Today our ladies Bible study began a new book: Job. The first chapter leaves us breathless watching four of Job’s servants delivering nonstop bad news. In seven verses we learn that this exceedingly wealthy man has lost 11,000 farm animals, all but four of his many employees, and his ten precious children. Later in the story he also loses his health.
Interestingly, as today’s Bible study leader began, she first updated us on the health of two hospitalized men from the congregation. Both were not doing as well as expected, and our group was disappointed by the news.
Part way through our morning, the other pastor arrived to say one of these men had taken a turn for the worse, his family being summoned to say goodbye. We talked of the two wives who were suffering also, and the woman sitting behind me whispered, “It’s too much.” Suddenly we felt the relevance of the Book of Job.
We’re learning that the same calamities Job experienced 3000 years ago still happen today: losses of family, wealth, possessions, business and health.
Why does God let/ask people to suffer? Today our group talked about the reasons in relation to Job. Maybe his relationship with God was strong only because his life was bursting with blessings. Removing those would test him.
Maybe God wanted to increase Job’s trust in him by letting him discover that when you have nothing, you still have God. Maybe he wanted to deepen Job’s faith by allowing Job to show himself how he’d weather a storm. Or maybe Job’s story is simply a teaching example for the rest of us. As we look at his life we think, “Job made it, so I think I can, too.”
Those may be valuable reasons for his suffering back then, but knowing them doesn’t lighten our loads now. When my husband got cancer and died, it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. But who’s to say my suffering is over?
Our world is broken. The last time it wasn’t “out of order” was in the Garden of Eden. I’ll bet there was no suffering there. Although Adam and Eve were people much like us, until they sinned against God, their lives were without struggle or sorrow. Their world was all “good”. God even said so.
Our world isn’t so good.
I’m steeling myself for what I think we’ll learn from Job, that more suffering is coming for me and all of us. Until we leave this earth as Nate did, through death’s door into a God-created, “good” paradise, we’ll be challenged with losses of family, wealth, possessions, business and health.
The miracle for each of us is that we’re not suffering on a continual basis. Although God allows losses, he also provides periods of non-suffering, times for recuperation and strengthening before the next challenge. I think Job will teach us that when things are going well, life hasn’t “gotten back to normal.” Our real “normal” is to do battle with adversity.
But if Job can make it with his faith in tact, so can we.
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” (Job 13:15a)
A verse I cross stitched many years ago says it well.Lord,help me to remember that nothing can happen today,that together You and I can’t handle.
I have not lost a spouse, I have lost an unborn child, early in my pregnancy. I have lost a job and seen my husband’s job dry up. We have a choice as to how to handle life’s tragedies. Job had a choice. GOD IS ENOUGH. I chose to trust Him. Job 13:15a was an important verse for me then and now. Good job Margaret, great post, to Him be the Glory.
Our small group is studying Hebrews, and tonight is Hebrews 11. Verse 13 says “All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth.”
What wonderful brothers and sisters God gives us to walk with!
Hi Margaret,
One of the things that strikes me about Job is that he never does get any answers to his why questions, just a spectacular creation field trip at the end and a barrage of questions essentially asking if he can match God’s abilities. We, the reader, know what’s going on, but Job doesn’t.
And I think that’s true today- we want earthly reasons for the things that happen, when in reality the drama is occurring in the heavenly places. It must be why the “angels rejoice over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine who have no need.” It’s a verse often used evangelically, but I wonder if it applies to believers over the long haul, who in the spiritual battles that rage in the heart, choose God’s way over self, choose faith in the midst of all of its obstacles, choose to draw near to Him in the face of unbelievable difficulty. And in every one of those choices, the enemy suffers a blow, as His flag is raised in that particular territory He assigns His soldier. How staggering it must have been to Satan after all of Job’s losses to hear him declare, “I retract, I repent in dust and ashes.”
I think of you, the Swaback’s, the Hampton’s, some of the readers here, who have made the choice to trust and praise Him in the midst of terrible loss. The angels rejoice in every decision to bend the mind toward the Lord. What remarkable Job-like testimonies. Testimonies are among the three things Revelation 12:11 says overcomes the enemy. “I was, but now I…”
Love,
Terry