Jack Nichols: Why did God allow the suffering of Job? A more general question to answer is why does He allow ANY suffering?
We are never promised good times and easy life in this world, and eternal life in the corrupted flesh is not the goal of the matter. We are destined to be spiritual beings in eternity. We are infants who are maturing into spiritual adults, building character and experience here in the temporal.
In the case of Job, it was a test of Job's faith (as it is with most characters of the Bible), which God already knew the outcome of, and was an example proven out to all who witnessed it (including satan). Satan was certain that Job would curse God for all the suffering and loss, and the kicker is that it wasn't God who caused the suffering, but satan.
Job didn't know why it was happening, but he knew that God allowed it for some reason. Satan was only allowed to go so far, but not to kill him. And there is a lesson here about the nature of satan and who is in control. First, that satan only seeks to steal, kill, and destroy, and two, that satan is limited by God, who is always in control.
Job's faith was so strong in the midst of such an unimaginable onslaught of suffering, he was able to state, "Though He (God) slay me, yet will I praise Him". This faith of his, was in his Redeemer, none other than Jesus (preincarnate), who he would see face to face in that day of redemption.
Job's so-called friends (worst friends a person could have I think), berated him for what in their minds were sure of, was some secret sin that he was being punished for, and told him he needed to repent of it to make it stop.
Here we see that insidious self-righteousness of many, without patience or compassion or forgiveness, who are quick to point a finger in judgment at others and lecture them about their faults and how to fix them. To the point of ruining a friendship by the constant and unqualified assault in the name of being "right", or the opinion of being "superior".
How quickly we all forget the words of Jesus about the "Mote in one man's eye, versus the Beam in another". This is the reason for "Judge not, lest you be Judged in like manner". There is only one judge and that is the Lord.
We are to judge actions, but not the person. And why? Because before our salvation we were all in judgment ourselves. It's not our place, nor should it be our desire or our practice.
This is why I cringe terribly whenever someone brings up "Secret sin", as if God is there ready to pounce and curse you, especially after salvation has come for the person.
What a terrible misrepresentation of God and His nature. Don't we believe from the word when He says in (Romans 5:8) “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”?
Why then, do we portray Him as a vengeful entity ready to decimate us at the first fault? This verse reveals that God’s love is not contingent upon our actions or behavior. His love existed before we were even aware of it, and it remains constant even when we fall short.
This is the lesson about the 3 so-called friends of Job, this was their error, and one that many in the modern world have as well, believers included.
So now, why is God silent for so many chapters? 🙂
Because He reveals the error of each of them (satan, Job, the 3 friends, etc.) by letting it play out to fulfillment, and He has the last word, which is not only judgment for all parties, but restoration for Job and his 3 friends, who are all men under the promise of their Redeemer.
This is why God allowed the suffering of Job. It revealed all the truth, and all the error, and resolved most of it aside from satan.
One might ask "but what about Job's initial family, and how unfair that seems to be for them"?
But is it? Life is not fair by any means, and tomorrow is promised to no one. His family are in their final home, in the spiritual, in eternity. They are not suffering in life anymore.
That's a hard thing to swallow from our perspective sure, because we suffer in the loss of companionship since they have moved on.
Let's remember also that God healed and restored Job, and Job also had a new family afterwards. Even more children, and a double blessing as it was considered in those times and in that culture.
No comments:
Post a Comment