Winding roads ahead...
On my quest to read the entire Bible this year, I am currently reading through the book of Job. In general, I’m a huge fan of poetry. Truly. However, the book of Job has definitely challenged that fandom. The book is written as a poetic dialogue between Job and three of his friends. It is full of laments, riddles, accusations, defenses, and philosophical debates. Sounds like light reading, right? Let’s give the book of Job a little more context, in layman’s terms if you will, so my brain doesn’t melt out of my head.
At the beginning of the book, Job has it pretty good. He’s got a lot of land, plenty of livestock that are thriving, a family with good kids, etc. Things are going well for him. Enter Satan. Plainly speaking, Satan is a total nightmare wherever he goes. So, Satan shows up and God asks him, (Job 1:8) “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” Now, everyone is asking the same question here, why did God offer up Job here? Did God just volunteer Job as tribute?! In a sense, yes, He did. And we aren’t quite sure as to why, but it is clear that God holds Job in high esteem, which is pretty nice! Satan fires back and accuses Job’s faithfulness of being too easy because God has given him everything. God has blessed him beyond measure, so of course he would be faithful and love God. God stands strong in believing in His son Job, so He defends Him and allows Satan to put Job to the test. It all goes downhill from there. Poor Job loses his livestock, servants, and all his children. On top of that, he gets really sick and his skin is basically covered in sores. Needless to say, Job was devastated. As God said, Job was a good guy, so it makes sense that he would have a completed breakdown and question his entire existence. Three of Jobs friends show up to “support” him, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Suhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. You’d think they would show up with open arms, ready to console their poor friend. False. Instead, a majority of the book is a poetic dialogue between Job and his friends where they simultaneously attack him and accuse him of being wicked, meaning they believe he earned God’s punishment. Some friends…
The book of Job may not be an easy read, but it’s an important one. It brings some of life’s biggest questions to the table. Questions that many of us are asking ourselves today. Why does God let people suffer, especially good people? And why do wicked people succeed without punishment? This post, and the book of Job, will by no means answer these questions wholly and completely, as I am no theological expert, and the Old Testament needs the New Testament to complete its purpose, but both I and Job can at least offer some ideas.
So, why test Job? More specifically, why does God allow suffering? There are a lot of times in our lives when things seem to be going well and all of a sudden, tragedy strikes. Currently, I’m sure most of us feel like Job as the world around us descends into chaos. Job is angry, and who could blame him. He feels unjustified, as though he is being punished for crimes he did not commit. His friends have another idea. They spend pages upon pages trying to root out the nature of Job’s sin. They believe that he has surely committed a sin to deserve the wrath of God. Even when Job protests his innocence, his best of friends do not believe him.
When I was in 7th grade, the “popular girls” were not my biggest fans. I honestly couldn’t tell you exactly why, but nonetheless, I was subject to their classic endless middle school torture. I had a “boyfriend” in the 7th grade, and let’s be honest, middle school relationships back then were nothing more than passing notes and group hang-outs. I had written my boyfriend a note, which had fallen out of my backpack. The group of girls found it and rewrote it to say some pretty awful things. I will spare you the content, as it’s not technically necessary to the point of the story. They then made what seemed like hundreds of photocopies of this altered note and passed it out to the entire school during lunch. Being the “thoughtful” girls that they were, they approached me during lunch with a copy of the note and said something like, “we are so sorry this happened to you, but we thought you should know that this is going around.” I was horrified. Of course, the principle got a hold of this letter and consequently I was suspended due to the graphic content in the note. Honestly, I was paralyzed with fear. I was afraid that telling on the girls would only cause them to dislike me even more, resulting in a more difficult school year for me. I pleaded my innocence to the principle and my parents, and even explained that I was too afraid to report who had truly written the note. No one believed me. My peers, school staff, and my parents, thought I was a monster, and my little 12-year-old heart was shattered. I was suspended and grounded, I had nothing left. I remember wondering why I was enduring this suffering. I remember crying in my room, feeling abandoned by everyone in my life, and more importantly, I felt abandoned by God.
We can all recall a story or several stories in our lives that result in us feeling abandoned by God. Some instances were smaller scale events like my note, and some are much more life altering, like Job losing his children or his declining health. The book of Job tells us that it is okay to be angry with God. God can handle our emotions. The problem is when your anger leads to intense bitterness towards God and ultimately the destruction of your relationship with Him. Throughout the Bible there are examples of people who respond in justified anger when they don’t like what has occurred, or they don’t understand why something has occurred. The catch here is that we can be upset with God, without abandoning our relationship with Him. Job gives us an example of what intense emotion without condemning God looks like in Job 1: 21 when he says, “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 was dealt a really difficult hand, so much so that he feared what more the future might hold. In Job 23:14-15 he laments, “He carries out His decree against me, and many such plans He still has in store. That is why I am terrified before Him; when I think of all this, I fear Him.” Job is so shaken by what has happened that he questions the very nature of God’s plans for him. When I was carrying out my grounding/suspension sentence alone in my room, I too questioned what the future would hold for me. Would I ever be able to show my face at school again? Would I have any friends left? Would my parents ever believe me? The truth is, we don’t need to fear the plans God has for us. It may be hard, like it was for Job, to let go of fear of the future. But we need to remember the Bible’s overarching message that God always has our best interest at heart as He tell us in Jeramiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Okay, so if God’s plans for us are so great, then why does He allow suffering?
Unfortunately, there is no single explanation for why we suffer, but the Bible at least gives us a few:
1. It strengthens our character (James 1:3)
2. It proves our faith is genuine (1 Peter 1:7)
3. It gives honor to God (1 Peter 1:7)
4. It rids our life of unrefined qualities (Job 23:10)
5. It proves that believers are God’s children (Hebrews 12:6-8)
6. God may want to reveal Himself to others and us through trials (personal testimonies)
It is hard to grapple with tragedy. It can feel almost impossible. But God is always with you. If you haven’t read the book of Job and plan to, stop reading now, because this will be a major spoiler alert! The book of Job ends with God finally speaking. He reprimands Job’s friends for speaking falsely about Him, and also kind of schools Job….not even kidding, it actually made me laugh. God basically breaks it down like this; God is powerful. He created every, single, thing. He created the Earth and everything in it. Including us. So when we doubt God, the most powerful being in the universe, it’s almost ridiculous. However, we are humans, and life hurts. We fall, we crumble, and we fail. God doesn’t lose His patience with us and will never turn His back on us, and He didn’t turn His back on Job. After reminding Job that God is God, He totally restores Job’s life. He refers to Job as His faithful servant, and gives Job everything he had before, two-fold. Thousands of livestock, riches, and a ton of children. He even blesses Job to live long enough to see four generations of his lineage!
God also restored my 7th grade self after the note debacle. One of my best middle school friends found the strength I didn’t have and told her mother about who had actually written the note. In turn, her mother called both the school and my parents. I was un-suspended, and thankfully also un-grounded. Life went forward. I never found out what the consequences were for those girls, or even if there were any, and I definitely never received any apology. But I didn’t need it. God gave me the strength to return to school for the remainder of the year, and a new private school opened up down the street from my home. My parents enrolled me and I was given the absolute best 8th grade year free from bullying. God doesn’t always give us answer, but He is faithful, and He always redeems, even when we cannot see it. So keep travelling your path, God is with you, and I am praying for you.