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I guess one of the greatest problems people have, whether they're
Christians or just thinking about Christianity, is the problem of evil in
the world. If you've never asked questions like 'why is there such evil
in the world', or 'why do such terrible things happen', or 'why do people
get away with such dishonest behaviour' then you've probably been asleep
for a long time. For those who believe in a God of love, and a God who at
the same time is all powerful and all knowing, it's a scandal, beyond our
understanding, that God can allow the sorts of suffering we see in our world
every day. And that scandal is brought into sharpest focus when we think
about the suffering that innocent people endure, particularly when those
who suffer happen to be among the most faithful of God's servants. |
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When we see this sort of injustice we feel like crying out in
anger to God at the perplexity we feel. We want to express our rage at the
injustice of our world. We cry out in frustration that nothing we can do
seems to change the way the world is. And as we cry out we wonder whether
God is there listening, or is he too busy to hear us? |
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If you feel like that at times then you'll find a resonance with
the writings of Job as he rails against the injustice of God at allowing
him to suffer far beyond what he deserves; as he demands that God explain
himself; as he gives loud and forthright expression to his hurt and confusion
at the way God brings disaster after disaster upon him. |
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We're going to be looking at the book of Job over the next few
weeks to see if we can come up with an answer to Job's question, "Why
Me Lord?" Let me encourage you to read through the book maybe even
a number of times over the next 3 weeks, so you get a feel for Job's plight,
for his complaint against God, for the way God answers Job and the way the
book attempts to resolve this issue of innocent suffering. |
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Just so you understand what it is you're reading let me say at
this stage that the book of Job is broken up into 4 main sections which
we'll look at one at a time over these 4 weeks. In chs 1-2 there's a prose
prologue which sets the scene. Here Job experiences a whole series of catastrophes
in which he loses all his property, family and finally his health. In chs
3-37 we find a long poetic discourse involving several cycles of speeches
by Job and his friends where Job expresses his complaints to God and where
his friends seek to answer these complaints with their own understanding
of what's happening in the world. In chs 38-41 we come to the climax of
the book where God replies to Job out of a storm. And then in ch 42 there's
a short prose epilogue that recounts the restoration of Job to prosperity
again but which leaves us with almost as many questions as we started with.
But more of that in 3 weeks time when we see how those unanswered questions
point us forward to Jesus Christ and the hope of resurrection. |
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So let's look at the first section, the prologue. The story is
set in the land of Uz, a land outside Israel. It's pagan territory, but
the implication is that the story is set in the Patriarchal period, in the
time of Abraham perhaps. Remember that Abram and his family were God worshippers
long before the nation of Israel came into being. So what we have here probably
fits with the time described in Genesis. As was the practice of those days,
Job as the patriarch of the family takes responsibility for their spiritual
health, even to the point of offering sacrifices on their behalf when they'd
been feasting, just in case they'd sinned while intoxicated. |
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We don't know who Job was though Ezekiel 14 mentions him along
with Noah and an unknown OT saint named Danel as faithful men of renown.
But in fact that doesn't really matter because what we have here is the
product of an author who wants to teach us something about the world and
this issue of innocent suffering. In a sense the story is a timeless one.
Job's experience of suffering, of an unjust world, is every person's experience.
And so the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit speaks not just for Job but
for himself and everyone else who's ever suffered. |
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So let's begin with the first few chapters where the author gives
us a framework from which to approach the problem of suffering. Let me suggest
there are 4 important theological statements he wants to make in this prologue. |
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1 God is sovereign over human suffering
2 there is such a thing as innocent suffering
3 God doesn't mind us expressing our negative feelings about suffering
4 there is a necessary mystery about suffering |
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1 God is sovereign over human suffering (1:6-12) |
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The first problem we come to in thinking about the problem of
suffering in the world is, where does it come from? Now if you're a Star
Wars fan you'll know that evil comes from the dark side and is opposed by
the light. In fact this is a very common solution to the problem of suffering.
You divide the world into two opposing forces, one good and one evil. The
trouble is, it's not a Christian world view. It's not the understanding
of the world that we find in the pages of the Bible. Listen to what God
says through the prophet Isaiah: "I am the LORD, and there is no other;
besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me, 6so
that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there
is no one besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. 7I
form light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I the LORD do all these things." (Isa 45:5-7 NRSV) Doesn't leave much
room for the devil does it? |
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So the question is, where does the devil fit in? Well, according
to Job he fits in with the angels. He has no power except what God allows
him. Satan has to ask for power over Job in order to test him. And when
Job passes the first test, Satan has to go back to get greater power over
Job. So what we discover, as we read through the story, makes the scandal,
the discomfort even greater, because we discover that God is in control
of everything that happens to Job. When we get to ch 2, even Job realises
this. He says "shall we accept good from God and not bad?" Job
and the author of the book both know that God is sovereign in all things. |
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Yet, as much as our intellectual difficulties may be made more
difficult by this notion of the sovereignty of God, it's a notion that we
can't afford to abandon if we're to find any reassurance or comfort in the
midst of suffering. It's only the thought that somehow God is in control,
and maybe has some purpose in what happens that will keep us from total
despair in the face of an unjust world. What we discover here is that even
if Job can't discern the reason that he's suffering, God is in control of
Job's suffering and of his future and by implication of our suffering and
our future as well. And so we discover that God is at the same time the
source of our confusion and of our comfort. |
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2 There is such a thing as innocent suffering 1:8 |
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God asks Satan whether he's noticed Job in all his travels through
the earth. He says, "There is no-one like him on the earth, a blameless
and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil." So the scene
is set for another statement about suffering, a statement that flies in
the face of what was the prevailing understanding of suffering during the
exile, when this book was probably put together. |
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You see the common understanding of suffering, given that God
is sovereign, was that if you suffered it must be because you deserved it.
This is sometimes called the theory of retribution. In fact this is a theory
that's been held throughout history and is still common even now. We heard
in our first reading (John 9) of the man who was born blind, and what was
the first question the disciples asked? "Who sinned?" He was born
blind so someone must have sinned. The Pharisees come to the same conclusion
later in the story. |
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And in fact if you read the words of Scripture there is some
justification for this view. There is a connection between sin and God's
judgement, often seen in the person suffering in some way. God warns the
people of Israel countless times of the danger they face if they disobey.
Proverbs teaches us that if we fear God and keep his commandments we'll
succeed, but if we ignore him we'll fall. Yet this view tends to be taken
too far, to become fixed into a black and white equation allowing for no
exceptions, leading to a false deduction. The logic goes like this: Sinners
suffer; Job suffers; therefore Job is a sinner. Now anyone who understands
logic will recognise the error in that sort of thinking. It's like saying
a dog has 4 legs, fur and a tail; that cat has four legs, fur and a tail;
therefore that cat must be a dog. It doesn't work. |
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Yet that was the logic that was applied to suffering. Sinners
suffer. He suffers. Therefore he must be a sinner. And it's to correct that
sort of false theology that we find this book of Job here in the canon of
Scripture. |
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Well, when we meet Job's friends in ch 3 we discover that this
is exactly the attitude they have. You must be sinful. You wouldn't be suffering
if you were sinless. They just can't come to grips with the possibility
that Job may be a righteous man. |
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Yet that's what we're told from the start from the mouth of God
himself. Job is righteous. There is such a thing as innocent suffering.
So we have to come to grips with it. In fact ironically, according to the
story it's precisely because Job was innocent that he suffered. In fact
there's a double irony: it was precisely because Job passed the first test
and retained his piety in spite of the loss of all of his possessions and
all his children, that his suffering was increased. And even when his wife
incites him to rebel against God in 2:9 he won't do it. No in all of this,
we're told, Job did not sin. |
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So as much as we might want to point out the warnings against
sinful living, as much as we may want to link pain and suffering to the
presence of sin in the world, we need to be careful that the way we express
those ideas allows for the Jobs of this world; allows for the reality that
someone's personal experience of suffering may be unexplainable in terms
of what they've done or not done. Indeed that it may go counter to what
we might think someone of their character and righteousness deserves. This
is of great importance when it comes to pastoral care of people. So often
people say "I don't know what I've done to deserve this." So often
people are weighed down by feelings of guilt over someone who's died. If
Job teaches us nothing else it teaches us this: that it may not be their
fault at all. In fact it may be that their suffering is more a commendation
than a condemnation. |
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3 God doesn't mind us expressing our negative feelings about
suffering |
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Here we take a glimpse of what we'll look at in more detail next
week. At the end of ch 2 Job's friends come to see him, to sympathise with
him and comfort him. They just sit with him for 7 days and nights without
saying anything. This was obviously an oriental custom in times of mourning,
probably to give the person time to come to grips with what they're feeling.
And it's not until the person speaks that the friends are permitted to offer
their words of counsel. Again, this is a good model for us to think about
when we're in a situation of caring for someone who's in mourning. Give
them time for their grief to form into words before putting words in their
mouths. |
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Well, after this time of waiting, Job opens his mouth and curses
the day of his birth. Suddenly we're confronted by a different Job. No longer
is he the long-suffering saint of ch2. Now he begins to vent his feelings
of loss and frustration and anger at a God who could let this sort of thing
happen to him, when he's always tried so hard to be faithful to God. |
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He says it would have been better if he'd never been born. And
as we'll see next week his cries of anger at God only get stronger as time
wears on, as he calls to God for an answer but feels like God is ignoring
him. And we begin to wonder, as do his friends whether perhaps Job has gone
too far. Does this anger he expresses at God override the righteousness
he appears to have in ch 1? Is he perhaps suffering rightly after all. Was
his sinfulness simply latent? Has Satan finally proved his point? |
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Well, we might think that at first, but by the time we get to
the end of the book, to the final chapter, we discover that God's verdict
on Job is that at the end he's as righteous as he was in the beginning.
Even in his wild ranting against God, we're told, "Job has spoken of
me what is right." Here's an amazing thing. Job can express his feelings
in as open and honest a way as he wants and God isn't offended by it! In
fact God commends him for his openness and honesty. He doesn't point out
the irreverence of his attitude. He doesn't rebuke him for his suicidal
thoughts or his indignant questioning. Instead he rebukes his friends who've
told him he was wrong to talk like that. You might even want to suggest
that the way that Job addresses God here is the way that any righteous person
experiencing suffering might address God. |
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I might leave you to think about how able you are to express
your feelings to God or how inhibited you feel when it comes to expressing
emotions. If you're an Aussie male chances are you're quite inhibited. It's
not done is it? And whether you're male or female, when it comes to expressing
anger chances are that you feel guilty whenever your anger bubbles to the
surface. Well, you might like to think about what the forces were in your
past that led to those sorts of inhibitions, because here Job is commended
for his ability to express his feelings as emotionally as he wants. |
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Again, in a counselling situation it's important to give people
the permission to be angry. To feel that what has happened isn't right,
that it hurts them, and to vocalise the fact that they're bitter and resentful
about it. That's what Studdert Kennedy was doing in his poetry about
WWI: |
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- Waste of Muscle, waste of Brain,
Waste of Patience, waste of Pain,
Waste of Manhood, waste of Health,
Waste of Beauty, waste of wealth,
Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears,
Waste of Youth's most precious years,
Waste of ways the Saints have trod,
Waste of Glory, waste of God,
War! ("War," The Unutterable Beauty, p29)
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The book of Job assures us that there is no sin in that. On the
contrary, such emotional honesty is far more precious to God than any amount
of pious talk. |
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4 There is a necessary mystery about suffering |
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3:11-12. Job asks the question that is always asked: "Why?"
(also vs20,23) It's as though we could put up with suffering if we knew
there was a reason for it. (I don't mind the fact that my toe is still sore
after my operation, because I know that it was sliced up for a reason.)
But it's the irrationality of suffering that's so hard to bear. Yet the
interesting thing about the book of Job is that as much as we look for an
answer to the question "Why?" we never really find one. The question
is never resolved. The only answer we're given is in the first 2 chapters,
with the discussion between God and Satan over the righteousness of Job,
an answer, by the way that Job is never given. And by the end of the book
we're even forced to ask whether that's an answer at all. So why doesn't
he tells us? |
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Let's think for a moment about the question that's raised in
the first chapter because this may be a clue. The question is whether it's
possible for someone to serve God faithfully without hope of reward. Is
Job's piety simply a means to an end, to wealth and prosperity, ease and
comfort? Is that the only reason that people would worship God? What if
the rewards weren't there? What if our desire for a rational answer were
never satisfied? What then? |
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The answer that's given is that in the end, what matters in Job's
case is a personal relationship with God, whether or not God blesses him.
Job never loses the sense of being in God's hand. He never abandons God,
even when no answer is forthcoming. There's a permanence in his relationship
with God that won't allow for the easy answer of his wife: "Curse God
and die." Never is there a thought that his worship of God is mercenary
in any way. No, if he'd seen God as some sort of magical dispenser of blessing
or his righteousness as some sort of insurance policy, then as soon as his
prosperity left him he would have abandoned God. I mean no-one would pay
an insurance premium to HIH any more, would they? But Job can't abandon
God. He can be angry with God, disappointed, resentful, but he can't abandon
God. Job just goes on wrestling with his problem and with God. His is an
insoluble problem, an inescapable mystery. He can find no way out. Yet he
clings on. And that's what we're meant to see. |
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God wants us to see that it is possible to have a personal relationship
between us and Him. A relationship that can stand anything and that can
persevere, no matter what happens. And the existence of that relationship
is a clue to the mystery of suffering. Of course suffering is irrational.
Of course Job never finds out the reasons for his suffering. If he did it
would undermine the whole purpose of the test. It has to be a mystery for
Job, because the righteousness that God is looking for is a righteousness
of faith, and it's the nature of faith that it goes on trusting, goes on
hoping, goes on praying, goes on looking for answers even when no answers
are forthcoming. Even when it's hanging in total innocence on a cross, crying
"My God, My God, why?" |
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Peter, speaking to a church beset by persecution wrote this:
"In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to
suffer various trials, 7so that the genuineness of your faith--being
more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire--may
be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
(1 Pet 1:6-7 NRSV) |
