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When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.
—Ecclesiastes 7:14
Suffering drives us to our knees in anguish. Things just aren’t fair; the devil pushes at God’s hedges; and the misguided theology of family and friends and the world digs us deeper into the pit of despair. It is the reassurance that God has a plan that we cannot see, that lifts us out: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9), says the LORD.
5. Our God is Able!
Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm (Job 38:1).
Finally, God breaks His silence. He comes out of a storm, a literal whirlwind, not angry but overwhelming and intense, questioning, challenging.
Job says nothing. At first blush I wonder: what about all those things you wanted to ask God, Job, like—did you not see the agony I was in, God? did you not care? why did you not come sooner? But I am silenced as I realize the sense of splendor and majesty Job is experiencing in this piercing theophany (God appearing).
In His long string of questions the LORD (Yahweh) proclaims the wonders of creation and then claims ownership—can you explain it (38:1-38)? can you oversee it (38:39-39:30)? can you subdue it (40:6-41:34)? There is no better place to find God’s description of God than in the pages of Job. Who would have thought it?
Add this heady charge to the equation: “Would you discredit my justice?” (40:8). Not so subtly the Almighty probes Job’s understanding: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” (38:2). Indeed! Job agrees: “I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (42:3).
It is true—when suffering, one’s world shrinks. We must take care, or our view of God will shrink too. God blatantly says: can you not see who I am? Look all around you. It is as Paul told the Romans: what may be known about God is plain…because God has made it plain. …For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what had been made (Romans 1:19-20).
What it all boils down to is this: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” (Westminster Shorter Catechism): For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! (Romans 11:36). When in distress I head into God’s creation and soak up God, sinking into the solace of trusting He who is able.
6. We May Never Know Why
Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. …My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:1-6).
As the Lord has spoken of the miracles and wonders of creation, Job comes to his senses. To think of He who can give orders to the morning (38:12), father the drops of dew (38:28), get the great Bear and her cubs to come out and play (38:31, MSG), and command the eagle’s flight (39:27). Job’s eyes were opened wider and wider to the omnipotence of God. He was better able to enter the mystery of his suffering, and to have faith in God, not in an explanation.
We would dearly love to live our life without pain; but since it seldom is so, best we learn to hang on: “As we visit the pearl fisheries, we find that life without pain leaves no pearl; that the life lived in sluggish ease, unwounded, without suffering or long continued friction forms no jewel.” December 15, Springs in the Valley, Mrs. Charles E. Cowman.
Following the untimely death of his six-year-old daughter Levi Lusko writes: “Grief has the ability to enhance our spiritual senses. …God’s whisper is often amplified in the deafening roar of death and loss. …It’s like a misaligned lens deep in our souls is suddenly jolted into place…we start looking at life through the lens of faith.” Take Back Your Life study guide, p.42.
Like Job, I may never know nor understand what is going on behind the scenes. However, that I know there was something transpiring in the heavenlies between God and Satan that Job had no knowledge of, strangely comforts me.
Like Job, there was a time when I had only heard of you Lord; but now that I see your wonders, I repent of myself. The deeper I dive into what you can do, I begin to grasp just who you are and accept that no plan of yours can be derailed (thwarted). It is you who offers a hand up out of the pit of despair into your light.
7. But, I Know My Redeemer…Whew!
Finally, tucked away in the pages of Job we find Jesus. With a hint of insight Job references the role of an advocate three times. Elihu too speaks of ransom and redemption (33:23-28). In Job’s day and age there was no redeemer theology to draw on, no seed had been promised as to Abraham (Genesis 17:3-7). Yet, there must be someone.
“God everlastingly sets mercies over against miseries!”
—Rev. Joseph Pearce, Springs in the Valley, November 9, Zondervan
Job is at a loss as to how to plead for mercy in his innocence (9:15): “He [God] is not a man like me that I may answer him…if only there were someone to arbitrate between us” (9:33). Despite his friends—“miserable comforters are you all!” (16:2)—he finds hope: “Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend” (16:19-20). He pleads for pity: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end he will stand upon the earth” (19:25).
And indeed He did stand on the earth. God the Son became a man. He too was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1-11) who could not make Him speak against the Father (42:8). He agonized over the will of God the Father in the garden (Matthew 26:42). His friends fled the scene (Mark 14:50); Peter denied knowing Him (Mark 14:68-72). He felt forsaken by God (Mark 15:34). Sound familiar? He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering…the punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:3,5). Suffering was part of how God revealed Himself.
Thank God, we know our Redeemer and He lives in us.
*All Scripture quotes NIV unless otherwise noted.
Nancy Paul
Nancy Paul is Canadian born and bred but happily settled in Texas. She is married, mother of two, and grandmother of three busy boys. A long time Womenary student, she loves to read, is a lover of God's word and a wannabe writer. Nancy is a regular contributor to encouraging.com, a collection of blog articles regularly published by the women of Green Acres Baptist Church of Tyler. As well, she is the women's Bible study coordinator at GABC. 
