Confusion in Suffering

Job waffles throughout the book in his response to the suffering. In Job 9 he was eager for someone to mediate his issues with God. Now in chapter 10 he's ready to die again as he was in Job 3. This is the trouble with suffering, it births emotional swings of massive proportions. 

Take note of his recounting of the goodness of God in his life:
Job 10:8–12 (ESV) Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. 9 Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? 10 Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? 11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. 12 You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.

Job recalls that all he is and all he has is from God. Yet, inwardly, his heart is sure that God did all this to set him up for ultimate suffering in taking it all away. 

Job 10:13 (ESV) Yet these things you hid in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.

And I think we have here a picture of what we should actually do in suffering even when it looks wrong. We need to work it out in our heads. We need to walk through the emotions one at a time and let time bring us from one stage to another. They speak about the 5 stages of grief for this reason. 

Job is confused by suffering. That's what suffering will do to all of us. Here Job considers God was only out to get him from the beginning. At the end of this chapter, Job wants this version of the Lord he has imagined to go away...

Job 10:20–22 (ESV) Are not my days few? Then cease, and leave me alone, that I may find a little cheer 21 before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow, 22 the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness.”

Here's another confusion the suffering has produced in Job. For it was God who set the limits on his suffering from the hand of the devil. If God had stepped away, the devil would have surely killed him! 

The story invites us into the confusion of Job so that we won't be shocked by our own confusion in our suffering. Trouble brings doubt to faith, but we are again the beneficiaries of Job's story with a back-stage pass. 

Let us consider then, that while we do suffer, God is the only one who mitigates its ultimate impact. Your hope in suffering is not less of God but more of Him, which is exactly what Job will get in the end. 

Let us renew our confidence that He is with us always even when we are confused about how close He may actually be.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God’s View of You

Sometimes I think we imagine that God is mostly disappointed with us. That He puts up with us and bears with us because He has to (after all He is love), but most of the time our glaring weaknesses weary Him and make His day miserable. Of course, this is the devil’s doing in our minds. The truth of scripture bears out that the world has to get staunch-raving evil before God is totally weary of us. And the stories in the Old Testament remind us with each passing character that God is patient, loving and kind to His very flawed inconsistent servants. Saul is a case study of this. His lineage will not hold the kingdom, that has already been stated from the mishap of offering the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive in 1 Samuel 13. His next great gaff will happen in the chapter to come in 1 Samuel 15 where his own kingship will be taken from him and the anointing placed on one soon to come. Yes, God will regret making Saul king and we’ll talk about that next. But for now...
Read more

Leaders Who Later Fail

Remember Johanan from Jeremiah 41? The man who saved many others from the threats of the murderous coup? He seemed like a noble leader. But time reveals a lot.  Jeremiah 42:5–6 (ESV)  Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.” These are the words of the presumptive leaders of Israel in the land while the nation is in exile. The previous chapter saw a hero arise to protect a few remaining survivors. His name was Johanan. On the surface, he seems like a good man, seeking the will of the Lord in his leadership position. Jeremiah returns with directives from the Lord: Jeremiah 42:10 (ESV) If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant y...
Read more

Hardship Makes Strong Friendship

Just when you think it's all over for Jeremiah, as the nation comes against him en masse, as the officials and priests want him to die, some really great things happen on his behalf. Some leaders come to his defense.  Jeremiah 26:16 (ESV) Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.” Just a few verses earlier the priests and "prophets" were calling for his execution. But verse 16 teaches us that there is always someone who will hear the Word even when we do not see it.  Not only do these officials hear the Word of the Lord, they know the history of the Word of the Lord. This is not the first time God prophesied disaster for the nation.  Jeremiah 26:17–19 (ESV) And certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, 18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to a...
Read more