At first, Job’s friends responded to his suffering by sitting with him in silence (2:13). It is when they opened their mouths that things started to go wrong. They started looking for a reason for Job’s suffering. As the reader we are privy to the conversation between God and Satan, in which God allows Satan to afflict Job. But is this a satisfying reason? No, and it’s not meant to be. Satan had his reasons for wanting to afflict job, but are his reasons reasonable? Of course not. So why did God allow this? It was obviously to bring glory to himself through Job. But this then raises even bigger questions. Our desire for reasons in the face of suffering is problematic in two ways. First, since the fall of man, when Satan gained the influence he boasts about before God in this story, the world descended into chaos. That means that the world is no longer a reasonable place. It isn’t the way God wants it to be. So, seeking a reason for what we suffer in this world is, in that sense, a misunderstanding. Secondly, when it comes to seeking an ultimate reason why God allows us to suffer from this chaotic world, we hit a wall. We don’t have access to ultimate reasons, because the ultimate plan of God transcends rational scrutiny. This is the gist of God’s answer to Job’s dilemma at the end of the book. Suffering is not ‘reasonable’, it’s just bad. However, God works through suffering to bring about an ultimate good. That’s what he did in Christ’s suffering and that’s what he will always do.
Pray for someone else who is having a hard time right now.
Read Job 4 and 5
