Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? Job 38:1-7 (NRSVA)
Because you have made the LORD your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot. Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation. Psalms 91:9-16 (NRSVA)
Even people who do not know the story of Job have heard of him and his patience. The story so often centers around the first chapter, and how this really good man got a raw deal, while God just looked-on and let the Devil destroy the man and his family. But it is really worth reading the next 36 chapters to watch Job’s friends first attempt to comfort Job...but eventually wind-up missing the mark on the compassion scale. They do more harm than comfort, suggesting that Job was a bad guy, and that’s why bad stuff came his way; but, in reality, Job was a good man in the midst of a really rotten circumstance!
For the first thirty-seven chapters, Job asks the angry question – God, why me? As the 38th chapter begins God finally ends his silence. Job, tell me…when I was mapping out the universe and laying the foundations upon which you now stand…just where were you? God never answered Job’s question the way Job wanted…He simply pointed out that Job didn’t have a clue, and he’d better think twice before parading his goodness in front of his Creator.
After God spoke Job cringed…it works that way! Job had to humble himself and eat a little dust. He apologized to God, and things went better for him afterward.
Now, the reality of trouble and suffering in the human family is not in question here – we all know people who suffer; we have all had our share of suffering. Job even stated the reality that we are born into having trouble as certainly as the sparks fly upward from a fire.[1] The real question we all have is, If God is good, and God is kind…WHY do we suffer? We want to know why God thought it necessary to put us through suffering in this life.
A number of years ago I had pain in my right foot – constant pain. It was the kind of pain that made you wonder if you are descended from Job. The pain was every minute of every day; it was my companion for every step I took in a day. For good measure it throbbed all night.
Extra Strength Tylenol by the truckload didn’t help; Cortisone injections didn’t touch it a bit. Finally the doctor said the “s” word – surgery! I’m not a surgery freak, but by that time I would have allowed him to cut off both arms and do a frontal lobotomy if he said it would help.
The surgery itself was uneventful. My surgeon snipped a nerve or two, shortened a bone here, refashioned a socket there, and I went home to wait for the moment I could walk without pain. Somehow it never turns out the way the textbook pictures it. Three weeks after surgery I took my first step without the cast; the pin holding my toe together decided to relocate to a different neighborhood. The next week I was back on the operating table. This time he used titanium and super-glue! The toe has held together quite well since then.
However, during the recuperation I had to stay off my feet for several weeks, and in that sedentary lounging I managed to allow my blood to clot in all the wrong places. Silly me! When the clots broke apart (like sparks flying upward!!!) they headed directly for my lungs. Now, I’ve never been kicked in the chest by a mule, but if you have, I’d like to compare notes. The pain was incredible. Elizabeth came home from work to take the whimpering preacher to the doctor…again!
The pain had subsided a good bit by the time the doctor examined me. He just told me my pain should be in the foot…after all, that’s where the surgical incision was – not in my chest! It was fortunate for me there was a nurse. She said she thought I’d “thrown a clot”. Well…a quick trip to the hospital for x-rays confirmed the nurse’s diagnosis, and they admitted me on the spot.
The emergency had passed…and (supposedly) if the clot didn’t kill me on the spot, it was simply a matter of staying calm, spending a week in the hospital with an IV of rat poison dripping into your arm so it can break-up the clot. Well, frankly, I don’t “stay calm” when I contemplate receiving a bill from a medical facility for a week’s vacation. However, I managed to stay semi-calm, and agreed to stick around.
Unfortunately Thomasville Medical Center had had its share of emergencies that day and the only bed available in the whole hospital was in Romona-Land! You probably don’t know Romona, but I do. Romona Carver was the nurse-in-charge of Intensive Care at TMC. Romona was also the organist at the church I served as pastor. Before the cold sheets of the hospital bed could rob all the warmth from my body, Romona marched through the doorway like a general in charge, and grabbed the IV needle from the nurse who was preparing to invade my blood supply. “Here – I’ll do that.”
Now, it was really good to see a familiar face at that moment; it was especially good to see Romona. As organist I could look over at her during a worship service and she’d know exactly what song my look called-for. I began to tell her that the IV really ought to go in my left arm because I was going to send Elizabeth to get my computer, and the right arm….” Before I could get another word out, my organist dear, sweet quiet-spirited organist shoved a thermometer into my open mouth and growled… “Preacher, you’re in MY house now, just keep your mouth closed.” She turned into Nurse Ratchet!
Trouble got my attention! It got Job’s attention. I believe that is one of the benefits of trouble and suffering…it gets your attention. There is value in suffering.
But, to tell you the truth there are only two things I can say about your question – why do we suffer?
#1. It is a fair question; it is Job’s question. #2. I don’t know.
There is a lot of stuff offered by preachers, philosophers and skeptics to try to make us believe that somebody on planet earth has understood God. But it is conjecture only! Some say God punishes sin and that’s why we suffer. Now, it is true that God punishes sin, but you cannot explain children being killed by a suicide bomber in Baghdad that way. Some say we must suffer to collect better karma than we had in our last incarnation. Some say we suffer because we have no faith, or God is just that mean. You can choose that if you will, but God never said that.
God didn’t answer Job, even in the face of the oldest test case on record. He didn’t lay out all His reasons for allowing a deranged man to hold 10 Amish children hostage and then start exterminating human life. In the case of Job, God simply informed the man that a mortal could not understand. And therein lies our frustration and the only answer we have – neither can we understand God’s ways. Some suffering is in God’s hands only, and we will not know why until we see him.
So, Preacher, where does that leave us in all our pain and suffering? How can we remain somewhat sane in the face of the brutality of man with men, and natural disasters and children who die or are abused? Who can accept such a thing? The same answers – it’s a fair question, and I don’t know.
So, Preacher, How am I supposed to live with that?
The philosopher said, Preacher, tell me something of your convictions, I have doubts enough of my own. I couldn’t agree more. And so I will leave you the way God left Job…We were not there when God created this universe. We do not understand the most infinitesimal fraction of the depth and breadth of who God is, and what He has done. And if we cannot understand even the basics of the creation in which we live, how can we understand the motives and purposes of the Creator who is greater?
But he has told us Who He is in Jesus Christ. He came and said, Do you want to know the father? Look at me…follow me…love me…commit your life to me. For in me dwells all of what is in the Father; you see me, you know Him. [2]
In trusting Jesus Christ don’t expect all the suffering you’ve ever done, whether self-inflicted and deserved, or undeserved, to vanish. That’s not the point. Jesus is not a self-help vending machine….put in a prayer – out pops a packaged healing for what-ails-you! Rather, it is a matter of the created being “getting-in-step” with the Creator, so that He can direct your path away from sin and bring you close to Him.
Your suffering is just that – your suffering. It has a purpose, and God may or may not reveal that purpose to you in this life. All we can really say about it is that you have a choice to do one of two things:
o You can attempt to figure suffering out; in which case you will wind up in the madness of Job, and at odds with God…
Or
o You can do what Job finally did – submit. You can trust God’s grace and know that He is God.
In choosing to trust God you will not eliminate suffering from your life altogether; it is too much a part of the human condition. However, the Bible says that the end of Job’s days were better than the beginning. Whether that be in this life, or the next, it is not bad to trust the voice out of the whirlwind! I choose His grace; I choose to love Him and cling to Him…tho’ He slay me!
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ENDNOTES
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1] Job 5:7
2] Colossians 2:9
