Job: Finding Peace On An Unpredictable Path | Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? (Job 1:1-22)

No matter who you are, young, old, rich, poor, sick, healthy, you face pressure in life. Parenting pressure, school pressure, work pressure, loneliness and grief pressure. We are often “surviving” one day at a time and don’t know what we will do if things get “worse.” Since we live in a broken world, we can expect things to go “wrong” in our lives and force us off the path we have charted for ourselves. Yes, “bad” things can happen to “good” people in this world. We begin looking
at the Biblical book of Job today to learn how to find peace on an unpredictable path. How can bad things happen to good people? Listen in and find out.

Transcript

I was thirteen the first time I grappled with the meaning of suffering and it all had to do with my Nama. She lived with a humble faith and a clear love for Jesus and our family. And then it happened. This amazing Christian woman had already been through so much in her life and then we find out she has ovarian cancer. I couldn’t help but ask: Why do bad things happen to good people? I never heard my Nama complain, or say a mean word to anyone, not that she was perfect, she was a sinner just like me, yet her faith shined so brightly and that thought was there, “God this isn’t fair! I want Nama to be there when I’m in high school, when I get married, to meet her great-grandkids.” I prayed so much for her yet Jesus called her home. If we went around this sanctuary, stories like this would fill the air. For those very moments, the LORD gave us the Book of Job, a book of wisdom. But unlike Proverbs, which speaks broadly about several life situations, this book speaks to one: Suffering. True to its subject, this book is shocking. As we begin sitting with Job for the next six weeks, witnessing a believer in pain, we need to set the tone for this conversation by understanding the shocking behind-the-scenes of his suffering, the shocking love of God, and Job’s shocking response.

Why am I using the word “shocking” so much? Because suffering and shock go together. Diane Langberg, in her book Suffering and the Heart of God captures this, “Suffering is always shocking to us, even when we expect it. It is as though we cannot believe something so painful can be true, can be happening to us, can be part of our lives. It cuts into the core of who we are, tearing at the fabric of our existence and leaving us stunned, bewildered, and often in a place of deep confusion.” Her words speak to a reality we all know too well: Suffering isn’t something you can just prepare for, tick off a checklist, and be done with. It rocks you to your core. When suffering strikes, it’s easy to think, “If I knew why, it would make this easier.” Yet knowing the reason behind suffering doesn’t take away its sting, does it? Think about it—knowing that childbirth will be painful but worth it (which it is) doesn’t make it hurt any less in the moment, right? The same is true for suffering. But there is something, or rather Someone, who makes all the difference when we face it. With that, let’s go to the land of Uz, thousands of years ago.

Can you picture Job? He’s described as “blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” He’s an upstanding guy, a strong believer who put God first. He was a sinner like us yet through faith, God saw him as blameless, and he lived with clear integrity, whether as a husband, a father, or a business owner. He had ten beautiful kids, and so much wealth he was the “greatest man among all the people of the East.” He was extremely blessed but he hadn’t forgotten the God who gave him everything. He made sure God was always at the center. His family was very close and got together all the time. Job prayed for his kids every day. Everything seems so idyllic! The main point in all of this? Job did nothing to deserve what’s about to happen to him. This is no consequence for something he did wrong. The Bible makes clear his suffering has nothing to do with punishment. As much as we’d like to stay near Job in this time of bliss and joy, the author abruptly takes us into the very throne room of heaven, where the shocking cause of Job’s suffering is revealed.

Imagine standing in the throne room of heaven, the angels presenting themselves to the LORD, when suddenly, Satan is granted an audience with God. “The LORD said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’” Now, of course, the LORD knows, but he asks this to elicit a telling response, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” The word “roaming” is not just drifting around. He has been lurking, searching intently for opportunities to strike. It’s at this moment we hit another shocking element  when the LORD seems to be suggesting that Satan go after Job, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” Why would God essentially tell Satan who his next target should be? It’s a set-up. Satan takes the bait, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands…But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” Satan is arguing that Job doesn’t love God for him alone, but for the blessings he’s been given. So the LORD unexpectedly responds, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” God permits Satan to hurt Job? He gives his blessing to undeserved suffering?! How can that be okay?

Why are those such critical questions? Because it becomes personal. Could the LORD be allowing Satan to cause suffering in your life, too? The answer is yes, and this is where we hit what Christianity’s critics call “the problem of pain.” How can we say we believe in a loving God that allows suffering? The Greek philosopher Epicurus asked it this way, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then where did evil come from? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” For many, the shock of suffering seems utterly pointless and cruel. Yet, this is where Job and we have such comfort because we believe God is behind the storm, our good and gracious Savior who will never leave us and always attaches purpose to everything we endure. That is the sermon Job will preach in one sentence, but before we get there, we must stand idly by as a torrent of pain engulfs him.

Can you see Job staring out at the wonder of God’s creation, when his world goes dark? First, he finds out that he’s lost all his wealth, his animals and employees he loves dearly have all been killed. Everything he has worked for…gone in seconds. Can you picture him falling to his knees, hardly able to breathe, but the worst wave hasn’t even crashed. The final messenger arrives, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” Job collapses. There is no deeper grief than the loss of a child. Job was experiencing that times ten. He tears his robe, he shaves his head, his hand shaking with the razor, still in shock, this can’t be real. He still hasn’t said a word. Finally, he dares open his mouth, and he utters something shocking, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” This is not the shout of a stoic sufferer, this is the bold whisper of a broken man clinging to the only hope he had. He calls him “LORD” the title describing God’s never failing faithfulness, his compassion, his perfect justice, his undying love. He would never let his LORD go. 

Job wasn’t just reciting a platitude. He was speaking from the depths of his soul, from a place where he clung to the LORD alone. I wouldn’t blame you if this story seems unrealistic to you. How could even the strongest Christian say what Job said and mean it? Was he just saying it because he knew that’s what he was supposed to say? We know he meant it. How? Verse 22 makes that clear, “In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” He is validated. Would you and I have said the same? We hear that world, suffering, and we still feel the aftershock of pain. I don’t need to describe such sorrow to you. I know you know. But if you think Job’s story is a mere myth of suffering. I have another true story. It comes from the latest Forward in Christ magazine. A Christian named Stephen Keuhl wrote this six days after losing his wife and youngest daughter, his father-in-law, his sister-in-law, and two nieces in a house fire, “In Christ alone, God’s people win, whether in life or in death. Relish the fact that our Spirit-worked faith in our victory in Christ vexes the devil in no small way, especially when his evil work only ends up making us more steeled against him.” And went on to quote but one verse, Job 1:21. Yes our suffering is shocking, but God’s love shocks us so much more.

How could Job and Stephen endure? It isn’t because they’re a different breed of human. It’s because they knew the shocking nature of God’s love that stuns the power of suffering into bringing goodness to us. Think this through with me. When the LORD suggests to Satan about Job we are so quick to forget one crucial detail: The LORD already knew how Job’s whole story would end. God is outside of time. He sees all of human history in a snapshot. Satan could never take God away from Job. In your suffering, know that Jesus already knows your whole story. Suffering has been given to you not for your ultimate harm, but for your ultimate good. If all it accomplishes is to remind you of God’s constant presence in your life, think about the effect. You may lose a job, a friend, a loved one, or an ability, but you can never lose Jesus. Those losses can’t take your joy, because you know one day, he’ll make everything right. His Word will never be broken. His resurrection proves it so. As marvelous as that is, we haven’t even gotten to the central reason why Job could praise God in his suffering-storm and why you can too, because without suffering we would never know the full extent of the LORD’s shocking love. What do I mean?

We may question the why behind our suffering, but we can never question if God cares about our pain. How can I say that with such certainty? Because of one shocking combination of lethal wooden beams we call the cross. It was there that the greatest tragedy and triumph in history happened as the only purely innocent person the world has ever known hung on an execution device. Your Jesus and mine, who not only chose to endure such physical suffering but the far more lethal emotional and spiritual abuse and trauma we all have endured. He drank his cup and he drank every last drop. Pause at this moment. To consider that Jesus knew from before the world began that he would go through an infinite level of suffering, that he would choose to know your pain even more deeply than you do, and still go through with creating the universe, with creating you. He knew all the reasons he would have not to love us, but he still did and always will. He will never stop choosing to love you. Could it be that only through suffering can we know the truest of love? It is dear Christian. I know it’s shocking to consider, but Jesus did all of it…for you. Job knew this promise and he held fast to it because he knew his LORD would never let him go. 
This is the Christian view of suffering: “My suffering has been given to me by my good and gracious Father in heaven. If he says this is good for me, I trust him. The cross of Jesus has won my trust forever. I know he loves me.” Now the suffering doesn’t get easier, but don’t you see a far different purpose? When confronted with the thorny question, “Why God?” your mind and heart go to the cross of Jesus. The wonder of God’s grace gives you the wisdom to grasp the true nature of suffering. Yes, the LORD has cross-bearing in your story, just like it was for him. Yes, he will allow Satan to be the agent of that suffering, but don’t forget, he has Satan on a leash. God sets the boundaries and Satan must abide by them, and in this way, as Tim Keller once said, “God gives Satan only enough rope for him to hang himself with.” Or as Prof. Daniel Deustchlander once wrote, “Out of love God lets the dog bite us…but the Father is waiting for us. He sends his Son rushing to the rescue…(he) tugs us back into the Father’s arms, arms rich in mercy with a voice filled with grace. The devil…has served his purpose. God has used him to help in our restoration, quite contrary to the devil’s intent. Again, what divine irony!” Hidden in our suffering, revealed at the cross, is the victorious presence of God, molding us more in the image of his Son.

But we would be doing our topic an injustice if we didn’t say one thing more. Your suffering isn’t just for you, but for souls you don’t even know. Think of Job, he’ll be giving us wisdom for the next six weeks on how to face suffering with the LORD, and he never knew that. He never knew the reason or circumstances behind his suffering, and yet he has impacted more lives on the way to heaven than we’ll ever know. My own Nama had no idea the gospel witness she gave me as I heard her sing hymns to Jesus and watched her smile with joy even when I knew she was in pain. Now think of it, I’ve gotten to share her story with you! How amazing it is that God can use our pain to reveal his love far beyond this world's confines. By faith, we sing through the storm, “He will not let me suffer harm though many storms may gather. Now I know both joy and woe; someday I shall see clearly that he has loved me dearly.” And when that final day comes, and we see our Savior face to face, we’ll know that every tear was worth it. Because we’ll be home with Job, with my Nama, with our family in Christ who will remember sadness no more. Amen.