Suffering in the Book of Job*

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Though he slay me, I will hope in him (Job 13:15a, ESV).

Job wakes up one morning and offers a sacrifice for his children in case they had previously sinned. Later, he learns his livestock had been stolen, bandits massacred his servants, and his children were all killed in a freakish windstorm.

We know the true cause of this testing.

Satan, in the presence of God, had asked and received permission to test Job. Yet in these trials, Job did not sin, nor did he blame God (Job 1:22).

Not long afterwards, again in the presence of God, Satan told the Lord of Heaven, “It wasn’t much of a test; there were too many restrictions. As long as you give Job health, he will remain loyal, but touch his body and see how long he loves you” (Job 2:4-6).

Receiving permission to afflict Job with sickness, Satan strikes with vicious cruelty — loathsome sores covering his body, leading to intolerable itching, his appearance disfigured, loss of appetite, depression, and sleeplessness, scabs that blackened and peeled, high fevers, putrid-smelling breath, and chronic pain.

In most of the Book of Job, we find Job’s friends, finding him sitting on an ash heap, exhorting Job to repent, find mercy, and perhaps die in peace. Job then gives replies like, “Stop assuming my guilt for I have done no wrong” (Job 6).

Chapter after chapter in the Book of Job are questions by Job and his friends, until in chapter 38, God finally speaks, “Then the Lord answered Job from a whirlwind, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom?’’

For the next five chapters, God speaks, and Job mostly listens. What does God say?

1. There is no condemnation of Job. God does not agree with the assessment of Job’s friends.
2. There are no apologies. Perhaps Job expected God to pull slowly on His beard, consider that He had made an error, and would now work it all out to the good. It didn’t happen.
3. There are no compliments. God says nothing to Job that one might think would be appropriate for someone who had suffered so much.
4. Finally, there are no explanations! Perhaps we would think God would give a detailed outline of His reasoning. But again, it didn’t happen.

In these final chapters, there are no answers to Job’s questions, and those of us who read the Book of Job won’t find clear answers to our suffering either. Why? God might keep us ignorant because we can’t comprehend the answer. Perhaps God keeps us ignorant because ignorance is the most fertile ground for faith to grow. Ignorance during temptation compels us to either abandon God or trust Him more fervently.

Then again, maybe God did answer Job’s questions. God had given Job a glimpse of the big picture. What God said wasn’t as important as the mere fact of God’s appearance in the whirlwind. And in that moment, God answered Job’s deepest question, that which Job wanted to know more than anything. During Job’s suffering, he asked (and we do too), “Is anyone out there? Does anyone care?”

And the answer was “Yes.”

*I’ve never done this before. I came across a teaching on the trials of Job in Sam Storms’s book Understanding Spiritual Warfare, and, knowing I couldn’t explain the concepts in this blog better than Sam, I just rewrote his writing to sound more like me, keeping his original thoughts and even some of his words (Note: Credit given to Sam Storms).