Job And The Mystery Of Suffering

AN APPLICATION

JOB: Trial And The Mystery Of Suffering

Job is introduced as an exemplary servant of God with no charges against him. God Himself described His servant as without equal in the world (Job. 1:8). His faithfulness to God had been rewarded with all he could desire. None of these material blessings had corrupted this servant who had never used them to personal advantage. In contrast many were in debt to God’s servant for kindness and relief in time of need (Job 31).

Job was respected by all and had no enemies except one, Satan. If the Devil had employed any methods to destroy Job, Job had resisted them. However Satan alleged that Job had his price – that his faithfulness was directly proportional to his temporal blessings. More deeply, Satan longed to murder God’s servant who sacrificed daily and interceded for his children.

Trial
As the most ancient book of Scripture, Job is the only book of the Bible devoted solely to the experience of a sorely tested individual. And with the testing there was also the seductive temptation of instant relief – suicide. The counsel of Job’s wife to “curse God, and die” (Job: 2:9 KJV) seemed like the quick and easy answer to his problem. Yet those who love God will turn instead to the patient endurance granted by God: “God is faithful, who will not permit you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Cor: 10:13). And so Job persevered in the belief that God would relieve and vindicate Him. It is not uncommon for a saint in the midst of intense suffering to wish for death. There is at least one example of a prophet who prayed for death – Elijah (1 Ki. 19:4).

The point is that those who are faithful to God will not end their lives by their own hand. Thus, while Job cursed the day of his birth, under no circumstances would he renounce God. He resisted even when provoked by those he counted among his friends. His “comforters” were convinced that Job had sinned, and so had sat down on the ground with him for seven days patiently awaiting his confession of sin. They did not understand the mystery of saintly suffering, as later the Jews would reckon Jesus accursed because God allowed Him to be crucified. Consequently, Job’s friends were astonished when he opened his mouth in self-vindication. They also found that Job opposed all their arguments that his position was the result of his sin. Defeated in debate they accused Job of employing the tongue of the crafty (Job 15:5).

Notice that during these terrible days, God appeared to ignore His servant’s prayers. Remember that God had upheld Job as the most righteous man on earth. In Ezekiel 14:14, he is linked with Noah and Daniel for righteous influence with God. The wonder is that he was such a feeble advocate in his own cause; he was denied an interview with God that he might present his case with a view to acquittal. Job longed for an advocate to intervene on his behalf, confident that he would come out shining. However, his friends were quick to remind him that even the angels of heaven (Job 5:1) would not help while there was unconfessed sin in Job’s heart. The argument continued until God Himself answered His servant out of the whirlwind. Job had total faith in God who never failed him. He had implicit faith that his Redeemer would rescue him in life, death or resurrection (Job 19:25).

Patience
The book is a study in patience: no matter how intense the trial, God’s servant clung to God. James wrote: “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is ... of tender mercy (Jas. 5:11). Job’s refusal to confess failure or curse God thereby justified God’s confidence in him. For God had committed Himself irretrievably when He cited Job as being without equal in righteousness. Job did not fail his Maker, but was given grace to stand in the face of acute, chronic assault.

Satan was defeated by Job’s constancy, but he was astounded by the greater patience of Christ. There was no complaint from Christ nor any questioning of God’s wisdom. The Lord’s responses were brief as He submitted to the trials set before Him. The greater than Job was indeed the One whom Job had sought. For as the God-Man, Jesus had one hand on deity and the other on humanity. He was the Redeemer of whom Job had prophesied, as He was the Lord who answered out of the whirlwind. Job exemplified the Scripture regarding the way of escape’s being available to those who are tried (1 Cor. 10:13).

Satan’s challenge to God proved that he had taken full account of Job’s faithfulness. When God asked him if he had considered His servant Job, Satan responded with an accusation proving that Job was already under severe satanic scrutiny (Job 1:9-11). God’s mention of Job’s faithfulness may also be interpreted as His knowledge of Satan’s intense irritation at Job’s faithfulness. But why Satan had not already made an attempt to destroy him suggests that in matters of severe trial and temptation Satan is under God’s discipline.

Permission
This principle of Heaven’s permission was seen in the temptation of Christ. Though it was impossible for Him to sin, Satan was given divine permission to tempt Him three times (Lk. 4:1-13). This conforms to the Lord’s words to Peter that Satan had desired him that he might sift him as wheat (Lk. 22:31). In the Greek, this verse implies that Satan had made a formal request for permission to try the faith of the apostle. In the case of Job’s agonies, God had set the bounds of temptation, and Satan was forbidden to take his life. Where God sets these bounds, the devil must obey.

We live in a fallen world where all “mistakes” are blamed on God. Satan longs for saints to curse God and die. Saul of Tarsus beat the disciples in the synagogue in order to make them blaspheme. He hoped that the oppressed would either deny Jesus or else confess Him more explicitly and be condemned (Acts 9:1-2,13-14). We note terms like “the fire of God” burning up “the sheep and the servants” (Job 1:16). Job might have been tempted to ascribe this injustice to God. However Job did not accuse God but rather confessed that “the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). Also, he reproved his wife for telling him to curse God in his suffering.

Comfort
Another aspect of Job’s suffering was that he was left to suffer without comfort. Those who purported to console him merely added sorrow to sorrow, leading him to cry out in pain, “miserable comforters are ye all” (Job 16:2). Job had no relief, for there was nothing which could ease his pain. His family and friends fled from him, and even his servants disregarded his cry for help. Everyone rose to comfort him when the trial was past, but until then he was treated like a criminal. Where were all the widows he had helped, and where were the fatherless who had known his fatherly compassion? Did the beggars he had fed sit with him in the ashes and share in his sorrow? No man enriched by Job helped him in the nights and days of abjection.

The experience of Job proves that a saint can endure the worst suffering without breaking under the strain. We can think also of the aged apostle John being sent to the penal colony of Patmos (Rev. 1:9). And so Job’s words are as relevant today as in ancient times: “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth” (Job 19:25).

By Tom Summerhill