Why job suffered

Ezekiel lists Job as a real righteous man who once lived long ago. The play begins with the narrator telling the story about Job and describing him as the greatest man among all the people of the East.

His integrity was world-renowned. He was so upright in the way he lived that even God bragged on Job. He told Satan to take note of Job's outstanding life.

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. Job Satan was disgusted with Job's lifestyle of holiness, so he told God that the only reason Job lived right and worshipped God was because he was so healthy and prosperous. Satan believed that if Job was sick and broke he would quit serving God. So God was going to prove to Satan that Job would serve Him no matter what kind of trials he went through.

From there Satan destroyed everything that Job had-- his wealth, his children and his health. It is this fact that God lets Satan destroy everything which causes all the controversy. Why did God do that? Well, some charismatics simply blame Job's fears as being the open door to Job's trials. They point to Job , "What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. This is why Satan was able to attack him.

It is true that fear can cause a lot of bad things to happen to us, but it is also clear that the book of Job is not teaching about fear. You cannot simply take one statement from Job and build an entire theory on it and say that Job lost it all because of fear. I believe that this interpretation is an over-simplified attempt to explain Job's suffering. On the other hand, many evangelicals love this story because it proves to them that good men should expect to suffer.

The trouble with their view is they forget to point out that Job was healed and blessed twice as much after his trial. In other words, Job did not stay sick or broke. He was healed and blessed. James reminds us to consider the latter end of Job's life: "You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy" James Isn't it amazing that when people think of Job they think of his trials and not the end of his trials?

Yet, James tells us to consider the victory that Job experienced, and to let him be an example for us--that if we are suffering sickness or poverty, we should persevere in faith and God will bring about victory for us, too.

Some think that the book of Job is trying to answer the age-old question, "Why do bad things happen to good people? You simply say that life is full of chances. Without God you don't have to answer the question. But for people who believe in God the question is even harder, "If God is love and has all the power to remove suffering, why does He allow good people to suffer? What do I mean? It is possible to ask a question that can't be answered.

I do it by asking a question with assumptions. An assumption is something that most people think is true but has not yet been proven. In other words, if I assume something is true, then I cannot ask for an answer to a question unless I am willing to forgo my assumption.

For example, a wife can ask a question with an assumption by saying, "I don't understand how my husband can be a good Christian and yet commit adultery? He can be a Christian and commit adultery, but he cannot be a good Christian and commit adultery. Do you see that a person can ask a question that can't be answered? The same is true of asking the question, "How can God be love and have all power, and yet still allow good people to suffer?

To assume something is not necessarily wrong. In this case, are any of these three assumptions wrong? First of all, is God love? Of course He is. The Bible says so. It is this second assumption that caused a Rabbi to write a best-selling book on suffering. Basically he said that God is love but is not willing to use his power for us. He prefers to let us live our own lives without His intruding on us. He sees God as a little boy who winds up a toy and then lets it go. He believes God made us and then left us on our own.

Christians rightly refuse to believe that God does not become active in our lives. In the Bible we find that God helped Israel out of slavery, delivered Judah from its enemies and Jesus healed the sick and helped the poor.

God is active in helping us. So, the second assumption is correct. God has all power to help us. Job's three friends thought, "No! So throughout the book of Job, they constantly try to get Job to confess his hidden sin. They were very eloquent, knowledgeable, but fault-finders. Every time they tried to say something to convince Job that he had sinned, Job would come back claiming innocence.

Job knew that he had not sinned. He knew that he was not at fault. He didn't understand why God was punishing him since he had not committed any sin. It is clear from the first chapter that Job had not done anything bad; in fact, the opposite is true. He was more righteous than anyone including his friends. He was suffering not because he had done anything bad, but because he was the best man in all of the East. God was putting Job on display. However, Job's friends did not know this.

Instead of seeing Job as being the most righteous man among them, they saw him as the greatest sinner. How wrong they were! If only they had known the beginning of the book. They would have shut up. Because Job was so righteous among men and yet he suffered, people assume good people suffer.

In answering the question, "Do good people suffer? Job is the prime example. He was a good person, yet he suffered. How can God allow good people to suffer and still be just? He can't. Let me ask you, "Was Job a good person? Are you sure? Job was not "good" in the sense that the Bible describes what is good! A rich young man came to Jesus and said, "Good teacher. Paul writes, " There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is not one who does good, not even one" Romans The New Testament makes it abundantly clear that no one is considered righteous in God's sight. Now in man's sight, there are good people. Job was one of them. The Bible says that Job was the best man in all of the East. That doesn't mean that he was righteous and good in God's sight. He was simply the best man from a human perspective, but even the best man is a sinner in God's sight, and that includes Job.

A sinner has no right-standing or rights with God. Do you remember the last character in the book of Job? Elihu is his name. He was not one of Job's friends. He was simply listening to Job's friends judging him and Job defending himself. As he began to listen to all four, God gave him insight into the true nature of Job's sufferings.

Out of all the human characters, only Elihu understood why Job suffered. It is amazing that I haven't heard anyone ever mention Elihu. We almost forget him. But the truth is, Elihu was the only one with true insight, not only into the sufferings of Job but, insight into the sufferings of all mankind. This is why Elihu is the last to speak concerning Job's sufferings.

It is interesting to note that when God appeared to Job, He rebuked Job for not having insight and He rebuked Job's three friends for falsely judging Job. Yet God never rebuked Elihu. Because Elihu was correct in understanding suffering. I am young in years, and you are old; that is why I was fearful, not daring to tell you what I know. I thought, "Age should speak, advanced years should teach wisdom. Notice, Elihu is about to give wisdom not because of any human understanding, but because God's Spirit gave him understanding.

The first thing he does is correct Job's friends. I waited while you [Job's three friends] spoke,I listened to your reasoning; while you were searching for words, I gave you my full attention. But not one of you has proved Job wrong; none of you has answered his argument.

Elihu showed Job's friends that they were wrong in judging him. The second thing Elihu does is correct Job, but he does it in humility. But now, Job, listen to my words; pay attention to everything I say. I am about to open my mouth; my words are on the tip of my tongue.

My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know. The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Answer me then, if you can; prepare yourself and confront me. I am just like you before God; I too have been taken from clay. No fear of me should alarm you, nor should my hand be heavy upon you.

Job was self-righteous. Yes, he was righteous as far as men are concerned, but he was not righteous as far as God was concerned. Since Job thought he was sinless and not under the curse of sin, he could not figure out how he could suffer.

This bothered Job. But Elihu points out the fact that Job was a sinner like everyone else and is subject to the curse of sin which includes sickness and poverty. People erroneously think that the book of Job was written to try to answer the question: Why does God allow good people to suffer?

But Elihu has no trouble with that question because he knows that there are no truly "good" people in God's sight. The thing that perplexed Elihu was not the fact that Job was suffering, but why weren't he and Job's friends suffering along with Job. In fact, Elihu is wondering why everyone doesn't suffer all the time since everyone is a sinner. Swahili Kiswahili. Swedish Svenska. The book of Job questions suffering and God's justice. God's response is surprising, pointing to his control over chaos and ultimate goodness.

What's Next? Learn More. Share Download. Wisdom Series. How to Read Biblical Poetry. Explore the difficult question of God's relationship to human suffering.

Dive Deeper and Explore More. Read the Blog. Read More. Reading Plan. Popular Books. Job Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Others have suggested it might have been 42 months, as a whisper of the Great Tribulation. But again, there is no way to determine how long Job suffered. The Bible simply does not say. This might be why the book of Job is not included with the historical books, but instead is part of the writings. When God allows us to suffer in any way, or for any length of time, we must remember that He has a purpose.

We are promised that He works all things for our good and His glory. Where do we turn for comfort and hope? When we turn to God in faith, our hearts are changed and our souls are comforted. It is my belief that Job suffered well, and that the anguish he expressed was from his thought that God had left him.

In the ancient mind, it was understood that earthly blessings were gifts from God and that God protected his faithful people from harm.

Therefore, I believe that Job thought that God had turned away from him and so his greatest suffering was thinking that God had left him. Job was not sealed by the Holy Spirit as we are. So we should be compassionate and understand his anguish. Job did not know why such calamities had befallen him. God never explained to Job either. But in due time, God revealed more and more of Himself to Job, giving Job comfort and hope.

And then, God restored that which Job had lost, giving him a double blessing. The greatest lesson of restoration in the book of Job is not that of his wealth and children. Instead, he tells Job to pray for his friends.

When Job did as God asked, Job demonstrated his continuing faith in God and his trust that God was present to hear his prayers. Jesus is the Reason this Ministry Exists Thank you to all who contributed in Your generosity is a blessing and encouragement to us.

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