Tested faith?

 

 

READ Job:1-4

Probably the most asked yet unanswered question is about suffering. If God is good, why does it happen? How can God be sovereign over the affairs of man and allow suffering to anyone, especially His people? How can the Lord say, “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7) yet also say, “Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker; he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 17:5)?

When confronted with such questions, my best and most honest answer is that I don’t have a clue. Yet that is not true. The clues for some suffering are in the book of Job where a man who loved and served God was prosperous and doing well. Then, without warning or being told why, his life fell apart. He lost everything: his wealth, his children, his health. His wife told him to curse God and die.

If that were the only thing revealed in his story, there would be no answers. Would I conclude, as his ‘friends’ did, that God must be punishing Job for some hidden and unconfessed sin? But there is more to the story. The first two chapters tell how Satan came to God and challenged Him. He basically said that if Job did not have such a good life, he would never put his faith in God.

Then Satan said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” (Job 1:9–11)

God replied, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” (Job 1:12) and great calamities began in the life of this faithful servant of God.

Much to Satan’s annoyance, “Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:22) So the devil came back with the accusation that Job would curse God if he lost his health. God permitted that test also, but “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (Job 2:10)

God has blessed us with health and prosperity, a nice home and a beloved family. I can actually imagine myself in Job’s place having it all taken away. Would this story be a comfort? Perhaps I would react as Job initially did and wish I’d never been born. Perhaps our Christian friends and other friends and neighbors would suggest that we must have done something wrong to deserve this. Would I be upset if God remained silent? And would God need to remind me that I know almost zilch about His doings and His purposes? Would He need to tell me of His great power and humble me as He did with Job?

I don’t have answers for the hypothetical. I just know that this story tells me that I don’t know very much. God is my Father, Jesus is my Savior and Friend, and the Holy Spirit is my guide through life. I’ve read the Bible dozens of times, study it daily, pray often, and am still in the dark about much of what God is doing. Why the wars? Why the sicknesses? Why are His people being slaughtered for their faith in many places in the world? Why do children get cancer? Why does He allow injustice and greed? Why does God not do only good and leave out the calamity part?

Perhaps the greater mystery is that despite all those questions, I know in my heart that He is holy, righteous, loving, and merciful. I know that He sent Jesus to die for me so I can live forever with Him. I also know that I trust Him and that whatever He allows to happen in my life is not to harm me but give me hope. This defines the faith that comes from Him as a gift of His grace. This faith hangs in there because it is from God and not my doing. If it were humanly possible, Job could not have held on through his first set of losses, never mind after losing everything. For faith such as this, I can only praise the Lord!