Humans like everything to be neatly pigeon holed, all things properly in their place. We want the world and the events in it to make sense. But in trying to provide an explanation for everything, we sometimes miss the point. This is the way it was for Job’s friends.
The first of Job’s friends to speak was Eliphaz. He declared, “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same” (4:7–8). Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, Job’s three friends, were all sure that Job must have had some dirty secret at the root of his newfound troubles. They “knew” there had to be a reason for all that had happened to him. So, they badgered poor Job to confess this suspected secret sin.
Job knew there was no great hidden scandal in his life causing his calamities. He was defensive in the face of his accusers, but he also wondered ‘Why’ did the awful things happen to him? One of the difficult things for us to accept is that many of the sufferings we go through simply cannot be neatly categorized and quite often not even explained. The why is often elusive. Bad things do happen to good people. Job recognized that many times the wicked live to reach old age and even appear to prosper (21:7–13).
There are many whys that we will never know in this life. Acceptance that the why may prove elusive sets the stage for a vital lesson from the book of Job. We must Trust God when we face difficult times in our lives.
Job was in deep despair. His whole life had been turned upside down. He had lost his wealth and his loved ones in a series of sudden calamities. Now his health was failing. Why? Job was deeply frustrated because he could not make sense out of his trials. Yet in the depths of perplexity and despair he made one of the most profound declarations of faith recorded in the Bible... “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (13:15).
In Job 19 we read the words of anguish that poured from Job’s lips. “Know that God has overthrown and put me in the wrong, and has closed His net about me.... He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths.... My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.... I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother” (v. 6, 8, 14, 17 Amplified Bible). Yet even at this low point of anguish and bewilderment, Job declares his heartfelt trust in God. “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth.... I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself” (v. 25–27).
It is relatively easy to trust God when things are going the way we like them. When the world around us makes sense it is fairly easy to believe God is in charge. But what about when things turn upside down and inside out? It is in the midst of such perplexity and anguish that faith in God is most needed.
One of the things Satan never understood about Job was his motive. Satan thought Job only served God because it was to his advantage to do so. He was convinced that if God removed blessings and protection, Job would curse and revile Him. But that was not true. Job loved God and served Him out of sincere devotion. He trusted God even when he was feeling abandoned. This lesson of steadfast trust is one of the most important aspects of character we can gain from any trial.
Life can often seem unfair. There are those who make no pretense of serving God and yet they seem to be doing well. There are others who are genuinely trying, but they are experiencing many difficulties and setbacks. What we have to keep in mind is that this life’s problems are temporary.
Job noticed that there were wicked men whose “houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure; their cow calves without miscarriage” (21:9–10). Yet he realized that was not the end of the story. In verse 30 of the same chapter, Job said, “For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; they shall be brought out on the day of wrath.” Even though it may seem that life is not fair, God is a God of justice. The conclusion of the book of Job reveals, “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (42:12). In the long run, there are blessings for obedience, relationship with God is the greatest of all blessings.
Trust is essential if we are to respond to God as the great Teacher who is preparing and refining us for eternity. It was only when Job began coming to grips with the lessons that God wanted Him to learn that he began emerging from his period of great trial.
God focuses on the bottom line, the end result, the finished man who has learned a lesson from pain and suffering. He wants us to be set apart from the ways and thinking of the world. Job was an exemplary man but he had a flaw. The Scriptures say Job’s problem was that “he was righteous in his own eyes and that “he justified himself rather than God” (32:1–2). Ultimately Job emerged with a far deeper understanding of the Almighty as well as a deeper understanding of himself and his own human nature. “Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” Job told God (42:6).
A vital lesson that all of us must learn in order to please God and to begin emerging from a trial is that of mercy and forgiveness. Job’s friends were miserable comforters. Regardless of their motives, they were a great part of Job’s trial. Yet notice the turning point when Job began to emerge from his great adversity... “And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends” (v. 10).
Job came to really know God deeply, not simply to know about Him. He became a far more humble and compassionate man as a result of what he went through.
Learning these lessons was the key to his emerging out of the dark shadows of life and into the sunlight once again.
Our trials can make us bitter or they can make us better! Which will yours do for you?
