A Sinless Response to Suffering

This week I began reading through the book of Job in my time with God, as I do at least once every year. It's amazing to me just how rich a book this is, and how often it gets overlooked by Christians who label it as one of the "hard" books, right up there with Leviticus and Ecclesiastes. I won't say it's necessarily easy to read 37 chapters of anguish of soul, but there is so much for us to learn about God and our own trials through this account of Job's experiences. 

This time, as I read through the first two chapters, I was struck by what God said about Job's response to suffering. 

God allowed Satan to test Job's faithfulness by taking away all he had: livestock, servants, wealth, and, worst of all, his children. He was left with just his wife and the three servants who had escaped to bring Job word of what had happened.

Think about the enormity of his loss.

Now look at his response:

"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (1:20-21)

First, he acknowledged his grief. He rent his clothes and shaved his head, as was customary in the culture of the day. But then, in his grief, he fell down upon the ground and worshipped. 

He acknowledged God's right to take what He had given Job in the first place. He did not blame God, he did not even ask why. He just surrendered to God's will. 

And then he praised God. 

What a remarkable thing to do. I don't know if I would think to praise God in light of such grief and loss, but that is what Job did. And lest we think he was somehow harmfully repressing his emotions, look at God's view of Job's response:

"In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (1:22)

Job sinned not.

Right there, in the midst of a magnitude of loss most people will never even come close to experiencing, Job responded sinlessly. He did not blame God, he did not argue with God. He simply accepted what God had allowed and chose to praise Him in the midst of his grief. Though Job was a sinner, just like you and I, this was one thing God said he did right.

But Job's testing was not over: Satan again accused Job before God, this time citing Job's health as the source of his faithfulness to God. So God in His wisdom --and yes, in His goodness, too-- allowed Satan to bring upon Job an ailment that would cause constant and intense suffering. Then, in the midst of his physical and emotional agony, his own wife tells him to "curse God, and die." Supportive, huh?

This was Job's response to her:

"What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (2:10)

This response shows Job's unshakable commitment to the truth that God has the right to do whatever He deems best. How ungrateful we are to eagerly take His blessings, only to complain when He allows them to be removed, as if they were ours all along!

I'm reminded of a quote from Anne of Green Gables, where Marilla tells Anne, "God does not want you for a fair-weather friend". 

When suffering comes, it is easy to focus on the trial, seeing nothing but darkness around us, but Job's response shows us that when darkness surrounds us, when pain engulfs us from every direction, we can look up and find peace of heart in knowing that God is in control. 

God approves of this response as well: "In all this did not Job sin with his lips." (10)

The sinless response to suffering is to look up, acknowledge God's sovereignty, and trust His unchanging goodness. It is to surrender to God's will, and to praise Him, not just in spite of, but because of what He has given and taken away. In short, it is to trust Him.

 Fully. Completely. Stubbornly. 

Trust Him. 

"Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."

James 5:11