Job Teaches Us About Suffering

The book of Job contains human and divine perspectives on the problem of suffering. In my years of jail ministry, Job was one of the most popular and often read books in the Bible. The guys could identify with Job’s loss of most everything in this life. We can all learn from Job regardless of the extent of our sufferings.

The Book of Job

Job is part of a subdivision of the Hebrew bible known as the “Poetic” books, with Psalms and Proverbs. Job can also be grouped with Proverbs and Ecclesiastes as “Wisdom literature”. Like ancient Israel, we need to think about Job as a long poem, a form of literature.

The fact that Job is written mostly as a narrative poem doesn’t mean that Job wasn’t a real person however. Ezekiel 14 refers to Job along with two real people, Noah and Daniel. The only reference to Job in the New Testament is in James 5:11 “…You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about….”. I think Job was a real person, but the story is told using literary devices often found in parables and allegories.

Structure of the book

The first two chapters set up the dialogues that follow. Job is established as a righteous person, which makes us, like Job, ask the question “why is this happening to me?” Throughout the book, until God appears on the scene, Job insists that he has done nothing wrong, in fact, he has lived a righteous life.

Chapters 3-32 consist of poetic dialogue between Job and his three “friends”. The friends’ basic assumption is that Job must have done something wrong for this to happen to him. We all sometimes have this mindset. The disciples once asked Jesus, “who sinned… that this man was born blind?”. (John 9). Jesus’ answer was “no one, but so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Chapters 32-37 feature a fourth person, Elihu, who is angry at Job for justifying himself rather than God, and angry at the three friends for failing to refute Job and condemning him. Elihu was closest to the truth. In fact, when God rebuked the three friends in chapter 42, he doesn’t mention Elihu at all.

God Shows Up

God speaks out of a whirlwind in chapters 38-41. There is a tone of sarcasm at first, i.e. “where were you when I established the earth?” (38:4). God then talks about the complexity of his creation, and describes natural processes and animals in detail. He describes his world as good, orderly, and beautiful. Then, he talks about the danger and disorder in the world, using the Behemoth and Leviathan to illustrate. These could refer to real animals or mythological ones (i.e. sea monsters and dragons). In all of this, God never answers Job’s basic question, “why?” In the last chapter of the book, God restores Job, commends him for speaking the truth, and rebukes the friends.

Lessons From Job

While God doesn’t give a reason for Job’s suffering, there are two things that strike me as possible reasons:

1. Fear vs. trust. Job used to sacrifice offerings for his children after they had their parties. He feared that they may have sinned and cursed God in their hearts (1:4-5). Then in 3:25, Job says “the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has happened to me”. Several other scriptures (Ps. 112:7, Pr. 1:33, Pr. 3:25) tell us not to fear sudden disaster or danger, but trust in the Lord. Maybe Job had an issue with fear, and God wanted to reassure him through his suffering and restoration that he is in control and had his eye on Job.

2. Relationship. In 42:5 Job confesses to God, “I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you”. This implies that Job was leading a righteous life, but was it more works based than relationship based? By allowing Job to go through his ordeal, he invited Job into a deeper relationship with him, based on trust, not fear.

How to Endure Suffering

1. Talking to God. There are two significant comments about Job. In 1:22, “throughout all this, Job did not sin or blame God for anything”. In 42:7, God says to Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has”. This seems to endorse Job’s brutal honesty about his feelings toward God. Like Job, we can be totally honest with God about our feelings. The Psalms are also full of these kinds of conversations.

2. Asking “why” is the wrong question. Job asked why, and wasn’t given the answer. Better questions might be, “God, what are you doing in all of this? How are you going to be glorified? What do you want to teach me? Hebrews 12:11, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it”. Suffering is God’s training. Like the football practice cliche, “no pain, no gain”.

3. Press into God. Job makes some awesome statements in the midst of his ordeal. “Even if he kills me, I will hope in him” (13:15). “For I know that my Redeemer lives… And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God…My heart longs within me!” (19:25-27). “He knows the way I have taken; when he has tested me, I will emerge as pure gold” (23:10). In all of our suffering, we can be totally honest with God, and like Job, we can speak his truth and his promises, remembering Jesus’ words in John 16:33, “You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”