One of God’s gifts to us, as human beings, is the ability to pursue answers to our questions. Indeed, whole books of the Bible are focused on answering important questions about life. One such book is Job. For this week’s blog, I’m going to briefly explore the question of the book and then show how the book of Job and the Gospel address this question.
THE THEODICY QUESTION
The question the book of Job unpacks is what’s known as the “theodicy question.” The word theodicy comes from two Greek words. Theos + dike = justification/vindication of God. If God is all powerful, then why doesn’t he do something about our suffering? Perhaps, God isn’t really good. On the other hand, God might be all good but not powerful enough to deal with evil.
The book of Job addresses the theodicy question in terms of the unexplained suffering of the man Job. Have you ever asked this question (or something like it) before – Why doesn’t God seem to care about suffering? I have done so. For me, it’s all about understanding. I would like to know God’s reasons. It would help me feel more comfortable and in control. God, help me to understand why it seems like you don’t care about suffering.
JOB – THE CHARACTER AND THE BOOK
I want to encourage you to approach the theodicy question and the book of Job not just intellectually – but also personally. The key to reading the book is to empathize with Job and his personal experience of unexplained suffering. There is this tension throughout the book. As readers, we know what’s going on with Job. But Job and his family and friends never get to know why he suffered as he did.
We get to hear about what’s happening in heaven. But Job and the other human characters never get that insight. In heaven, we hear about two tests Job undergoes without his knowing it. Let’s set the scene before we encounter the two tests in Job 1-2. After being introduced to a righteous and blessed man named Job, we hear a conversation in the court of heaven. God is speaking to angelic creatures. One of them is “the Satan” or “the adversary/accuser.” Let us hear about this test in Job1:6-12:
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Now, we can unpack each test. The first test is whether Job serves God purely for the sake of service. Job suffers four waves of horrible tragedies – he loses all his children, servants, and wealth. He passes the test. That’s chapter 1. In chapter 2, we find the second test, as we move from earth back to heaven. This time, the Adversary wants to harm Job’s body. God allows this, but he cannot kill Job. Again, Job passes the test.
This is the prologue to the book, which sets up the rest of the book. The middle section (chaps. 3-37) then shifts to poetry, with 3 cycles of dialogue about Job’s suffering. Then, in chapters 38-42:6, God shows up and speaks out of the whirlwind, manifesting his glorious presence and speaking to Job and his 3 friends. Finally, in the last part of chapter 42 (vv. 7-17), the book returns to prose, telling the story of Job’s restoration. Thus, prose at the beginning and end frames the poetry in the middle
Let’s focus for a bit on that middle section. Job and his 3 friends debate what’s known as “retribution theology” – righteousness leads to prosperity and wickedness to destruction. Basically, God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. As readers, we’re meant to consider all the different arguments in this section of the book
The way we put the question is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” For Job’s friends, Job must have done something to earn it. But for Job, he maintains that although he has sinned, nothing he has done warrants what he’s suffered. Basically, Job is struggling to make sense of his experience, but Job’s friends are seeking to maintain their theology, what they know about God and his ways in the world.
What do you do when your faith and your life experiences don’t match up? How has your faith maybe been challenged during this year? Job gives us a good example in one regard – he laments (crying out to God about his suffering). This is something we can recover as the church. By the end of the book, Job never curses God, but he does demand God give an account of his justice. Job does stray in doing this, but as for the test at the beginning of the book, Job proves God right.
THE GOOD NEWS AND OUR SUFFERING
We get a different view of the book when we consider it in light of the Gospel. It seems that God does not care about our suffering. But the Gospel reframes the whole question. Not only does God care – but God is also good enough and powerful enough to deal with my suffering and the whole world’s suffering.
God suffers for us in the giving of his Son. This truth is found throughout the New Testament. Listen to the good news in 1 Peter 3:18 – For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.
This good news changes how we experience our difficult questions. I might suffer for various reasons – to shape my character, my sin, others’ sin, the brokenness of the world, the work of the devil, or God’s permissive will (what God allows to happen). We don’t get to know all the answers to our difficult questions. What we do get is the good news of God’s overcoming love through God’s Son. Let us trust and rejoice in this good news, as Jesus’ followers.
Year in the Bible 