Thoughts On Job Part 2

 Why Ask Why: Job's Trials and God's Sovereignty

The Bible isn’t just one book, it’s a historical novel mixed with tragedy and tons of drama. It’s violent but rooted in peace, heartbreaking but hopeful. It’s advice, poetry and a record of the past. It’s a ‘living’ document because it’s inspired by God, not because the lessons can be revised for a modern audience. The story of God’s creation and love for humanity is present from the beginning. It’s the common thread that runs from Old Testament to New, from the law to grace.

Trials of Job

The book of Job is a bit of a hobbyhorse for me. Like a puzzle, you can only see it when all the pieces fit together. Half the book is bad advice from his friends. You can’t cut and paste verses from Job without understanding the whole text. It reads like a series of essays from Job’s circle of friends which seem correct at first. You have to read to the end to find out what God says about Job’s council. There’s a great lesson in that as well. Does the advice from friends or family echo the scripture? Do they have your best interest at heart?

Job is different from the New Testament and even much of the Old. Normally we say the Old Testament is concerned with the law, and the New Testament is concerned with grace. But Job is written before the law. God revealed Himself to us in nature. “His invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made.” (Romans 1:20) Their frame of reference for God was different. In Moses day they referred to the law as their guiding principle. In the New Testament it’s Christ, as a fulfillment of the law. In Job’s day they reasoned among themselves.

Job’s wife and friends (except for Elihu) are full of bad advice. They believe Job sinned, and is therefore responsible for his calamity. But their intuition on human nature isn’t wrong. Their understanding of God’s sovereignty isn’t wrong either. They correctly position God as judge and jury in the affairs of humanity. Unlike modern man, their fear of the Lord drives their instincts.

Wise Council?

Zophar, for instance, tells Job “Do you not know this of old, since man was placed on earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?” (chapter 20:4-5) Actually that’s good advice. It’s biblical too. The problem is, it’s applied to Job. He isn’t responsible for the trials. God lays that out in the first chapter. Eliaphaz also treats Job like a sinner but tells truths about human nature. “What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous? (chapter 15:14)

He's saying that no person can gain righteousness of their own will. Most of his scolding of Job is true for people in general. But his friends haven’t heard from God on how to comfort Job. We can’t apply their instruction in this case. The sum total of their advice is wrong. That’s unlike a lot of the New Testament which points to Christ, the ultimate truth. Read Ephesians sometime, or Philippians. They’re rooted in a clear understanding of who God is and what He demands of us. His attributes and love form the basis for how we, His people, are to live. Kingdom principles fill Paul’s letters.

God’s Sovereignty

Job is a mystery where the title character discovers a universal truth in the end. It’s a foundational book that examines the Creator and His creation. Or better said, it examines our relationship to God as beings that carry His imprint. We don’t understand how He designed the stars or ‘hung the earth on nothing’. But we can know that He is the source of all knowledge and His plan for creation unfolds constantly. God’s sovereignty requires that we come to him in reverence.

It might not be worthwhile to compare Job to Paul’s letters in the New Testament. Nor to compare it to the gospels or the books of Moses from the wilderness years. But I think I’ll always have some reservations about the book of Job. God doesn’t exactly tell Job why he permitted Satan to kill his kids, servants and livestock. We don’t know why, a pious servant who feared the Lord, found himself scrapping boils off his skin. Everything taken was eventually returned by orders of magnitude. Job’s wealth increased after the ordeal. His family was blessed and he “saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.” If he had wealth before the trial, afterwards he became extremely rich.

Conclusion

 That God makes our way prosperous is not the issue. His first covenant was with Abraham, the wealthy trader to whom the Israelites trace their genealogy. Christians do as well since the new covenant.

The struggle in my head is over the ‘game’ that God plays with Satan over a ‘blameless and upright’ man. I can’t shake the comparison to the movie Trading Places with Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. Two bankers make a $1 bet that they can replace their money manager with another and get the same results. In the process they ruin both men’s lives. It’s a crude comparison I’ll admit, but the story is set up this way.

Or is it?

Maybe the whole point of Job is that we don’t get to ask why. Does God permit some trials in our life to test us? I believe He does. James 1:3 says the “Testing of your faith produces patience”. God reveals some things and not others. He determines our path and directs our way. Don’t listen to advice unless it’s from the Lord. But you might not get an answer to your "Why?".