Suffering and
Faith
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Every Bible
student knows that Job was a
wealthy man. The Bible says,
“He had seven sons and three
daughters, and he owed seven
thousand sheep, three thousand
camels, five hundred yoke of oxen
and five hundred donkeys, and had
a large number of servants. He
was the greatest man among all
the people of the East.”
(Job 1:2,3) Although the Bible
does not completely resolve the
question of location and timing,
I believe Job lived between the
times of the Flood (approximately
2426 B.C.) and the Exodus (1437
B.C.) Many scholars believe Moses
recorded the story of Job during
his forty-year tenure as a
shepherd. Regardless of when or
where the story took place, or
even who penned it, we do know
that God regarded Job a righteous
man. God told Lucifer on two
separate occasions,
“…There is no one on
Earth like him [Job]; he is
blameless and upright, a man who
fears God and shuns evil.”
(Job 1:8; 2:3) If only God could
make such a declaration about
everyone who professes to know
Him!
The
Larger Story
Most Christians
have heard about Job’s
terrible sufferings.
Unfortunately, many Christians
have not seriously contemplated
the marvelous insights found
within this story of suffering.
Personally, as I have pondered
this story, I have discovered
several insights that I would
like to share with you. This is
an important topic, especially
since we are racing toward a
destiny of significant suffering
during the Great Tribulation.
When we carefully review
Job’s life, as certain
insights surface, keep the
parallel implications for the
Great Tribulation in mind.
High-Level
Meetings
One day God
convened another high-level
meeting of “administrative
rulers” from around the
universe. (Job 1:6) The devil was
allowed to attend these
high-level meetings because he
represented himself as the prince
or ruler of this world. (Job 1:7)
Some readers may not be aware
that the devil remained the
prince of this world until Jesus
died at Calvary and redeemed it.
(John 12:31; 16:11; Revelation
12:7-9) God, in His wisdom,
allowed the devil to attend these
meetings as representative from
Earth, so the other angels might
be able to observe the vast
difference between an
administration of sin and an
administration of righteousness.
As the agenda of
the meeting progressed, the Lord
asked the devil if he had noticed
His servant, Job. Given
this opportunity to speak, the
devil began to complain. He said
that he had noticed Job and all
that God had given him. However,
the devil quickly stated that if
God took away Job’s
prosperity and possessions, he
would curse God to His face.
Obviously, the devil said in an
effort to remind the angels who
were present about his ancient
claim that God is unfair and
arbitrary. Of course, the Lord
was prepared for the devil’s
remark. “The Lord said to
Satan, “Very well, then,
everything he has is in your
hands, but on the man himself do
not lay a finger.” Then
Satan went [flying] out from the
presence of the Lord.” (Job
1: 12, insertion mine) I
inserted the word
“flying” because I am
sure the devil left that meeting
in a hurry! He was on a hasty
mission to fully demonstrate to
his former friends and colleagues
that God’s universal
government was corrupt, senseless
and very inadequate.
Insight #
1
The first insight
I want to draw your attention to
in the book of Job is that this
drama is cosmic in nature. What I
mean by this is that this drama
must be understood from
Heaven’s point of view. The
Heavenly focal point of this
story is not so much about Job,
as it is about the ongoing
controversy between Christ and
Satan. Before the world was
created, Satan claimed that God
was an evil dictator. He insisted
that God’s children were
nothing more than hand-servants
who catered to God because they had
no other choice. Even more,
the devil declares that no one
can ever be free of God’s
heavy-handed dominion throughout
the universe. On the other hand,
Jesus claims that all of
God’s children have the
power of choice. He insists that
each being is free to choose
whether they will submit to the
authority of God or not. Yet,
Satan maintains that if one of
God’s created beings chooses
to rebel against the authority of
God, He will kill them –
which proves the point that if
someone exercises their power of
choice, God will destroy them.
The devil’s conclusions can
be summed up like this:
“God’s hand servants do
not actually have the power of
choice. Instead, all they have is
the choice of death.”
I maintain that
the story of Job is not about
suffering the common consequences
of sin, disease, cancer, sickness
of all types and death. Rather,
the story of Job is about the
power of choice. God designed the
contest to prove that faith and
loyalty are a matter of choice.
The Lord initiated this drama by
offering the devil a direct
challenge. It was not the other
way around. Do not forget this
important point! The devil did
not preconceive the idea of
testing Job. The Lord offered
“a blameless man” as a
specimen for the test and the
devil accepted the challenge. I
believe God’s purpose for
doing this was for the
angel’s benefit that oversee
various parts of the universe.
God wanted them to observe and
understand a very important
aspect of His government.
Although the
angels attending this high-level
meeting had been in Heaven when
the contest between Christ and
Satan actually began, they did
not completely understand
Lucifer’s methods or issues
involved. When Lucifer led his
original revolt against
God’s government, one of his
most believable claims was that
God was unfair and unjust. The
devil’s presentation against
God was so convincing that
one-third of the angels joined
him and openly rebelled against
Almighty God! Think about this:
In time, one third of the angels
eventually grew to hate God
enough that they would willingly
kill Him if they could. When this
rebellion reached the point of no
return, God threw Lucifer and his
followers out of Heaven. (Isaiah
14:12; Ezekiel 28:17; revelation
12:4; Luke 10:18)
Political
Process
Try to understand
the situation and the events that
led up to the eviction of the
devil and his followers. Lucifer
was created a perfect being. For
many years, he loved God and
served as an anointed cherub.
(Ezekiel 28: 12-17) Incredibly,
over the course of time, Lucifer
eventually became dissatisfied
with God and ultimately,
championed a great rebellion
against Him. (Notice that this
proves the
once-saved/always-saved doctrine
is not valid. Lucifer’s pure
heart became a carnal heart.) The
devil used a common political
process to accomplish this great
rebellion – he used freedom
of speech. Lucifer traveled
around the universe and standing
on his political soapbox,
presented his take on God’s
faults – smearing His name
in an attempt to gain followers.
(Sound familiar?) His
arguments consisted of several
sophisticated and passionate
presentations against God’s
government. Lucifer amplified the
“fact” that angels were
merely God’s hand-servants
and that God unjustly
favored some angels with
authority and possessions, while
others were assigned to lesser
positions and possessions. Once
assigned, angels were locked into
their impoverished estate for
eternity!
I believe that
Lucifer, who was the highest
ranking being at that time,
pretended to be concerned about
the welfare of his lesser angel
friends. His goal; was to gain
sympathy and then gain followers.
It seems reasonable that he made
a big issue over God’s
distribution of power and wealth.
He pointed to the obvious
disparity between the
angel’s positions of
responsibility as proof of
God’s inequity and
injustice. Now remember, to
understand how this looked at the
time, we need to consider the
angel’s perspective. Satan
claimed that God predetermined
the number of talents, authority
and wealth each angel would
receive. Therefore, to the carnal
heart (or Lucifer’s
sympathetic listeners), God
seemed responsible for the
disorder in Heaven. God’s
willful and intentional disparity
between angels was touted as
grossly unfair. The root problem,
of course, was Lucifer’s
dissatisfied carnal heart. What
was true then, is still true
today – the self-centered
heart is never at peace. Lucifer
was jealous of the rights and
prerogatives of Jesus, but his
presentations to the angels ran
deviously parallel to the real
issue at hand. Notice the
parallel: In Heaven, as well as
on Earth, created beings’
talents, authority and
possessions are not equally
assigned. (Matthew 25:14-30, Mark
10:40) This is true among angels
as well. (Isaiah 6:6; Genesis
3:24; Revelation 8:2)
God Deals
With the Blame
God is
omnipotent, omniscient and
omnipresent. Therefore, He is
both purposeful and intentional
in everything He does. Because of
this, He also receives the blame
when the spirit of accusation
presents itself in any given
situation. Consequently, God gets
directly involved in situations
from time to time, so He can
present the other side of the
argument. In the book of Isaiah,
He says, “Come now, let us
reason together,” say the
Lord…” (Isaiah 1:18)
When God sets up a situation, He
uses the circumstances to teach
valuable insights about His
Kingdom. I like to search out
these multidimensional aspects. I
said earlier that the story of
Job is primarily directed at
arguments used by Lucifer against
God’s government. However,
as we will see, the story of Job
also contains a number of
intimate revelations about Job,
his wife and the four men who
counseled him. To a careful and
thoughtful Bible student, God is
always able to say volumes about
His character and His Kingdom in
one simple story.
In an effort to
show complete fairness, the Lord
offered the devil an opportunity
to substantiate his case against
God’s government by
subjecting His servant Job
to an experiment. Of course,
there is a risk. It was not
revealed to Job that he was going
to be the object of this
excruciating experiment. Further,
Job could fail the test and
confirm the devil’s argument
by cursing God! Nevertheless,
God’s confidence in Job was
because Job had consistently
chosen to put faith in God.
The timing of this test was
perfect. Job and his wealthy
station among his peers were as
good as it can get on Earth. As
you look at this story very
deeply you could say: God chose
this setting to reveal whether
Job loved “God’s
presence or His presents.” I
believe the timing of this test
was perfect because the drama
involving Job takes place a few
centuries after the Flood.
You may never have considered
this before, but the Flood
“temporarily
substantiated” one of the
false claims Lucifer accusingly
declared about God to
Heaven’s host. Remember, the
devil had argued that if any
created being exercised their
“power of choice” and
chose to live contrary to
God’s demands, He would
destroy them without recourse. In
this light, the Flood’s
wholesale destruction of the
human race appeared for a while,
to substantiate Lucifer’s
claim.
Truth
Revealed in Small Steps
As we study the
Bible, it is important to
remember that God continues to
reveal and disclose additional
information about Himself and His
government. The finite (and this
includes the angels) never
completely understands the
Infinite; therefore, revelations
about God and His government are
constantly taking place. This
issue emphasizes why faith is the
essential prerequisite for
salvation. A created being can
enjoy living in the presence of
the omnipotent, omniscient and
omnipresent Creator that he does
not fully understand, but only if
he chooses to live by faith. In
other words, to be content and at
peace, you must believe that God
is completely righteous and
generously fair in all that He
does. Period! Faith in God must
be nonnegotiable. Faith in God
requires total submission to the
will of God – even if it is
not the popular thing to do.
One-third of the angels chose to
believe Lucifer’s lies
because he was able to cause them
to doubt God’s righteous
character. The devil made right
look wrong and wrong look right.
My point is this: When Lucifer
began his work of disaffection;
the angels did not understand sin
because they had never seen sin,
its properties and consequences.
If they could have known then,
what they know now, the outcome
could have been much different!
(The same could be said about the
antediluvians and the Flood. I am
sure every antediluvian would
have run into the ark if they had
known what was coming.
Nonetheless, it is it has always
been since the beginning of time
– a person is saved by faith
or not at all.) God knew for the
beginning what He knows right now
and this is why faith is the
all-important component for
living with God. Those angels who
chose to remain faithful to God
did so based on faith alone. We
know this because, (a) they did
not know the outcome of
Lucifer’s rebellion, and (b)
the devil raised questions about
God’s character, for which
there were no answers at that
time!
The reason God did
not destroy the devil and the
demons seem obvious. By not
destroying the devil and his
angel followers after they had
engaged in open rebellion, a
thousand questions about
God’s character and
government could be answered
without self-exoneration or
personal defense. In other words,
instead of defending Himself, God
simply allows sin to exist for a
period of time, so everyone could
see for himself or herself what
sin actually was. By the time,
sin’s drama is brought to a
close, God will resolve a number
of issues and answer
everyone’s questions, so
that sin will never rise again.
This is no small undertaking,
since the universe is populated
with creatures that have the
power of choice. In other words,
God is using a sad chapter in the
history of the universe to
illuminate the minds of all
creatures about the horrible
outcome of rebellion. God will
prove, in the end, that His ways
are generous, righteous, fair,
and just – not because He
declares them to be so, but
because they have been
demonstrated to be so! One more
point, God is love. This means
that God is not self-seeking. He
does nothing that is not in the
best interests of His subjects
and that includes Job!
The Devil at Work
Back to the story.
The devil wasted no time after
leaving that meeting in Heaven.
Standing in front of all the
attending angels, Lucifer boasted
of a certain victory and
immediately pounced on Job
without mercy. Notice what the
Bible says about Satan’s
prowess when God permits it:
“One day when Job’s
sons and daughters were feasting
and drinking wine at the oldest
brother’s house, a messenger
came to Job and said, “The
oxen were plowing and the donkeys
were grazing nearby, and the
Sabeans attacked and carried them
off. They put the servants to the
sword, and I am the only one who
has escaped to tell you!” While
he was still speaking, another
messenger came and said,
“The fire of God fell from
the sky and burned up the sheep
and the servants, and I am the
only one who escaped to tell
you!” While he was still
speaking, another messenger came
and said, “The Chaldeans
formed three raiding parties and
swept down on your camels and
carried them off. They put the
servants to the sword, and I am
the only one who escaped to tell
you!” While he was still
speaking, yet another messenger
came and said, “Your sons
and daughters were feasting and
drinking wine at the oldest
brother’s house, when
suddenly a mighty wind swept in
from the desert and struck the
four corners of the house. It
collapsed on them and they are
dead, and I am the only one who
has escaped to tell you!” At
this, Job got up and tore his
robe and shaved his head. Then he
fell to the ground in worship and
said: “Naked I came from my
mother’s womb, naked I will
depart. The Lord gave and the
Lord has taken away; may the name
of the Lord be praised.” In
all this, Job did not sin by
charging God with
wrongdoing.” (Job 1:13-22)
Insight # 2
The previous text
leads us to the second insight
illuminated in the book of Job.
When we consider the ferocious
powers of the devil, it can be a
terrifying thought. Did you
notice what Satan can and will do
to a human being in one day
if God permits it? Did you notice
that once he received permission,
the devil did not hesitate to
destroy everything he could? I
mention this because in the near
future, God is going to give the
devil great authority over
nations and peoples. (Read
Revelation 13:15)
Oops! Job
Gives the Wrong answer
The devil could
not believe his ears when he
heard Job’s faith-filled
response to those tragic events.
Job lost everything, with the
exception of his wife in a single
day and still, Job did not curse
God! Instead, he actually praised
God! This was not the outcome the
devil expected. (The devil does
not know the future nor does he
know how each person will react
in a given situation. The devil
is not omniscient [all knowing],
but he is a very good student of
human behavior.) Since Job did
not curse God, the devil realized
he needed another chance to break
Job’s spirit. The devil
knows how lingering physical pain
can break a person’s
emotional resolve and he sought
the privilege of torturing
Job’s flesh. These petitions
would be requested at the next
meeting. The Bible says, “On
another day the angels came to
present themselves before the
Lord, and Satan also came with
them to present himself before
him. And the Lord said to Satan,
“Where have you come
from?” Satan answered the
Lord, “From roaming through
the earth and going back and
forth in it.” Then the Lord
said to Satan, “Have you
considered my servant Job? There
is no one on earth like him; he
is blameless and upright, a man
who fears God and shuns evil. And
he maintains his integrity,
though you incited me against him
to ruin him without any reason.
“Skin for skin!” Satan
replied. “A man will give
all he has for his own life. But
stretch out your hand and strike
his flesh and bones, and he will
surely curse you to your
face.” The Lord said to
Satan, “Very well, then, he
is in your hands; but you must
spare his life.” So Satan
went out from the presence of the
Lord and afflicted Job with
painful sores from the soles of
his feet to the top of his
head.” (Job 2:1-7)
This text
indicates that another meeting
had been called to order and all
the angel rulers were present.
When the agenda reached the
situation of Job, the response of
the Lord to Satan was
embarrassingly simple. Jesus
basically said, “Job still
maintains his
integrity…” Of course,
the angels were anxious to hear
the devil’s response.
Careful not to admit defeat (the
carnal heart cannot accept defeat
and this is why Hitler killed
himself), the great dragon turned
red with fury as he
disrespectfully snapped back,
“Skin for skin…A man
will give all he has for his own
life. This argument offered by
Satan during this second meeting
reveals tow things. First, the
devil was taunting God’s
system of justice, which requires
a life for a life or “skin
for “skin.” (Genesis
9:5,6; Exodus 21:23) The devil
had killed Job’s children
and he knew that he was guilty of
first-degree murder unless he
could prove his point by making
Job sin. The devil also knew that
god would hold him accountable
for the death’s of
Job’s family and his
servants. So, Satan cleverly
argues for greater freedom to
torture Job. Second, the
devil’s comment reflects the
enormous change that takes place
in his heart. At one time,
Lucifer’s heart was full of
love for God and his angel
friends. Now, it was full of love
for himself. (Ezekiel 28:12) In
his pre-fallen state, Lucifer
would gladly given up his life
for Job. Never would he have
wanted to hurt Job. Yet, his
comment, “A man will give
all he has for his own
life,” revealed the content
of his own heart to the other
angels at that meeting.
Satan’s fallen nature was
revealed and the core of his
carnal heart now interpreted the
privilege of life from the
perspective of self-seeking. The
unspoken motto of the carnal
heart is this: “Self
preservation and self-promotion
above all else.” In our
fallen world where “me
first” and “me
best” is the rule,
preservation or promotion of
self, above all else, is
considered appropriate and even
legally defensible. But Jesus
said, “Greater love has no
one than this, that he lay down
his life for his friends.”
(John 15:13) “I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd lays
down his life for the
sheep.” (John 10:11)
God’s love is the complete
opposite of carnal love.
Insight #
3
The third insight
that springs from the book of Job
is this: If the carnal natural is
dominant in a man, then he will
give all his has to save his own
skin. For example, on several
occasions we have seen the
President of the United States
lie to save his own skin. On news
broadcasts, we have reports of
people killing others, only to
save their own skin. It is
interesting that, in this
specific instance, the devil
actually spoke the truth. He
spoke from experience, since his
was the first carnal heart! The
devil was willing to destroy an
entire world to save his own
skin. What a contrast can be seen
when we compare the love of God.
He was willing to destroy his own
skin to save an entire human
race. (John 3:16)
The Bible says
“…Satan went out from
the presence of the Lord and
afflicted Job with painful sores
from the soles of his feet to the
top of his head.” (Job 2:7)
Now, the contest gets very
interesting. The Bible says,
“Then Job took a piece of
pottery and scarped himself with
it as he sat among the ashes. His
wife said to him, “Are you
still holding on to your
integrity? Curse God and
die!” He replied, “you
foolish woman. Shall we accept
good from God, and not
trouble?” In all this, Job
did not sin in what he
said.” (Job 2:8-10)
Neither Job nor
his wife knew about this cosmic
contest between Christ and Satan.
Job’s wife did not share his
affection for God. From their
earthy perspective, all they
could see was total loss and
destruction. The difference
between these two people and
their response to the
circumstances they found
themselves in is simple. Job had
a born-again heart. Job sought
God’s presence, not His
presents. Mrs. Job, on the other
hand, enjoyed God’s presents
more than His presence. Mrs. Job
had become comfortable with the
trappings of wealth and enjoyed
its many privileges, which God
had generously given them. One of
the toughest battles between self
and wealth is the constant
struggle of not becoming ensnared
with the benefits that wealth
brings. (Matthew 19:23,24) No,
doubt Mrs. Job was highly
respected in her community. Her
prominence came from being
married to a materially rich man.
Unfortunately, she lived in
spiritual poverty, while her
husband enjoyed his personal
communication with God. During
the furnace of affliction, her
spiritual poverty became fully
evident and her once gracious
ways and words now turned to
words that cursed God. Even if an
individual lives with a
born-again spouse, this does not
mean that both parties are
born-again. As hard as you may
try, one spouse cannot transform
the heart of another that is
exclusively the Holy
Spirit’s domain. In
addition, when trials come, the
carnal heart cannot withstand the
purifying heat of the divine
furnace. When she finally spoke,
Mrs. Job revealed the true
condition of her heart when she
said, “Curse God and
die!” Fortunately for us
all, the challenge between Christ
and Satan did not center on her.
If it had, the devil’s claim
“man loved God’s
presents more than he loves
God’s presence” would
have been validated. Do not be
too hastily to judge.
Remember, Mrs.
Job’s life was directly
transformed by Job’s
suffering too. In a single day,
she fell from Mrs. Job, socialite
exemplar, to Mrs. Job, wife and
accomplice of a divinely
condemned man.
Eliphaz,
Bildad and Zorhar Show Up
The Bible
says: “when Job’s three
friends, Eliphaz the Temanite,
Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the
Naamathite, heard about the
troubles that had come upon him,
they set out from their homes and
met together by agreement to go
and sympathize with him and
comfort him. When they saw him
from a distance, they could
hardly recognize him; they began
to weep aloud, and they tore
their robes and sprinkled dust on
their heads. The they sat on the
ground with him for seven days
and seven nights. No one said a
word to him, because they saw how
great his suffering was.”
(Job 2: 11-13)
It appears that
these three friends of Job were
also physicians. They had heard
about the sudden, tragic loss of
Job’s family and wealth, and
perhaps they were concerned about
his infectious boils. They came
with good intentions. They wanted
to help Job recover and
encouraged him to repent of his
sins. They believed that Job had
sinned against god and because
they feared the living God, were
convinced that God was punishing
Job for some unknown wrong. Their
comments and thoughts are very
interesting, since they reveal
what was known or believed about
God at that time. I
encourage the reader to study the
entire book of Job. You will be
blessed. I have condensed their
conversations with Job to very
small samples. Please note that
remarks placed within bracket []
are mine. These are inserted to
complete the idea set forth in
selected texts:
Eliphaz
speaks to Job
Job 4:8 – As
I observed those who plow evil
and those who sow trouble reap
it…[therefore, you must be
getting what you deserve].
Job 5:8 – But
if it were I, I would appeal to
God; I would lay my cause before
him [and confess my sins].
Job 5:17 –
Blessed is the man God corrects;
so do not despise the [current]
discipline of the Almighty.
Job 5:27 – We
have examined this [truth about
the discipline of God], and it is
true. So, hear it and apply it to
yourself.
