Storm Season - The Storm of Correction
- Paul Downie
- 2 minutes ago
- 23 min read
Job 40:6 NIV
[6] Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.40.6.NIV)
We always approach the first day of September with a sense of apprehension. Not because it's the day when Christmas celebrations begin in the Philippines. Although by the time Christmas has come round there, I'm sure most people will be a little sick of schmaltzy tunes playing in shopping malls.
No, it's because the first of September also marks the start of typhoon season.
To be clear, the wetter season starts much earlier, in July. It’s not unknown for heavy rain to cause a lot of problems even before typhoon season begins. But the first of September to the end of December is when the biggest, and most destructive, storms are likely to hit the Philippines, and we have family there.
By the grace of God, only twice have they taken a direct hit from a super-typhoon, and both times they escaped with superficial damage to their properties.
But still, we know every year that the potential is there.
If there is one thing that is certain in life, it’s that sooner or later a storm will come. Some are small and inconvenient. Some are huge and destructive.
Some are so big we wonder if we will survive them.
This series looks at storms in the Bible for truths that will help us endure those hard times.
And where else to begin but the oldest recorded book in the Bible, the book of Job. After all, Job's sufferings were somewhat legendary.
I don’t know how much you know about this book. It’s not a book you hear preached on a lot. Neither is it a book people like to read. And I understand why. It’s written mostly in an ancient poetic form, like a series of speeches, in a format we are thoroughly unfamiliar with. Between the suffering and the huge twist at the end, not a lot happens except dialogue.
However, this dialogue contains a discussion about the nature and cause of suffering that had echoed down through the ages and still resonates now.
Storms come to all of us. Like the weather in my home country of Scotland, and in the Philippines, life has seasons. As Solomon explained in Ecclesiastes, there is a time and a season for just about anything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). And yes, there is a time for suffering and pain.
What’s important is that we understand the season, understand that it will pass and somehow get the most we can from it.
Firstly, let’s look at Understanding the Storm.
Understanding the Storm
Job 1:8-12 NIV
[8] Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” [9] “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. [10] “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. [11] But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” [12] The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.1.8-12.NIV)
There are some things in life that are just plain confusing. Maybe you have been somewhere with poor or misleading signage. We once passed through an airport, collected our luggage and got completely disoriented when directions to local transport took us through a multi-storey car park.
What makes suffering worse is the sense of confusion – the lack of awareness or understanding of what exactly is going on. It’s like you have been wounded, and the feeling of being completely out of control rubs salt in it.
The verses we see here are mysterious, in the sense that they give us a spiritual perspective on Job’s suffering, but it us important to note that Job Himself did not have this perspective. Job underwent the pain of suffering without ever knowing why.
That makes this book – said to be the oldest book in the Bible – one that is very true to our experiences. We often endure suffering without the heavenly or spiritual perspective or without ever knowing why.
That is why enduring suffering requires faith.
These verses are puzzling and throw up a lot of questions. However, here are three aspects of them that are worth pointing out.
Firstly, Job did nothing to deserve his suffering. Do you see it? This is crucially important. Suffering is not always a result of a cause and effect. It is not always due to something we have done. Job 1:1-5 paints a picture of a scrupulously righteous man who, yes, would have sinned at some point in his life, but took great care to keep short accounts with God, both for himself and his children. This is why later on in his book Job could refute his accusers like this:
Job 13:15 NIV
[15] Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.13.15.NIV)
The cause of Job’s suffering was not his sin. That is a very important distinction to make. There are too many immature preachers and theologians who attach an almost pagan-like thinking about suffering, in which good people are fine and bad people suffer. That is not always the case, as the book of Job tells us.
Secondly, the devil is the agent of Job’s suffering.
Do you see it?
Both in Job 1:6-22 and Job 2:1-8 it is the devil who is the designer and architect of Job’s suffering. It is he who brings it about. His purpose in our suffering is only ever to destroy us, but God turns this around for our good (John 10:10; Romans 8:28). So what we see here is that the devil sets out his plan to destroy Job and his walk with God.
Thirdly, God is in control of Job's suffering.
Do you see it?
Again, this is so important to our understanding of our suffering. God sets the boundaries of satan’s provocations and temptations and says ‘Thus far and no further’. What’s more, satan is subject to those limits and does not cross them.
Job 1:12 NIV
[12] The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.1.12.NIV)
Job 2:6 NIV
[6] The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.2.6.NIV)
Many people, particularly those with an unhealthy interest in the occult and ‘spiritual warfare’, have presented satan as being an equal adversary to God. He is a powerful being, of that there is no doubt. He should never be toyed with or underestimated. But the teaching of Job is absolutely clear: he is vastly inferior to God. He is subject to God. His minions even obey the commands of God’s people (Luke 10:17). He tried to overthrow God and His angels and failed miserably (Revelation 12:7-9).
He is a defeated, subjugated foe.
That is how he is presented in Job.
God is Sovereign. satan is not. At all.
Of course, this is not a fact of which he wants you to be aware. I don’t know if you have ever passed a garden or a yard with a ‘beware of the dog’ sign, and had a vicious bark and growl startle you from the other side of a gate and fence. Yes, it can be frightening. It can even bring you to tears. But while that dog is chained up and behind a gate and fence, it cannot harm you.
That is how it is with satan.
Yes, he does prowl around like a lion, looking for whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8-9). However, for every Christian, that lion is muzzled, chained and caged. There are limits to what he can do to us. These limits have been set by God. Satan cannot exceed them.
But why do we see some people endure suffering that seems boundless, while others live a seemingly happy life?
I believe the answer lies in the Bible:
1 Corinthians 10:13 NIV
[13] No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.10.13.NIV)
God knows what each one of us can bear as we trust in Him. Some can bear only a little; others much more. The secret to bearing our suffering us not our strength but His: if we try to endure it alone, we will fail.
There is little doubt that Job’s suffering was great. He lost his wealth, his harvest, his offspring, all seemingly in a single day (Job 1:13-19). What’s more, in an act of seemingly singular callousness, satan let one man escape on every occasion so that he could tell Job what had happened.
Then Job lost his health (Job 2:7-8).
Yet even in all this, God was still in control. Satan was only acting within the boundaries God had set. He was still limited.
If this was true in Job’s sufferings – and his far exceeded anything most of us go through in life – then surely it is also true in ours.
So here we see three key points that help us to understand suffering when it visits us. We see that we haven’t necessarily done anything to deserve it, that satan is the agent of our suffering and that God is still in control of it, regardless of the evil we face.
This explains Job’s reasoning of his suffering:
Job 1:20-21 NIV
[20] At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship [21] and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.1.20-21.NIV)
Also his righteousness in his thinking:
Job 1:22 NIV
[22] In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.1.22.NIV)
As well as his retort to his wife:
Job 2:10 NIV
[10] He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.2.10.NIV)
However, it is just as easy for us to reach wrong conclusions. That’s why we must also look at Misunderstanding the Storm.
Misunderstanding the Storm
Job 2:9 NIV
[9] His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.2.9.NIV)
Job 4:6-7 NIV
[6] Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope? [7] “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.4.6-7.NIV)
There is an old saying that to understand someone you should walk for a mile in their shoes. It doesn’t mean that we should do this literally. It might work reasonably well if they have feet that are the same size as yours. But if they are smaller or larger then there might be a problem.
What it actually means is that you should take the time to get to know them and understand their situation before you judge them. That is especially true when it comes to suffering.
I lost my father in 2001 to cancer. He was just 48 years old. As he lay in hospital, his life slowly draining away, his pastor told my mother that there must be something wrong with her faith, because if she truly believed then God would heal my dad.
I made a mental note never to train at the same theological institution as him. That is one of the singular most callous things I have ever heard any pastor say.
Yet well-meaning people often get it wrong and say things that make people’s situation worse. I recall one situation when I was struggling when a deacon in my church wrote me a letter telling me to sort myself out because my situation wasn’t that bad at all. He had spent no time with me at all. We barely had a relationship. What he said at the time really hurt. I avoided him for a long time afterwards.
I’m giving these examples not because I have not forgiven these people. I have. I’m giving these examples to let you know that I have been there and I know how it feels. Even people with the very best of intentions can unintentionally make our lives so much harder.
Here in Job, reckoned to be the oldest book in the Bible, we see three sets of people who seem to have done precisely that. The first of these is Job’s wife.
Job 2:9 NIV
[9] His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.2.9.NIV)
Why would someone say something like this? What is going through their mind?
The Bible doesn’t say. From my understanding of human nature, it would likely be due to one of two reasons. Firstly, because she’d had enough of his suffering and wanted it to end so she could move on with her life. In a sense, we could understand that cold-hearted instinct. Wives in those days were provided for by their husbands. Job had lost everything, including his health. He couldn’t provide any longer for anyone, including himself. We can understand that desire to move on, however cold it may be.
Secondly, it could be that she’d had enough of his suffering and wanted it to end for Job’s sake. Again, this is a perfectly understandable reaction. Job’s suffering was deeply painful and extreme. We could understand anyone wanting to end it quickly.
But that was not God’s plan. That is where the misunderstanding lies. Yes, it would have been difficult and distressing for anyone who loved Job to see him in this predicament.
However, as difficult as it was, and it is for many of us, to understand, God’s will was for Job to endure this painful trial, not to find a quick exit from it.
Regardless of her intention, her response didn’t help Job at all. In fact, it likely made things harder for him, as it would have seemed like she wasn’t standing by him in his suffering – she just wanted it over.
This is a misunderstanding many of us have when it comes to suffering. We read verses like this:
James 1:16-17 NIV
[16] Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. [17] Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.1.16-17.NIV)
Our assumption is then that comfort is good, suffering is bad; suffering is wrong, comfort is right.
But that is a misunderstanding. Those who reach that conclusion have failed to read what James wrote earlier on in his letter:
James 1:2-4 NIV
[2] Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, [3] because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. [4] Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.1.2-4.NIV)
James 1:12 NIV
[12] Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jas.1.12.NIV)
James himself knew what suffering was. He was suffering with the church. Here he said that suffering can be a good thing if we let it do it’s work in us.
Now, we need to understand this correctly. If we can alleviate or even completely remove suffering then it is the loving and compassionate thing to do so. But all of us must understand that God has a purpose in our suffering, even if we don’t always know what it is.
Seeking a speedy exit from it by ending our lives will not achieve that purpose and is not an act of faith. Let God do His mysterious work in you, even when it hurts.
As well as Job’s wife, we also see the misunderstanding of Job’s friends.
Now, we have to understand the shock they felt at seeing this great man in this position:
Job 2:11-13 NIV
[11] When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. [12] When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. [13] Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.2.11-13.NIV)
Job’s suffering, for a man who was once so wealthy, was overwhelming. We can understand the silence.
But it’s a shame they didn’t stay fhat way, because the things they said to Job were much less than comforting.
And it’s here we see a significant lesson for us. You see, much of what they said was theologically correct. For example, as his friend Eliphaz the Temanite noted:
Job 4:7-9 NIV
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.4.7-9.NIV)
Or Bildad the Shuhite:
Job 8:20 NIV
[20] “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless or strengthen the hands of evildoers.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.8.20.NIV)
Or Elihu the Buzite:
Job 34:10-12 NIV
[10] “So listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong. [11] He repays everyone for what they have done; he brings on them what their conduct deserves. [12] It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.34.10-12.NIV)
What these men are saying, through all their verbose speeches (particularly Elihu) is that God is righteous and that God is just. That is, of course, correct.
But their conclusion is that if God is just and Job is suffering then Job must have done something wrong to deserve it.
And that is not the case.
This misunderstanding endured all the way to the New Testament:
John 9:1-3 NIV
[1] As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. [2] His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” [3] “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.9.1-3.NIV)
If we ever for a second want to hold this particular belief, we need to remember that the Apostles and the followers of the Early Church suffered a great deal under Roman rule (2 Corinthians 4:8-11). They were responsible for the Gospel reaching all the way to us.
Was it because of their sin that they suffered? No, quite the contrary. It was because of the Gospel!
There are times when our sin has consequences. For example: smokers dealing with lung cancer, vapers dealing with popcorn lungs, alcoholics dealing with liver disease, drug addicts dealing with psychosis, gluttons dealing with obesity, sexually promiscuous people dealing with STDs. There is a cause and an effect. We get it.
But the point of Job is that not all suffering is caused by sin. To believe that this is the case is a chronic misunderstanding that could affect the level of love and compassion we show towards those who suffer. This is a misunderstanding of which we must be rid.
There is also a third person who misunderstood suffering here, other that Job’s wife and his friends. Job himself misunderstood what was happening to him, because he was convinced that God was punishing him unjustly.
Job 23:1-6 NIV
[1] Then Job replied: [2] “Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. [3] If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! [4] I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. [5] I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say to me. [6] Would he vigorously oppose me? No, he would not press charges against me.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.23.1-6.NIV)
That was the problem. As well as the pain of the suffering itself, there was the additional pain of feeling like it wasn’t deserved.
However, that’s the thing: suffering isn’t always deserved, in the sense that it isn’t always due to something you have specifically done.
The writer to the Hebrews had a very interesting perspective. He was writing to Jewish Christians who were facing severe deprivation because of their faith (Hebrews 10:32-36). Yet he wrote this:
Hebrews 12:4-11 NIV
[4] In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. [5] And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, [6] because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” [7] Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? [8] If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. [9] Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! [10] They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. [11] No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.12.4-11.NIV)
The word there for ‘discipline’ doss not just refer to chastising someone for doing wrong. It also refers to their raising and education. In other words, suffering is presented as part of our growing pains, and not as something that happens to us because we are necessarily in the wrong. Like an athlete or a soldier in training, the pain is presented as a good thing, not a malign thing.
So, you see, right here, in the book that is believed to be the most ancient in the Bible, we see three misunderstandings of suffering that are still well and truly around today. We see that we should not believe that suffering is something we should avoid or escape at all costs. We see that suffering does not come because we deserve it, but can be used by God to discipline and mature us.
These are uncomfortable perspectives, but they help a great deal in understanding what is happening to us, or could happen if we embrace them in faith.
Having looked at understanding and misunderstanding the storm, we will look lastly at Confronting the Storm.
Confronting the Storm
Job 38:1-2 NIV
[1] Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: [2] “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.38.1-2.NIV)
A great many novels and movies have turned on plot twists. Here we see one of the greatest in history. And this twist is a twister.
The book here comes full circle. At the beginning of the book, the lives of Job's children are taken by a mighty wind (Job 1:18-19). Now God used a mighty wind to symbolise His intervention into Job's situation in power.
Elihu also talked about a storm as a sign of the greatness and power of God (Job 37:14-24). Now Job is seeing it for himself.
A whirlwind in particular is often used as a symbol of God’s impending wrath and judgement (see Isaiah 66:15; Jeremiah 4:13). Here, it seems to also be a symbol of frustration.
With Job.
Why?
Well, here things get really interesting. You see, there is little doubt that Job has suffered, and that he has argued against his wife that they ought to accept hard times from God as well as good times. But in his speeches, Job stated that God was acting in an unjust manner by making him suffer; that God was rewarding the guilty and punishing the innocent.
This thinking, of course, doesn’t make suffering any easier. In fact, the sense of being ‘hard done by’ makes things a whole lot worse.
Yet in his four chapter long response to Job, not once does God answer Job's questions; not once does God tell Job why he had to suffer.
Why?
Surely that’s what every suffering person wants to hear?
Maybe... or maybe not. I remember back to when a British media personality, Roy Castle, was diagnosed with the lung cancer than took his life. Roy had been a trumpeter. He had played his trumpet in smoky jazz bars back when the effects of passive smoking were not properly understood. Yes, he realised how he had contracted this deadly disease despite never having smoked a cigarette in his life, but did he still have cancer? Yes.
Think about all the rugby players and American footballers who now have serious and debilitating brain conditions like Motor Neurone Disease due to impact injuries on their head. Does it help that we understand why? Yes, because we can prevent it. But does it help alleviate their condition? No, it doesn’t.
Knowing why we are suffering isn’t always going to help us through it. Sometimes it may make things worse.
That’s what makes God’s answer so intriguing. Over the next four chapters, His whole response to Job is based around two questions: ‘Who are you?’ and ‘Who am I?’.
His whole point is that God is great and mighty and holy; that He is Sovereign over all creation; that He is good and caring and loving. His whole argument is to tell Job that God is not accountable to Job for what happens in Job's life. Job needed to trust God that God would do right by Him.
Job needed to have faith. That is what would bring Job through his suffering: not reason, not understanding, not even logic, but faith in God.
Job was experiencing the storms of life to a level that few of us ever will. God broke into Job's storms with a storm of His own: a storm that showed His greatness and His power and His glory. And what was His message?
‘Trust me.’
That is the key lesson that we must apply to ourselves when we pass through storms. It might help us to understand why so that we don’t cause ourselves pain, or so that other people don’t make the same mistakes. However, it won’t alter the reality of the storm we are facing.
The only thing that will is faith.
Conclusion
Job 42:1-6 NIV
[1] Then Job replied to the Lord: [2] “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. [3] You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. [4] “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ [5] My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. [6] Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.42.1-6.NIV)
There are some questions that have answers. They may be deep. They may be difficult. But if we investigate and inquire, we will find the answers. My sister is a nuclear researcher. She probes the very nature of the building blocks of the universe. She has questions. She looks for answers.
But there are some questions for which we may never know the answers.
One of these is: ‘Why me?’
In 1987, the Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield had an enormous hit with a song entitled ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’. That is the question many people ask when they are having a hard time.
The answer is often: ‘Nothing’.
Job opens the possibility that we could do nothing to deserve our suffering and still suffer.
But does that mean that God is cruel and unjust?
No, it doesn’t.
Because if we understand life's storms correctly, then we understand that, even in the very worst and most painful of suffering, God is working out His good purposes for our lives, even if we can’t perceive how or why. On the other hand, if we misunderstand life's storms, then we perceive it as a blame game: either we are at fault or God is. But that is not the case.
When we confront life's storms, as Job did, we find that we will get through them with faith, but not with doubt.
In the past year or so, well-known people have confessed before the media that suffering caused them to lose their faith: a hard-man former footballer confounded by the suffering of a child; a politician whose fledgling faith was derailed by a serial abuser.
But we do not have to count ourselves among them.
Whenever an accident or a crime occurs, forensic scientists pore over the evidence to try to understand what happened. I applaud these people. I could not do their job.
Knowing what happened is important so that we can prevent it happening again, but it won’t take away the pain and the loss of those who have been affected by it.
Suffering is painful. The storms of life are painful. Nothing can ever take that away. Even if God was to explain every moment of our pain, it would still be painful.
What He wants from us is not our intellect or out reason. What He wants is our faith: nothing more, nothing less.
And it is that faith – and nothing else – that will bring us through the storms.
I want to end this study, though, with a few thoughts on what came next.
After Job’s repentance, we see these puzzling verses:
Job 42:7-9 NIV
[7] After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. [8] So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” [9] So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.42.7-9.NIV)
But Job's friends had defended God against Job's accusations of being unjust, so how could they not have spoken the truth about God?
Job’s suffering was great. These men had presented God as an angry, judgmental God who was punishing Job for some unknown wrongdoing, which was not the case. Job had said some things about God that were incorrect. He saw God’s greatness and His Sovereignty and Job repented on the spot.
His friends, however, had not repented. They continued in their misconception that God was using this suffering to punish Job.
That is why God was angry with them. Asking Job to, in a sense, take up the role that a priest would do much later and intercede on their behalf was simply an indication to them that Job was indeed ‘God's man’, and not some worthless sinner getting his just desserts.
Now, here we have a strong objective lesson for us as Christians. I have heard some unthinking and un-compassionate so-called ‘Christian' leaders who see some catastrophe in the world and immediately point to it as being God’s judgement on those who have been affected by it.
On whose authority do they make such bold pronouncements?
Let me tell you: their own. God has not spoken to them. God has not spoken through them. We do not have the right to say when God is punishing someone because we are not God.
When someone else suffers, God is punishing them, but when you suffer, it’s a demonic attack? Really? Does no-one see the hypocrisy and inconsistency in that?
Don’t get me wrong: as I said earlier, there are some situations that are clearly self-inflicted. But that does not mean that God is punishing someone.
What we see in Job is that suffering is not always caused by our sin. It may visit us and we have no idea why. That’s part of living in a fallen world. Knowing why might not help us through it, but having faith in God will.
Look to Job. See what happened when his suffering ended:
Job 42:10 NIV
[10] After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/job.42.10.NIV)
Job was rewarded – and richly. All his suffering was worthwhile.
As the writer to the Hebrews said:
Hebrews 10:33-35 NIV
[33] Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. [34] You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. [35] So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.10.33-35.NIV)
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
[6] And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.11.6.NIV)
I realise this has been a long and a deep study. But perhaps you see the reason why. This is a difficult subject.
I hope, though, that you hear the message. Don’t blame yourself for your suffering unless it is a clear result of your own sin. Seek God. Have faith in Him. Don’t worry if you don’t know the reason why – you might never know.
But if you trust in God and put your faith in His good intentions, you will make it through the storm.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am struggling. I confess that to You. My pain is almost too much. Help me to stop asking why and to trust that You love me, only intend good for me and know what You are doing, even if I don’t. Amen.
Questions
What are some misunderstandings about suffering that the book of Job corrects?
What new perspectives on suffering have you gained from this study?
What is the one thing we need to make it through the storms of life?
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