Job
Ask.
- Why do bad things happen to good people?
- And especially why do bad things happen to us when God says that he loves us?
Listen.
Sometime after Noah and the Great Flood but long before Moses, a married couple named Abram and Sarai and their servants left their home in a very civilized place called Ur and set off for a faraway wilderness that God had promised to give to them and their descendants. Their journey led them through many strange lands and into interactions with many different kinds of people. Along the way they learned about others who had encountered the same God as them. The experience of one of these men was something that none of them would ever forget and they made sure to pass his story down through the generations of their family.
His name was Job.
He was a wealthy man with a large family, a great fortune, good health and all of his neighbors held him in high regard. He lived in peace with everyone around him and he went out of his way to live a righteous life. He even made extra sacrifices to God just in case he or his children had done something wrong and hadn’t realized it. Everyone assumed that he had it so good because he was God’s favorite.
Then he lost it all. Bandits killed all his servants and stole all his livestock. A building collapsed and killed all his children. He became sick and sores covered his body. He tore his clothes and shaved his head and when his friends came to offer him their condolences they found him sitting in the dust scraping the sores of his body with broken shards of pottery. His own wife questioned how he could have faith in God in a time like this and encouraged him to give up, to curse God and accept death as the end to his suffering. His friends who at first seemed so sympathetic began to accuse him of some secret sin that must have been so bad that he was receiving these awful punishments from God for his misdeeds. But he maintained both his own innocence and his faith in God.
But that didn’t mean that he didn’t question God. He could not pretend that this was right or that it all made sense or that it was all for some great plan. He repeatedly and angrily demanded that God explain himself. At last, God answered Job’s pleas and gave him a glimpse into just how big and mysterious the world is. God showed him the expanses of the land and the oceans and even the universe beyond his view of the sky above. Job was taken aback. While he now realized just how small he was in the greater universe, he also now knew that he truly mattered to God. He realized that God did not hate him and that God was not a monster. Instead he came to understand that while some things would never make sense, like the tragedies in his own life, he could always take comfort and strength from God being in control of the overall world and that he was never going to be far from God’s love in those tragedies.
After this very personal and powerful experience with God, Job said…
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
(Job 19:25-27)
His understanding of God was transformed and could never be the same. He now realized that God was not a distant person who must be bribed into giving good favor through offerings or good behavior. He had come to see that the author of all creation was at the same time always close by and available through all circumstances.
Think.
Where is your God now?
How could a loving God let this happen?
Maybe I deserve these awful things that are happening to me.
You’ve either heard someone say something like this or have said them yourself at some point. Pain is hard, especially when we suffer for no reason. But it isn’t some sort of cosmic punishment thrown down on us from God for any past wrongs that we’ve done. It is simply part of this human experience. There is so much about this world that we do not understand. And some things will never make sense. Be wary of people who tell you that someone deserves it when a terrible thing happens to them or that it is all just part of God’s plan.
Remember.
Suffering is mysterious. Friends may abandon us, give us bad advice or little comfort. But in all of our suffering, God is with us. We are not alone.
Pray.
Remember a time when you were suffering and there seemed no end in sight. Or maybe you are suffering through something right now and are struggling to feel God’s presence. Tell God how this feels. It’s okay to be upset, to even be angry at God. He can take it. There’s nothing you can tell God that will make God stop loving you or cause God to abandon you.
Watch.