Act?
Essentially, we want to know What Did Job Do Wrong? and What Did Job Do Right?
2.1 Candidly Complain to God
Most of us will begin praying for healing or relief from pain when hurt comes our way. But after some time, your prayers turn to frustration. Part of you wonders, “Am I praying correctly?” Another part of you wonders, “Or should I pray at all anymore?”
2.1.1 Venting Is Permitted
When you lose all hope and you think all of life is futile, you can tell God your feelings. Venting your frustrations with God is permitted. Venting is the somewhat equivalent to what is called a lament inside the Bible’s pages.
Listen to a modern paraphrase of Job’s complaint: “Why do the wicked have it so good, live to a ripe old age and get rich? They get to see their children succeed, get to watch and enjoy their grandchildren. Their homes are peaceful and free from fear; they never experience God’s disciplining rod. … They send their children out to play and watch them frolic like spring lambs. They make music with fiddles and flutes, have good times singing and dancing. They have a long life on easy street, and die painlessly in their sleep. They say to God, ‘Get lost! We’ve no interest in you or your ways. Why should we have dealings with God Almighty? What’s there in it for us?’ But they’re wrong, dead wrong—they’re not gods. It’s beyond me how they can carry on like this! ‘Still, how often does it happen that the wicked fail, or disaster strikes, or they get their just deserts? How often are they blown away by bad luck? Not very often. You might say, ‘God is saving up the punishment for their children.’ I say, ‘Give it to them right now so they’ll know what they’ve done!’ They deserve to experience the effects of their evil, feel the full force of God’s wrath firsthand. What do they care what happens to their families after they’re safely tucked away in the grave?” This was a paraphrase of Job 21 from Eugene Peterson’s The Message.
The mother of an autistic child, repeats the same instructions for 1,000 times and you scream at God in frustration – “Why couldn’t you have given my child a healthy mind?” The victim of sexual abuse that struggles with intimacy their entire lives, cries out, “God, why did you permit my family to treat me this way?” Such a thing as Job is doing is a rare thing and it’s not the common reaction of a genuine believer to every piece of hurt that comes our way. On rare times, we vent our frustrations with God and to God and this is generally done in private or in the company of trusted Christian friends. This is our emotional reaction for a world we cannot fully understand. This isn’t armchair quarterbacking but wheelchair quarterbacking. There are plenty of people arrogantly blaming God for everything in our day. But those who don’t armchair quarterbacking but instead have experience real, genuine hurt and pain in their lives – wheelchair quarterbacking – God is so gracious and kind that He listens to our venting.
2.1.2 Venting Has its Boundaries
Job teaches us that there is a place for venting our feelings and there is right way to do it. Now, Job makes a lot of believers uneasy with all of his complaining to God. Certainly you can go to far. Job’s wife did: “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). So there are boundaries for even our feelings of frustration. Yet, it is good and right to be candid with for He knows our thoughts before we even speak a word. His complaints are filled with pleas for mercy from God.
But you might say, “I thought complaining to God is a sin?” It’s important to understand God’s response to Job so we can best see what Job did right and what Job did wrong. Repeatedly, God tells us Job’s sins did not cause his suffering. Job is a sinner but he isn’t innocent for no one is innocent. Yet, Job’s sin were not the trigger for this unusual amount of suffering, he experienced. Job stands in for us when we see a beautiful family swept away by a California mudslides or an Oklahoma tornado. Job is in your Bible to help you grapple with the child in distant Africa that starves simply because he was born into a drought.
At the end of the book we learn that God reprimands Job because Job “threw God under the bus” in order to justify himself. At times, Job arrogantly questions the justice of God while he is grappling with his suffering. We are in no position to demand God to explain to us why everything works the way it does. When God speaks to Job, we see it isn’t explanations we need as much as trusting God. You and I can complain, even bitterly complain, when innocent people suffer, but we go to far when we snap our fingers and demand that God give us an explanation. God is more interested in your worship and trust than you understanding the intricate mechanics of how the universe works. Venting is permitted but it has its boundaries and you may need help figuring out where you are during your most challenging times in life.
Candidly Complain to God
2.2 Go to God with Your Problem
Stopping your prayer life because of hard times isn’t a solution. Believing God exists is not the same as trust the God who exists. A fake faith where you believe in God but you don’t trust God. And one of the key indicators (not the only indicator) is when you continue to pray during times of senseless, chaotic evil.
“Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11).
Genuine faith learns to trust God even for the challenging things He sends into our lives. If you base your faith on experiencing the good life, your faith in God hangs on the brink of extinction. When your faith is centered on God keeping you from disaster, and your faith is soon to be shattered. I didn’t say you welcome hurt & pain but you accept such things all the while trusting in His love & wisdom. A genuine faith in God learns to trust God even for the challenging things He sends into our lives.
“Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble” (Psalm 10:1)?
“I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy” (Psalm 42:9)?
Job is content for he walks by faith, not by sight. Job does not say in the end, “Now I see it all.” He never sees it all. He only sees the face God and that’s enough.
More than a century ago, Dorothy Greenwell wrote these words that have been popularized in recent days:
I am not skilled to understand
What God hath willed, what God hath planned;
I only know at His right hand
Stands One who is my Savior.
I take Him at His word indeed:
“Christ died for sinners”—this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!
