A Brief Look at Job
A Brief Look At Job
Introduction
What is Job? Job is a book in the Bible about a righteous man (also named Job) who does not understand why he is suffering. Before we look at who Job was, we must first understand what type of book Job is.
The Genre of the book of Job is “Wisdom,” which may not sound like a modern Genre (like Horror or Comedy or Action) but was a popular and well known Genre in the ancient world. Today, when we think of wisdom, we might think of an old sage with a long beard who sits on top of a mountain, possibly catching flies with chopsticks. However, Old Testament Wisdom books are not about far-off mystical truths. The Wisdom books in the Bible are actually focused on very practical lessons for the real world.
This is because the Old Testament’s concept of Wisdom is envisioned as the ability to bring order out of chaos. Wisdom is about seeing the broken and hurting universe and understanding how we are called to live and find peace in such a chaotic world. Ultimately, Wisdom teaches us how to live rightly and peacefully through knowing and loving God.
However, this is quite the challenge because the Sub-Genre of Job is “Theodicy.” A Theodicy is a philosophical and/or theological defense of God’s goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil. The problem of evil is not a modern discovery, but something that plagued people of all times. Theodicies were actually common in the ancient world.
For example, by 2000 BC the Sumerians wrote “Man and his God” which was about a man who didn’t understand why he was suffering. How did the ancient Sumerians answer the question, “Why do the righteous suffer?” The story ends with the man finally recognizing what his sin was, a sin that was previously unknown to him but was now revealed. The conclusion was that there is no such thing as a righteous sufferer, only ignorant sinners who do not yet recognize their transgressions. Therefore, All suffering is just and if you don’t understand why you are suffering, it simply means you have not truly repented of all your sins yet. Over 500 years later, the Akkadians in “I Will Praise The Lord of Wisdom” wrote about a man asking Marduk (the chief god of the Babylonians) why he was suffering. This story, similarly, ended with the man finding out his sins and was forgiven as well.
“The Babylonian Theodicy” was written in around 1000 BC, and this one was a little different. A suffering man and his companion discussed the issue and concluded that the gods could not be understood, and that evil was simply a result of how wicked people treat each other. This was a more detached explanation of God and suffering, as if the gods didn’t care and were distant from our literally god-forsaken situation.
The reason why it is important to know these other theodicies is because Job is not only a theological book, it is a response to these other views. In the book of Job, the righteous man Job is mysterious suffering when he is comforted by 3 friends. When you read their dialogue, you can see that these 3 friends actually represent the theodicies of the ancient world. They constantly accuse Job of all kinds of secret sins because they believe suffering is only a direct result of Job’s own actions. And what the book of Job is trying to teach us is that suffering and pain is not a simple formula that can be solved through vague answers and insincere repentance. Suffering creates a hole in our hearts that can only be filled by SOMEONE. The wisdom of Job is that we find order in the midst of chaos not by simplifying pain into a cheap formula, but by finding God in the midst of our darkest nights.
The Story
The book of Job has one of the weirdest and most unexpected opening scenes in the entire Bible. There was an upright man named Job who loved and worshipped God. Job had great wealth, a large family, and a prosperous life. One day, Satan comes with some sort of challenge against God, saying that Job will curse God and hate God if he lost all his blessings and comfort. And thus, the conflict of Job begins.
Job endures every type of loss imaginable. His wealth, his family, and his health are seemingly destroyed overnight. At first, Job seems to endure it quite well. However, as the suffering prolongs, Job starts to break down. This is also when Job’s 3 friends (who represent different ancient theodicies) begin to surround and unintentionally torment the suffering Job. This is the bulk of the book of Job (see picture on right side). The Dialogue cycle continues until Job and his friends refusing to agree on the situation.
Finally, a new speaker named Elihu is introduced. Elihu has a Hebrew name and probably represented a type of early Hebrew Wisdom, as he is contrasted from Job’s 3 friends. Elihu defends the justice of God and though he says some correct things, even he falls short in understanding the source of Job’s suffering. This inability to find Wisdom drives the story of Job into its climax.
The Climax
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Job 38:1-7
In a sudden and powerful surprise, God Almighty shows up in the book of Job. But God does not appear in a form many would expect. He comes armed with might and splendor and displays His unfathomable radiance before the broken Job. This is meant to be puzzling. Why didn’t God just come and comfort Job? What is God doing as He flexes all His glory and power in front of this broken man?
Job is immediately humbled when he sees God. Yet the torrent of glory continues. God asks Job, “Where were you when I created the earth? Where is your wisdom? Where were you when I created the stars? Where were you when I feed and take care of all creatures in the world? Do you understand how I hold everything in its place? I am omnipotent, I am omniscient, and I am omnipresent! Where were you? Job, you must be so wise and smart, for you are already several decades old, so where were you when I organized the entire universe?”
Throughout the book of Job, Job constantly demanded answers from God. Job wanted to question God for all his suffering. But when God appeared, God alone does all the questioning. The self-righteousness anger and frustration that was building in Job’s heart instantly melted at the sight of the glorious God of the universe.
But why was God doing this? Why didn’t God run to the Job, this righteous man that God loved so much? Why didn’t God answer Job if He loved Job so much?
Well, do you really think Job would have been comforted by any answer? Do you really think Job would be satisfied and all the pain would be healed if he only knew why? Would an answer mend Job’s broken heart? God didn’t give Job an answer in this moment because an answer was not what Job really needed when his world was falling apart.
This happens a lot in our lives. Many times, we feel like Job! We ask, “WHY GOD?!” Why must things go this way! God, why do You ruin my plans! God, it should be so easy for You to give me what I want! Why must You continually break my heart! Why can’t You give me what I want!” And God seems so silent. And His silence is deafening.
But in that moment, God gave Job what Job really needed. What Job needed was not an answer from God, but an audience with God. What we are crying out for when we suffer is not an answer about suffering, but an audience with God.
Deep in our heart, what we need to know is “Does God even hear me? Does He even see me when I hurt?” And the book of Job teaches us that God does see you. God does hear you. And God wants His presence to enter your painful moments.
And this explains why God displayed Himself with such unfathomable might and splendor when He confronted Job in his suffering. “Job, look at Me! Look at how powerful I am! I am not like you Job! I am the glorious, untamable, unstoppable God of all reality!” Because what Job needed to see when His world was falling apart was a God who could put it back together, in this life or the next. “Job, I created the heavens and the earth! I hold all things together! And I have held you together up until this moment! You have been alive for several decades, I am from eternity to eternity. Job, get your eyes off of yourself and look at Me! The only thing that will get you through this is seeing Me! And I know it hurts, I know it doesn’t make sense. But if you can’t see My justice in all your suffering, then at least trust My wisdom! Trust that I am no fool and I am not just playing around with your life! Trust My wisdom when you can’t fathom My justice. Trust that I can make something out of all of this.”
God showed Job the only thing that could give Job hope: God is bigger than our crumbling world. And finally, in that moment, Job realized that even if he loses this world, he doesn’t have to lose his World. Job was comforted through his confrontation with his glorious God. He was shaken in the best way possible, as he let go of his faith in himself and lost himself into the greatness of God.
The Resolution
Job finally understood that the anchor of the universe, the anchor of his life is a great God. Suffering is not a simple formula in a simple world, but a complex and painful reality in a truly broken world. And healing is not found in easy answers, but in an earnest and costly encounter with the loving and powerful God of the universe who promises to one day put the world back together again.
The Lessons
1. God is not simple.
The problem with oversimplifying God is that it often leads to errors, errors that one day begin to hinder our understanding of the truth. We see that here in Job. Though it is true that God loves righteousness and hates wickedness, we are not able to reduce God to a simple formula, like the retribution principle or karma.
Sometimes, we think that the person with the easy and successful life is loved and blessed by God and the person with the hard and struggling life is loved less by God. This is wrong theology. In fact, when we look back at the beginning of Job, we can see that Job’s suffering started when he lived righteously, not wickedly. This is an important reminder, if your life is hard right now, it doesn’t necessarily mean that God is far and that He is condemning you.
Now I’m not saying that sin and suffering have no connection. Let’s be honest, sometimes your suffering is a direct result of your sin. For instance, if we do not come to work on time and then get fired, then it is our fault. Too often have I seen Christians speeding on the highway and getting a ticket and then claiming it is spiritual warfare. In those moments, don’t say, “Oh God is testing me” or “Why does God allow things like this to always happen to me?” Sometimes, when you look at your lifechoices, you honestly brought it upon yourself. Sometimes, suffering is obviously our fault. That’s just real talk.
However, Job teaches us that sometimes, this is not always the case. Suffering is a part of life in a broken world and not directly correlated to all your actions. And this is a part of life that cannot be easily explained. When Job was suffering, his friends came with an oversimplified view of God, as if God was as predictable like a formula. They tried to enforce a simple view of suffering and God.
When we try to oversimplify God, we are taking the mystery out of Him. Often times it bothers us that we can’t fully understand Him. So we try to control Him. “If I do this, then God must respond with that. If I do a certain set of good actions, God must respond with appropriate blessings. If other people do a certain set of bad actions, God must respond appropriately and immediately.” We oversimplify Him to make Him manageable. We like to feel like we figured Him out.
But you can’t figure God out. God is a mystery, but let that comfort you. As we saw in Job’s encounter with the Divine, sometimes the realest comfort our soul needs is just for God to be God. And we actually ruin our peace and comfort by trying to make Him tiny and manageable. The mysteries of a great God will satisfy you more than the small answers of man. Only a big God can make our problems look smaller. So let God be God.
2. Suffering is not final.
The end of Job reminds us that God rewards suffering believers. God does not drop a single tear from the eyes of the righteous. The sufferings of the righteous will always work for them a glory. Don’t ever forget this.
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Matthew 19:29-30
Sometimes, we get the wrong idea of heaven and eternal life. Eternal life is not a consolation prize for missing out on the “pleasures of the world.” It’s not a runner up prize for missing out on this world. It’s not a, “Well since you couldn’t get the world, here is heaven at least!” No. Because heaven will be trillions of times better than anything you have ever seen or tasted on this earth.
When I was younger, what was really cool for me was how magazines would sometimes come with cologne advertisement pages. And these ads would have these little folds that you opened up and it had the smell of the cologne in it! And to me, that was amazing because it felt like a marvel of science!
Now, let’s say my dad saw how much I loved this cologne ad page and asked me, “Wow, you want that cologne? I’ll buy it for you at the mall.” And I look at him, “What? How could there possibly be a cologne like this at the mall. And he is like, “Where do you think the sample comes from? You can get an entire bottle filled with this smell.” And I look at him, “Now, who’s being ridiculous. And I walk away with my cologne page and rationing my sniffing so that it doesn’t wear out.”
That’s what this world is like compared to heaven. This world is filled with limited and broken goodness like sample pages fill a magazine. They are meant to get you excited for the real thing. The goodness of God in this world is the consolation until we get to heaven, not the other way around.
I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The glorious reward is not a cheap consolation prize for enduring such a painful world. It is a glorious restoration of all we have lost and all we have ever longed for. Therefore, remember that none of your suffering is a meaningless, useless, empty accident. All of it is meaningful.
3. Love God for God.
What was the beginning of Job, satan’s challenge to God about? It actually wasn’t about God and satan betting on Job’s faithfulness. That oversimplification would miss the true message of satan’s challenge. The challenge was that Job was only righteous because God blessed him. Satan was implying that God’s relationship with His people was a sham, that there was no true love or devotion or allegiance or trust here. Satan thought, “No human being is righteous because they love or trust God; humans love God only because they love blessings.” Ultimately, this means, “God, no one could love You for who You are. They just love You for Your blessings. But no one could ever love You God for who You are.”
We must learn two very important things from this. First, we must love God for who He is. Unfortunately, so often we prove satan right. We so quickly turn away from God and use pain as an excuse to stop loving God. So let’s make sure we guard our hearts and ready our faith to love God truly for who He is.
Secondly, we learn from satan’s challenge and assertion that satan doesn’t actually know the future. Satan is smarter than humans and has been around long enough so he can generally assume what people will do. He simply assumed he could break Job. But he was wrong. So we see that though satan can make very very very educated guesses, he doesn’t know the future. What a great and hope giving truth, to remember that satan is so much smaller than God. Satan is so limited and has no control over your destiny. Satan is a speck of dust compared to the limitless God.
4. God knows suffering.
If I wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,
yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
There is no arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
Job 9:30-33
While suffering, Job kept wishing for someone, an arbiter, a mediator, who could put his hands on both sides: a mediator between holy God and suffering man. We have that Mediator, Jesus Christ, the God who suffered. Jesus, fully God and fully man, was able to place His powerful hands on both sides.
Jesus knows perfect holiness and perfect pain. The Creator of the universe was abused and broken for us. And He volunteered for it. Jesus ultimately suffered so we would be free from suffering one day. So cry out to Jesus knowing that He understands! Christ alone truly knows innocent suffering! Christ never sinned but felt all our pain!
When God calls us to endure through suffering, He is not only a transcendent God, but He is also an older brother who has gone through the sufferings first. He Himself has suffered, He Himself has been abused and murdered. He is intimately aware of your pain. He is not asking you to just “get through it” He is lovingly near, He knows the pain, and He will help you walk through it.
Let Jesus bring order to your chaos. Your suffering is not invisible and it is not forgotten. Jesus knows your pain and He is calling you into His presence.