One the most puzzling facts about our world is the fact of human suffering and how unfairly it seems to be experienced at times; the fact that good people sometimes seem to suffer more than bad people. It shakes the faith of more people than perhaps any other reality that we observe or experience.
I remember sitting in a high school chemistry class, and we had a little free time at the end of class and I somehow got into a conversation with a friend about the existence of God. He told me about an uncle of his who, he said, was one of the best men he ever knew. Yet when he was in his 20s he was diagnosed with some kind of cancer, and he suffered terribly and fought it for about 10 years, until finally he died in his 30s. And he said, “You see, there is no God like you believe in. If there was, He wouldn’t have let my uncle suffer so much and die so early in his life.” How could there possibly be a God who knows everything and has the power to do anything and is good and loving, if that kind of thing happens in the world?
Several years ago my wife and I bought a puppy from a young lady who actually grew up attending the Kalispell Church of Christ. I was able to ask her about her faith and why she was no longer coming to church. She said her dad, who was a Christian, of middle-age, was afflicted with cancer, and she and her family and many others prayed and prayed for his recovery, but he died. And she said at first she was very angry at God for taking her dad, then her anger turned into disbelief that there’s an almighty God who really hears our prayers and cares for us. She said she believes there is some higher power, but not the God we believe in, not the God of the Bible. How could He be almighty and all-knowing and good and allow unfair suffering?
Well, the Bible gives us an entire book, 42 chapters, on that very conundrum of unfair human suffering, the book of Job. It tells us a true story about God’s dealings with the man Job, who lived it appears around the time of the later part of Genesis. Some indications of that early date for Job is that one of his friends is a descendant of Esau. But there’s no reference in the book to God freeing the Israelites from Egypt or to His covenant with them or to the Law of Moses. It appears Job lived before the story of Exodus. And the length of Job’s life suggests that he was living way back toward the Genesis time when people were living longer.
The story begins with…
A brief description of Job (1:1-5)
It gives us 4 descriptions of his character.
It says first he was blameless, which means you couldn’t fault in him for how he was living his life. He wasn’t continuing in any sin that he knew of. If he sinned and knew it, he’d own it and repent and do what he could to make it right.
Second it says he was upright, which means that in every situation he sought to do not necessarily what was easy or convenient or popular, but whatever was the right thing to do.
Third it says he feared God. The worst thing that could happen in Job’s mind would be to rebel against God and lose His favor. He knew his wellbeing depended on his obedience to God.
And the fourth description is that he would turn away from evil. It’s not that he didn’t have opportunity to do evil. A man in his circumstances would certainly have opportunities for evil. But he chose to have nothing to do with evil in any of its forms. So if there was any man God delighted in on earth it was this man Job.
Then it describes how God was blessing him, He was blessed with 10 children, 7 sons and 3 daughters, who apparently were very close and enjoyed each other. We read how each of the sons would take turns hosting the other siblings at his house for dinner. And we read a bit about Job’s love for his kids. On a regular basis even if he didn’t know of any particular sin his children had done, he would offer sacrifices for sin on their behalf just in case they’d sinned secretly in their hearts. Job was like the father today who prays everyday for his kids and talks with them about God often and does all he can for them spiritually.
He was blessed also with immense prosperity. He possessed 7,000 sheep. Can you imagine a flock of 7,000 sheep? I suspect Job was one of the top wool suppliers in his area. And he had 3,000 ancient near east SUVs, called camels. He was probably like the owner of the car dealership and rental company. He had 500 more compact vehicles, called female donkeys. And 500 ancient near tractors, called oxen. He must have had thousands of acres of land to sustain all this livestock. He had a huge staff to run his operations. It says he had very many servants, and of all the people of the east Job was the greatest. He was a famous man of the ancient world.
So far it all makes sense, all seems fair. Job is extremely blessed because he is more righteous than about anybody else. That seems to us to be how it should be.
That sets the stage for the story. There are 2 plots in the book of Job, skillfully joined together. There’s a heavenly plot and there’s an earthly plot. Both consist of debates, one that goes on in heaven and one that goes on on earth. First comes the heavenly plot and…
The debate that takes place in heaven
It’s fascinating, because for a moment the curtain that veils the heavenly realm is pulled back and we are allowed a glimpse into something that happened in the unseen realm.
What we see is God holding a council meeting in heaven with the sons of God, that is the angels to whom He delegated authority over the nations of men. They were like the governors of the world. They were having a meeting. And here comes into the meeting this being who has been going to and fro all over the earth doing whatever he does. He’s called satan, which is a word that means accuser or slanderer. That title makes it appear that this being does not like people on earth. He would accuse and slander them as he’s about to do with Job. It appears he would like to convince God that people on earth are worthless and corrupt, God shouldn’t put up with them anymore.
Well, like a father proud of his boy, God asks satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
satan says, “God, you don’t think Job serves You for nothing, do You? Surely You know He only serves You because of what’s in it for himself, because of how richly You bless him and the hedge of protection You put around him and his family and all that he has. He doesn’t serve You for Your sake. He’s driven by self-interest. He’s a bought man, God. You take away what You’ve blessed him with and he’ll turn on You. He’ll curse You to Your face. I guarantee You.”
Now, God knew Job’s heart, didn’t He? Don’t the Scriptures say He searches the hearts of men, He knows our innermost thoughts, He knows our motives? I think God knew Job’s heart. But apparently God wanted to prove satan wrong and remove all doubt from everyone about the integrity of his servant. It seems God wanted to show all of heaven that His servant Job is the real deal. And so God allows satan to put Job to the test. He tells satan that he can do what he wants with all that Job has, just don’t touch Job himself.
You know, this wasn’t the only time this kind of thing has happened. I think it has happened many many times with God’s faithful ones on earth. A conversation like this between satan and God happened in regard to Jesus’ twelve disciples and Jesus knew about it. The Lord told them at the last supper table, “satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). Sifting wheat was a way to separate the wheat from the chaff. satan demanded permission to put the disciples to the test, hoping to show that none of them are wheat. They are all chaff and should be burned up, like he wanted to do with Job.
Some of you have been through some very difficult and painful trials in your lives. Could it be that it was a test to prove to satan and the angels of heaven and everyone else, the depth of your loyalty to God? Could it be that God wanted to prove to all of His kingdom and to satan’s, that you’re the real deal?
Well, when satan is released on all that Job has, he has no mercy. In one day one messenger after another comes to Job with heart wrenching news of tragedies that have robbed Job of all his assets. All his livestock have been taken and nearly all his servants killed. As he’s trying to wrap his mind around all the devastation, the last messenger came with the worst news of all. He said, “Job, all ten of your kids were in the oldest brother’s house having dinner and a strange mighty wind storm collapsed the house on them and none have made it out. They’re all dead.”
1:20, Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head [an expression of mourning and humbling yourself and seeking mercy] and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “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.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” Job knew that God was gracious to give him life in the first place. God did not owe him any of those additional blessings he enjoyed in his life; his possessions or his children, they all belonged to God. God had every right to take those blessings back. He knew that though we don’t understand why God has done what He’s done or taken from us what he gave us, He is still worthy of our praise and loyalty.
God wins round 1 and Job is exalted in the minds of everyone in heaven. But chapter 2 is round 2. At another council meeting in heaven that satan joins, God again brags on His servant Job. satan claims “The only reason Job is still faithful is for health. I’m not convinced he’s not serving you just for what’s in it for himself. He wants good health and to live a long time and that’s what’s keeping him faithful. You take his heath, afflict his body, then he’ll curse You to Your face.” So God gives satan permission to put him to the test again, but just not to take his life.
So while Job is still grieving the loss of his children and all that he had, suddenly he begins to break out in boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. I’ve never had a boil, but I hear they’re very painful. He’s covered in them. It says he went and sat in the ash heap, perhaps at the end of the village street as an expression of grieving and humbling himself that perhaps God may have mercy on him. There he would use broken pieces of pottery to scrape himself to relieve some of the pressure and itch of the boils. Further in the book you read of how the infection of the boils had made him very sick. He describes how food was loathsome to him and his bones burned fever. He had a terrible time sleeping because of the pain, and then when he did manage to fall asleep he’d suffer nightmares, perhaps also caused by satan. He also suffered isolation and the distain of people. As he sat on the ash heap people would just walk by at a distance rather than talk to him. Some would even scoff at him and spit and say ugly things to him because they thought he must have done something really bad to be suffering like he was. His brothers and relatives didn’t want to be around him. At one moment Job said, “My breath is offensive to my wife” (Job 19:17). And teenagers would snicker and make a joke of him. He was suffering so immensely that later in the book he expresses he wished he’d never been born. He longs death but can’t find it.
I’m sure it broke his heart further, when his wife said to him, 2:9, “Why do you hold fast your integrity?” And she advised him to curse God and die. Just give God the middle finger and commit suicide.
What was Job’s response? 2:10, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil [or adversity it could translated]? In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” He knows that as God’s creatures whom he created from dust, God doesn’t owe us anything. And he knew God had done so much good for him over his life, he wasn’t going to turn on Him when things got miserable and he didn’t understand why.
God’s winning round 2 as well. Job will serve God even when it doesn’t seem to be profitable for himself.
That brings you to the other plot in the book…
The debate that takes place on earth
It’s a debate between Job and his friends about why he’s suffering so much. They have no knowledge of the debate that has gone on in heaven between God and satan. They just have their earthly perspective and they’re trying to make sense of Job’s experience. Three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, hear of Job’s suffering and come to comfort him. And for a week they do fine, because for a week they just sit with him and don’t open their mouths. That’s perhaps the best thing you can do for someone who is suffering. Not discuss their suffering. Just sit alongside them; show you care. So for a week they do fine. But unfortunately for Job, he opened his mouth, which led them to open theirs.
Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. That led into three cycles of dialogue between Job and his friends that get increasingly heated. Job’s three friends hold to a certain doctrine, a certain theology. They all believe very strongly that God is all powerful and sovereign and in total control of our lives and He’s good and just, so God will always see to it that the righteous are blessed and the wicked suffer. It’s as simple as that. Which is actually not bad theology, if you think in terms of ultimately; in the eternal scheme of things God will see to it that the righteous are blessed and the wicked perish. But they misapply their theology to what we always experience here in this earthly life. They think earthly suffering is always the result of personal sin. And the greater the sin, the greater the suffering. Since Job is suffering tremendously, then he must be guilty of some terrible sins, sins he’s hiding. And their advice to Job is that he own up to his sin and repent, so that God will bless him once again. But Job’s conscience is clear. He knows of no sin that he’s not confessed and repented of.
We’re just skimming over the dialogue in this lesson but it’s awesome to read. It’s full of brilliant poetry and imagery and lots of truth about God and man and about the ways they’d seen God work in their time and past generations. It’s very insightful, but the friends are just incorrect about why Job is suffering.
Finally, the friends figure it’s no use to talk to Job any more. His mind is not going to be changed. That’s when we find that a young man named Elihu had been present the whole time and listened to the whole debate. And Elihu thinks he’s got the answers. Imagine a young man thinking he’s got it all figured out. Elihu goes on for 6 chapters explaining the way God deals with people and how we ought to respond. There’s a lot of truth in what Elihu says, but he still comes to the same false conclusion; that Job is being punished for his sin. “Job, God is helping you mend your ways. That’s what this is all about.” So Job’s friends only add to his misery with their judgments and accusations.
Toward the end of the book, all of the sudden, Job gets what he’s asked for repeatedly in the book. He’s been asking and asking God to talk with him. And Job 38:1 says,
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind.”
But God doesn’t answer Job like we might expect. He doesn’t answer Job’s question. He doesn’t explain the why behind his suffering. And you know, God couldn’t have explained to Job why his suffering was happening, or it would have ended the test prematurely. The test was whether Job would stay faithful without knowing why He’d lost everything and was suffering. It would have invalidated the test if God told him.
Instead He first quizzes Job with a whole bunch of questions about the universe. Roughly 60 of them. God prepares him first for it. “Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?” And then He kind of takes Job on a tour of nature and asks him question after question about the mysterious wonders of the world. He asks him about the sea and about the rising of the sun. He asks him about death and Sheol, about light and darkness. He asks him about lightning and rain and hail and snow. He asks him about animals, instincts and how certain creatures survive in the places they live, and about the flight design of a hawk’s wings, and all kinds of things. “Do you understand any of these things, Job? Do you know how this works? Explain it to Me if you know.” It paints a picture of a vastly complicated, intricately intertwined universe that requires a superhuman intelligence and wisdom to design and sustain. As if to say, “Job, you don’t understand even the most fundamental questions about how the world operates, let alone the spirit world. There is a lot of stuff you don’t know, but I do know all this stuff.” “Job, I know what I’m doing. Don’t fault me just because what I’m doing doesn’t make sense to you.”
Then God asks Job about what he’s capable of. “Do you have an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like His?” Do you have the power to bring down the prideful and wicked of the earth and save yourself?” Then He draws Job’s attention to a couple gigantic powerful animals that seem to be now extinct, a land animal named Behemoth, and a giant armored fire-breathing sea creature named Leviathan. And he tells Job, nobody dares to pick a fight with one of those creatures. How much more should men fear to contend with the One who made those creatures?
So this is the response Job gets from God. Not an explanation of why he’s suffering, but an overwhelming description of God’s unfathomable wisdom and power, which are two reasons we don’t accuse God of wrongdoing. We just trust and submit to Him.
But this was all the answer that Job needed to accept God’s dealings with him, to know that God has heard his pleas, and God cares enough to respond and demonstrate that He knows what He’s doing even when it doesn’t make sense to us.
Job passes these tests. The book closes rather quickly. God chides Job’s friends for not speaking of Him what is right and he has them prepare a sacrifice for themselves and has Job pray for them so God won’t treat them like the fools they were.
Then God made up for all that satan had taken from him. The Lord restored Job’s fortunes, giving him double what he had before. He restored all his friendships and the honor he had with people. He gave him 10 more children, and another 140 years of life until he saw his grandchildren of the fourth generation. And that was just the beginning of how God has blessed him for his faithfulness. He’s in heaven now I suspect with those first 10 children he had. I imagine he was so amazed and honored when God granted another of his wishes. Job 19:23, Job said, “Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!” God granted that wish for him and had his story recorded and put into the Scriptures.
God doesn’t show favoritism. If we’re faithful as Job was, God will make all the sufferings of this life seem like nothing compared to the glory we’ll enjoy with Him (Romans 8:18).
I’ve got two questions for you as I end here:
- Will you trust God when you don’t understand His dealings with you? Will you trust Him when it seems from your perspective that He’s being unfair? Will you trust Him without having to have an explanation for what’s happening in your life or in the world around you?
- Will you serve God for His sake? Not so much for what’s in it for you, but because He is worthy, because He made us and He’s given us every good thing we enjoy and He sustains us. Will you love Him and praise Him and obey Him because He deserves it?
-James Williams