Why does God allow Suffering?
Let's open our bibles to the book and Job, and please listen along, as the complete message is on the audio recording and not on transcript.
Chapter 1-3
There lived in the land of Uz a man named Job--a good man who feared God and stayed away from evil.He had a large family of seven sons and three daughters and was immensely wealthy, for he owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and employed many servants. He was, in fact, the richest cattleman in that entire area.Every year when Job's sons had birthdays, they invited their brothers and sisters to their homes for a celebration. On these occasions they would eat and drink with great merriment.When these birthday parties ended--and sometimes they lasted several days--Job would summon his children to him and sanctify them, getting up early in the morning and offering a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and turned away from God in their hearts." This was Job's regular practice.One day as the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan, the Accuser, came with them. "Where have you come from?" the Lord asked Satan. And Satan replied, "From earth, where I've been watching everything that's going on."Then the Lord asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth--a good man who fears God and will have nothing to do with evil.""Why shouldn't he when you pay him so well?" Satan scoffed. "You have always protected him and his home and his property from all harm. You have prospered everything he does--look how rich he is! No wonder he 'worships' you! But just take away his wealth, and you'll see him curse you to your face!" And the Lord replied to Satan, "You may do anything you like with his wealth, but don't harm him physically." So Satan went away; and sure enough, not long afterwards when Job's sons and daughters were dining at the oldest brother's house, tragedy struck. A messenger rushed to Job's home with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us, drove away the animals, and killed all the farmhands except me. I am the only one left." While this messenger was still speaking, another arrived with more bad news: "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the herdsmen, and I alone have escaped to tell you." Before this man finished, still another messenger rushed in: "Three bands of Chaldeans have driven off your camels and killed your servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you." As he was still speaking, another arrived to say, "Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother's home, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and engulfed the house so that the roof fell in on them and all are dead; and I alone escaped to tell you." Then Job stood up and tore his robe in grief and fell down upon the ground before God. "I came naked from my mother's womb," he said, "and I shall have nothing when I die. The Lord gave me everything I had, and they were his to take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." In all of this Job did not sin or revile God. Now the angels came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan was with them. "Where have you come from?" the Lord asked Satan. "From earth, where I've been watching everything that's going on," Satan replied. "Well, have you noticed my servant Job?" the Lord asked. "He is the finest man in all the earth--a good man who fears God and turns away from all evil. And he has kept his faith in me despite the fact that you persuaded me to let you harm him without any cause." "Skin for skin," Satan replied. "A man will give anything to save his life. Touch his body with sickness, and he will curse you to your face!" "Do with him as you please," the Lord replied; "only spare his life." So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with a terrible case of boils from head to foot. Then Job took a broken piece of pottery to scrape himself and sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to be godly when God has done all this to you? Curse him and die." But he replied, "You talk like some heathen woman. What? Shall we receive only pleasant things from the hand of God and never anything unpleasant?" So in all this Job said nothing wrong. When three of Job's friends heard of all the tragedy that had befallen him, they got in touch with each other and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. Job was so changed that they could scarcely recognize him. Wailing loudly in despair, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air and put earth on their heads to demonstrate their sorrow. Then they sat upon the ground with him silently for seven days and nights, no one speaking a word; for they saw that his suffering was too great for words. At last Job spoke and cursed the day of his birth. "Let the day of my birth be cursed," he said, "and the night when I was conceived.Let that day be forever forgotten. Let it be lost even to God, shrouded in eternal darkness.Yes, let the darkness claim it for its own, and may a black cloud overshadow it. May it be blotted off the calendar, never again to be counted among the days of the month of that year. Let that night be bleak and joyless.Let those who are experts at cursing curse it. Let the stars of the night disappear. Let it long for light but never see it, never see the morning light. Curse it for its failure to shut my mother's womb, for letting me be born to come to all this trouble. "Why didn't I die at birth? Why did the midwife let me live? Why did she nurse me at her breasts? For if only I had died at birth, then I would be quiet now, asleep and at rest, along with prime ministers and kings with all their pomp, and wealthy princes whose castles are full of rich treasures. Oh, to have been stillborn!--to have never breathed or seen the light. For there in death the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. There even prisoners are at ease, with no brutal jailer to curse them. Both rich and poor alike are there, and the slave is free at last from his master. "Oh, why should light and life be given to those in misery and bitterness, who long for death, and it won't come; who search for death as others search for food or money? What blessed relief when at last they die! Why is a man allowed to be born if God is only going to give him a hopeless life of uselessness and frustration? I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water. What I always feared has happened to me. I was not fat and lazy, yet trouble struck me down."
Job's friends told Job you must have been a terrible man, you must have sinned so badly for God to do this to you. And Job replied,
Chapter 31
"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust upon a girl. I know full well that Almighty God above sends calamity on those who do. He sees everything I do and every step I take. "If I have lied and deceived-- but God knows that I am innocent-- or if I have stepped off God's pathway, or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen, or if I am guilty of any other sin, then let someone else reap the crops I have sown and let all that I have planted be rooted out. "Or if I have longed for another man's wife, then may I die, and may my wife be in another man's home and someone else become her husband. For lust is a shameful sin, a crime that should be punished. It is a devastating fire that destroys to hell and would root out all I have planted. "If I have been unfair to my servants, how could I face God? What could I say when he questioned me about it? For God made me and made my servant too. He created us both. "If I have hurt the poor, or caused widows to weep, or refused food to hungry orphans-- (but we have always cared for orphans in our home, treating them as our own children)-- or if I have seen anyone freezing and not given him clothing or fleece from my sheep to keep him warm, or if I have taken advantage of an orphan because I thought I could get away with it-- if I have done any of these things, then let my arm be torn from its socket! Let my shoulder be wrenched out of place! Rather that than face the judgment sent by God; that I dread more than anything else. For if the majesty of God opposes me, what hope is there? "If I have put my trust in money, if my happiness depends on wealth, or if I have looked at the sun shining in the skies or the moon walking down her silver pathway and my heart has been secretly enticed, and I have worshiped them by kissing my hand to them, this, too, must be punished by the judges. For if I had done such things, it would mean that I denied the God of heaven. "If I have rejoiced at harm to an enemy-- (but actually I have never cursed anyone nor asked for revenge)-- or if any of my servants have ever gone hungry-- (actually I have never turned away even a stranger but have opened my doors to all)-- or if, like Adam, I have tried to hide my sins, fearing the crowd and its contempt so that I refused to acknowledge my sin and do not go out of my way to help others-- (oh, that there were someone who would listen to me and try to see my side of this argument. Look, I will sign my signature to my defense; now let the Almighty show me that I am wrong; let him approve the indictments made against me by my enemies. I would treasure it like a crown. Then I would tell him exactly what I have done and why, presenting my defense as one he listens to). "Or if my land accuses me because I stole the fruit it bears, or if I have murdered its owners to get their land for myself, then let thistles grow on that land instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley." Job's words are ended.
Chapter 38
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:"Why are you using your ignorance to deny my providence? Now get ready to fight, for I am going to demand some answers from you, and you must reply. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" Who decreed the boundaries of the seas when they gushed from the depths? Who clothed them with clouds and thick darkness and barred them by limiting their shores, and said, 'Thus far and no farther shall you come, and here shall your proud waves stop'? "Have you ever once commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth, to end the night's wickedness? Have you ever robed the dawn in red, and disturbed the haunts of wicked men, and stopped the arm raised to strike? "Have you explored the springs from which the seas come, or walked in the sources of their depths? Has the location of the gates of death been revealed to you? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know! Where does the light come from, and how do you get there? Or tell me about the darkness. Where does it come from? Can you find its boundaries, or go to its source? But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!
In other words God was Job, Job do you really want the answer to every question? Do you think you're going to be God? Chapter 40 The Lord went on:
Chapter 40
"Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield? Do you--God's critic--have the answers?" Then Job replied to God: "I am nothing--how could I ever find the answers? I lay my hand upon my mouth in silence. I have said too much already." Then the Lord spoke to Job again from the whirlwind: "Stand up like a man and brace yourself for battle. Let me ask you a question, and give me the answer. Are you going to discredit my justice and condemn me so that you can say you are right? Are you as strong as God, and can you shout as loudly as he? All right then, put on your robes of state, your majesty and splendor. Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. Humiliate the haughty with a glance; tread down the wicked where they stand. Knock them into the dust, stone-faced in death. If you can do that, then I'll agree with you that your own strength can save you.
Chapter 42
Then Job replied to God: "I know that you can do anything and that no one can stop you. You ask who it is who has so foolishly denied your providence. It is I. I was talking about things I knew nothing about and did not understand, things far too wonderful for me. "You said, 'Listen and I will speak! Let me put the questions to you! See if you can answer them!' "But now I say, 'I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you, and I loathe myself and repent in dust and ashes.' " After the Lord had finished speaking with Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "I am angry with you and with your two friends, for you have not been right in what you have said about me, as my servant Job was. Now take seven young bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves; and my servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf, and won't destroy you as I should because of your sin, your failure to speak rightly concerning my servant Job." So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer on their behalf. Then, when Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his wealth and happiness! In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! Then all of his brothers, sisters, and former friends arrived and feasted with him in his home, consoling him for all his sorrow and comforting him because of all the trials the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them brought him a gift of money and a gold ring. So the Lord blessed Job at the end of his life more than at the beginning. For now he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. God also gave him seven more sons and three more daughters. These were the names of his daughters: Jemima, Kezia, Keren. And in all the land there were no other girls as lovely as the daughters of Job; and their father put them into his will along with their brothers.Job lived 140 years after that, living to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren too. Then at last he died, an old, old man, after living a long, good life.
You must go home some time and read that whole story, what a story, how that man in all his natural passion and cried out against God and argued against God. And God, saying to Job, you're just a man, you shouldn't be arguing like this; you're trying to put me in the wrong so that you can be right? Job you must leave the answer with me. And the secret of the whole story is this, Job never knew why God allowed him to suffer...
