Gifts of Job (Part 2)

Last week I shared how the ancient book of Job gives us the assurance that God understands and even anticipates our struggle with suffering, and that Job’s example gives us permission to voice our questions before God honestly. His story also gives us permission to reject answers that may sound “spiritual” but are not ultimately correct.

Let’s continue to examine some further gifts to be found in the book of Job.

The Gift of No Answers

Have you ever stopped to consider that God never really answered Job? In fact, when God does speak, He spends 4 chapters challenging Job with questions of His own, including “have you commanded the morning…and caused the dawn to know its place?” (Job 38:12), and “Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?” (Job 38:18). Yet God never answers Job’s underlying question of “why did these things happen to me?.” And while that may be challenging for us to accept, it really is a gift. It’s a gift because If God had given Job a direct answer, we humans would be tempted to turn that answer into a formula – a tidy “if/then” rule that we would run into the ground. This is exactly what Job’s friends tried to do: If you repent, then God will restore (see Zophar’s speech in Job 11:14-15). And to be honest, this is what I try to do as well: If I ready my Bible and pray every day, then God will keep me from suffering.

But God understands the utter complexity of our human lives; He knows all the ins and outs of each individual life, personality, and experiences, —so He doesn’t give us an “answer.” Beyond that, God knows that our greatest need in life is a “Who” and not a “why.” When God spoke to Job, he reminded Job that he was the creator, sustainer, and ruler of this world. Through his word God reminds us that He alone is God and that He desires that we live not by formulas, but in a real, personal relationship with him. Job got the message and recognized that his perspective and understanding were far too small when compared to God’s. He put his hand over his mouth, stopped talking and worshipped (Job 40:4-5).

The Gift of Response

Although God doesn’t give Job the answer he’s been asking for, God does respond to Job’s pain and lament. The Creator will not be held accountable by the created one, but he will respond to the honest cry of his hurting people. But in this, too, God does not respond in a predetermined pattern. Consider this—in Job God appears in a whirlwind, but in 1 Kings 19 God appears to His discouraged prophet Elijah in a much different manner. In Elijah’s case, God does not show up in anything as dramatic as a whirlwind, but instead through a gentle whisper. God knows the hearts of His children; He knows exactly what His people need when suffering or discouraged—and He responds accordingly. Sometimes we need a good, knock-you-off-your-feet whirlwind to wake us up; sometimes we need a gentle whisper that quiets our soul. We can trust God to know what is needed and to respond to us with exactly what we need.

The Gift of Jesus

Ultimately, Job reminds us of the perfect Blameless and Righteous Man who experienced unjust pain and suffering – Christ Jesus. In the book of Job, God assures us that He understands our human dilemma. In the person of Jesus, God identifies with our humanity by experiencing the pain of betrayal, the injustice of the courts, the agony of crucifixion, and the shame of nakedness on the Cross. Through Jesus, God gives us the gift of physically walking in our shoes. And because of that gift, we have a “merciful and faithful High Priest…Because He Himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:17-18). Jesus does not come to us with accusations and guilt trips like Job’s friends; he comes as a merciful and compassionate High Priest, sympathetic to our weakness and faithful to come alongside of us.

I’ve now come to love the book of Job, and to understand why this book has been a comfort for so many in their own suffering. Job’s story is an encouragement, reminding us that we can cry out to God even in our deepest pain, and that we can still worship him, because he remains sovereign over his creation. As we encounter our own varieties of suffering, may we also “draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).