Job: Senseless Evil and Insensitive Friends

READ: JOB 42; ROMANS 12:15

The book of Job wrestles with a question we’ve been asking for a long time: “Why do we suffer?” While we may rush to answers like “suffering makes us stronger” or “only bad people suffer,” these fall flat when we see a friend in heart-wrenching, life-sucking, can’t-get-out-of-bed anguish. And they aren’t the answers God gives in the book of Job.

The Bible tells us that Job was “blameless—a man of complete integrity” (Job 1:1). But God permitted Satan to steal Job’s wealth, attack Job’s health, and kill Job’s children. Job’s friends traveled to be with him, and they mourned with him silently for a week. Then Job spoke, cursing the day he was born.

But, instead of comforting him, Job’s friends insisted he must have done something wrong to deserve this terrible suffering. They argued back and forth for several chapters as Job defended his innocence and made a legal case against God for his unjust suffering. Meanwhile, his friends repeatedly accused Job of some forgotten or overlooked sin in his past.

Finally, God spoke.

But God didn’t say, “Hey Job, here’s why I’ve allowed you to suffer.” Instead, He revealed His glory in a whirlwind and reminded Job that He is the loving, sovereign Creator of the universe. God showed Job and his friends that He is there, and He is bigger than suffering. His reasons for allowing suffering aren’t simple, and they aren’t always for us to understand.

I know that’s not the answer we want. Or at least, it’s not the answer I want. I would like a precise, point-by-point breakdown of exactly why all the suffering had to happen. But that’s not what God gives us. He doesn’t give us a list of reasons. Instead, He gives us Himself. And, at least for Job, that’s enough. After he heard God’s answer, Job said, “I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me…I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” (Job 42:3-5).

As believers, we can know that Jesus dwells with us in the dust and ashes of this broken world, sharing in our suffering and promising that sin and death will not have the last word. As the all-knowing, all-powerful, loving God of the universe, Jesus became human, suffered on the cross to defeat sin, rose from the grave to defeat death, and is returning to destroy suffering forever. Jesus knows personally what suffering feels like, and He is determined to free us from the grip of sin and all its effects (Hebrews 4:14-16; Revelation 21:1-5). And even as we wait for the day suffering will be over, Jesus is with us through the Holy Spirit, comforting us in all our troubles (John 14:16-18; 2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

So where does that leave us?

Well, whenever we’re suffering, we can rest in Jesus’s loving arms. We can bring Him all our pain, our anger, our questions, and our frustrations. God may not show up in a whirlwind like He did for Job, but He is right there with us, inviting us to fix our eyes on Him.

And when our friends are suffering, we can sit with them in their pain. Hurt with them. Love them. And point them to Jesus, who loves them even more than we do, and who is returning to destroy all sin, suffering, and death—forever. • Taylor Eising

• Because the God who holds us through suffering is so big yet also knows our suffering personally, we can bring all our hurts and pains to Him through lament. He can handle it. What laments do you want to bring to Him today, either for your own suffering or the suffering of others? Consider taking a moment to tell Him about whatever is on your mind.

• Comforting a friend in pain can feel awkward, especially when we don’t know what to say. But, sometimes, being with them silently is the best thing we can do. How did Job’s “friends” make his pain worse? What do you think they could have done to bring comfort to Job?

• Jesus feels our pain with us—He even weeps with us. How could this truth help us draw near to Him for comfort when we’re hurting? 

Then Job replied to the LORD...“I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” Job 42:1, 5 (NLT)