Purchase the Bible Study Guide/Workbook, here.
Lessons on Suffering from the Life of Job
The book of Job raises the question of the co-existence of God’s goodness and ultimate power. It addresses the subject of human suffering and, specifically, why the righteous suffer.
Job opens with a prologue in heaven. God draws Satan’s attention to Job. (1:8) “Have you considered my servant Job…” God draws a boundary line of preserving Job’s life. (1:12) “Only against him do not stretch out your hand.”
In Job 38, God responds to Job’s insistence on an audience with God by speaking directly to Job. God does not give Job a clear explanation for his suffering instead, He asks Job 70 questions—none of which Job can answer. Job 38-41 God takes Job on an incredible verbal tour of His creation (38-41), from which two questions emerge:
- Who would challenge or find fault with a God who has abilities and understanding clearly displayed in creation that humans cannot become to compete or compare?
- God asks if Job, in wanting to justify himself, would condemn God. Strikes at the heart of theodicy:
- Theodicy – “theos’ (God) and “ieke” (justice) – “The attempt to justify the ways of God to humanity.”
- Theodicy deals with the meaning of pain in terms of sin, evil, human choice, the will of God, and God’s response.
In Job 42, Job realizes in this process that His own understanding is finite, but He also met the infinite and incomparable God in the process! Job repented of his previous assumptions about God and admitted his own lack of understanding, that human beings never have all the facts as God does. Job acknowledged God’s plan could not be thwarted; that God is much bigger than any human. Job’s misguided friends angered God because of their erroneous perspective, but God made a way for their redemption.
God extended grace to Job and his friends. Job received God’s grace and was able to extend grace to his friends. God’s goodness is seen in blessing Job in the latter part of his life more than in the first.
The final debate in Job is over whether the foundation of God’s kingdom is built on genuine love or power. Satan has power but no love. God is love, and God is power. Job’s love for God underlies his obedience and allegiance to God.
“God seems more interested in securing our love, establishing our faith, and nurturing a desire for holiness than in answering all our questions.” —D.A. Carson
God’s response to suffering, as seen in Job’s experience, seems to indicate that, in the long term, God is both good and sovereign.
The redemptive purpose in suffering — God never explains to Job “why” He allowed his suffering, but Job’s faith is deepened as he learns more about God in his painful journey—as do we!
Rejoicing in Christ Jesus,
©2024, Susan Cady
