One of the greatest difficulties in life is coping with suffering when it touches you and the people you love. Popular opinion says: “If you really love God and do your best to serve Him, your life will be free from suffering.” This notion has circulated for thousands of years, but it is dead wrong! Sometimes the opposite is true. Some of the greatest heroes in the Bible endured tremendous suffering. The same is true today. Some of God’s most precious people suffer the most.
What does the story of Job teach us about suffering
Suffering can touch our lives at four different levels which often overlap.
- 🏥 Our physical health can be taken from us, temporarily or permanently.
- 👨👩👧👦 Our most important relationships in life may be lost, damaged, or destroyed.
- 🧠 Our emotional health can be attacked by stress, depression, or a host of other problems.
- 🙏 Our spiritual lives may be shaken as we fight spiritual battles.
Many of you are burdened with suffering today. If your life has been free from suffering, fasten your seat belt because suffering visits each of us at some time during our life. Suffering can show up any time, anywhere, with anybody. Like the products we buy at Wal-Mart, suffering comes in all sizes and varieties, big and small. Some suffering lasts a short time while other sufferings never quit.
💔 Discuss the story of job life and suffering
Job was a man of integrity. He stayed away from evil, and the Lord was pleased with him. Satan, however, thought that the only reason for Job’s patience was his prosperity. Satan wanted to remove that prosperity and cause Job to walk away from God. God allowed Satan to test Job.
Job’s farm animals were stolen, and his farmhands were killed. His children were killed by a tornado. Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. But his grief didn’t make him angry. It made him fall to the ground to worship God. He cried:
“I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”
— Job 1:21 (NLT)
He praised his God even though his circumstances wanted him to do otherwise.
God was pleased. Satan wasn’t and asked if he could take away Job’s health. Job was struck with painful boils from head to toe. Job’s wife mocked his integrity and urged him to curse God. Job replied: “You sound like a foolish woman. Shall we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”
🤔 The Threefold Crisis in Suffering
1. Loving God for Nothing
A key to interpreting the book of Job is found early in the first chapter in the Accuser’s question, “Does Job fear God for no reason?” (Job 1:9). The accusation is that a relationship with God—with God—is impossible, because Job loves the gifts more than the Giver.
“This is the issue at stake in the book of Job: will human beings continue in a relationship with God in which all they gain from the relationship is God? Or are we just too selfish? Is our piety just for show? Will we ever treat God as anything more than a business partner or a means to an end?”
— The Gospel Coalition, “Job and the Problem of Suffering”
This is powerfully relevant to us. As theologian D.A. Carson reflects on Job-like faith:
“Even Job’s demand that God present himself before Job and give an answer is the cry of a believer seeking to find out what on earth God is doing. Even while sitting in the ash pit, Job trusts God enough to express extraordinary confidence in him, and for no ulterior motive.”
— D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?
2. The Three (Wrong) Answers of Job’s Friends
Three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedies and came to visit Job to comfort and console him. At first, they sat with Job in silence because his suffering was too great for words. But then they spoke, and in doing so, they presented the typical—and inadequate—explanations for suffering.
- Eliphaz insinuated hidden sin: “Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed?” (Implied from Job 4:7-8).
- Bildad theorized simple restoration through repentance: “If you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty… he will rise up and restore your happy home.” (Implied from Job 8:5-6).
- Zophar outright accused and demanded confession: “If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer! Get rid of your sins… Then you will hold your head high.” (Implied from Job 11:13-15).
Their error was reasoning backward from effect to cause. They believed that if disaster occurred, the cause must be spiritual rebellion. The book of Job teaches us to avoid pronouncing causes for the affliction of others. We are not God.
3. What God Asks of Us in the Fog
When God allows tremendous and seemingly inexplicable pain, what does he expect from us? The answer in the book of Job is surprisingly simple. The Accuser predicted that Job would curse God. Instead, Job blessed God (Job 1:21).
“When we find ourselves in Job-like suffering, what God wants from us is not complicated: we are to hold on to our relationship with him and not give up on him.”
— The Gospel Coalition, “Job and the Problem of Suffering”
This is the essence of Job’s famous declaration:
“Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”
— Job 13:15 (NIV)
🗺️how does the story of job relate to evil and suffering
1. 🛣️ Prepare in the Light for the Dark Valley
The best way to prepare for suffering is to walk wisely with God now. Before we hear of Job’s trials, we hear of his character.
“Job was ‘blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil’ (Job 1:1). Arguably, his life of obedience prepared him for the suffering he faces.”
— Crossway, “4 Truths from the Book of Job”
2. 🗣️ Grant Grace for Grievous Words
Great sorrow affects our clarity. A righteous person, like Job, might curse their day of birth (Job 3). They might ask, “How could God really love me and let me go through this trial?”
“As we listen to someone speak in the midst of their suffering, we shouldn’t be surprised if they think or say untrue things. Great affliction can rock someone’s world at the deepest level… The valley of despair can be dark, and it can be long. People might say something in the dark that they’d never have said in the light.”
— Crossway, “4 Truths from the Book of Job”
3. 🙌 Worship, Even Here
After Job’s children perish, he speaks what may be the most famous words of the whole book: “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 1:21).
“Job’s circumstances are not the conditions for worship. God himself is the sufficient reason for unending praise. The greatness of God is not diminished by great suffering. The goodness of God is not negated by bad circumstances.”
— Crossway, “4 Truths from the Book of Job”
This is the ultimate answer to the Accuser’s question in Job 1:9. We can love God for who He is, not just for what He gives. Even in the valley, He is worthy.
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