The popular assumption is that the book of Job tells us that God rewards the faithful with wealth and happiness and punishes the unfaithful with calamity and disaster. My life experience has made it impossible for me to reconcile this message with the other beautiful messages of love, forgiveness and grace that point us so firmly and reassuringly to the unconditional saving work of Jesus.
Job’s experience of suffering though, raises interesting questions for us. This is not a historical story, (it is not even set in Israel and the characters are not Israelites either) but it is written rather, to address some deep theological questions and remind us that there are actually no simple answers to life’s unanswerable question, “Why does God allow/cause suffering?
The book of Job begins as God and Satan (the accuser) hold a rather bizarre conversation which centres on a God-fearing, wealthy and successful man named Job. Satan challenges God by saying that Job wouldn’t be so ‘God-fearing’ if things were not so good for him. God takes up the challenge and allows Satan to test Job and pretty soon Job’s fortunes take a turn for the worse. Calamity visits Job and he is ‘comforted’ by some friends who endeavour to explain why these bad things have happened to him. His friends have a simple view of God’s work in the universe and expect that God operates strictly on the principles of justice i.e. if I do something wrong, then God punishes me. His friends think that Job must have done something wrong in the past, or may do it in the future, so therefore God sent these calamities to chastise, build character, punish or prevent Job from being or doing evil.
Job rejects this explanation and thinks that either God doesn’t run the world according to principles of justice … or worse, God himself is unjust. Job sees himself as innocent (God actually makes a point of saying that Job is a righteous man) and according to the principles of justice, he doesn’t deserve to be punished in this way. In his despair, Job delivers a ‘please explain’ ultimatum to God … … and God shows up. God explains to Job how complex and fabulous our world is and that he has his eyes on every minute detail of it. He tells Job that he and his friends have a limited view of the world and shouldn’t be making assumptions about how God guides and cares for the universe. Justice in our complex universe God says, is neither black and white nor simple, it is hugely complicated.
God never actually explains why we suffer but instead tells Job that we live in an amazing world that actually was never designed to prevent suffering. God also rebukes the friends of Job and tells them that they are wrong to blame Job and that their understandings of justice are too simple and don’t even begin to explain the complexity of God’s wisdom or his justice. God then makes a point of approving Job … of his struggle, his wrestling with his pain, his honesty and for the need he has to talk it out with God personally.
The book of Job invites us to trust God’s wisdom when bad things happen; to honestly bring our pain and our suffering to him and finally, to trust in the promise that he loves us and cares for us deeply. The Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/explore/job/
Gary Jewson
Education Officer: Formation
Gary.jewson@levnt.edu.au
