Trusting God's Sovereignty Amidst Suffering: Lessons from Job

Now, you will remember in our first lesson, back in chapter 1 that, in the first instance, Satan came into God's presence. Back there in chapter 1 and verse 6 -- "There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, 'From where have you come?'" And, at the end of the first chapter, Satan had been given permission to bring devastation into the life of Job; into his family, the loss of his 10 children, and the loss of everything that Job had in terms of wealth. [00:29:31]

But now, in chapter two -- well, a boundary had been set in chapter 1. He may touch all that Job has, but he wasn't allowed to touch Job himself. Satan had made the accusation, "Does God" -- verse 9 of chapter 1 -- "Does God fear -- does Job fear God for no reason?" "Does Job fear God for no reason?" The only reason why Job fears God is because life is good. He has everything. Life is easy for Job. He has a good lifestyle. But take that away and he will curse God to His face. [00:81:77]

Satan is given permission. There’s a boundary. "You may not kill him." God sets a boundary. He says, "Thus far, and no further. But within this boundary -- within this sphere, this side of the boundary -- you may do as you will. You may do as you wish. You may touch him, but you may not kill him." Well, this raises lots of problems, lots of issues, lots of difficulties. Raises issues about health. People say, don’t they, "If you have your health, you have everything"? People say that. It’s not true, of course. It’s nonsense. [00:368:91]

Job experiences a sickness. It resembles what we have come to know of as AIDS, perhaps -- the body wasting away, sores developing on your skin, and so on. The book will describe some of the characteristics of his sickness. His teeth seem to fall out. His breath seems to be putrid, and so on. The expression 'skin and bones' comes from the book of Job. A wasting disease. Some have tried to give it a label -- elephantiasis, perhaps. There's a vivid description in chapter 2 and verse 8 -- "He took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes." [00:456:00]

Is sickness part of God's will for us? Is sickness part of God's plan for us? And, if you believe in the sovereignty of God? If you believe that nothing happens outside of God's decree? You know, everything happens because God decrees it to happen. Nothing happens outside of the decretive will of Almighty God? If you believe in that kind of sovereignty, then sickness is a part of that plan and purpose. Nothing happens. Even the sickness, even disease is part of God's plan. [00:537:58]

I have some vivid memories of friends of mine who loved the Lord, who served the Lord -- they were preachers. I have vivid memories of a dear, dear, faithful preacher who loved the truth, who loved the Bible, who loved the doctrines of grace. I can still see him with a Bible on his knees, but the Bible is upside down, and there are foul words coming out of his mouth. He had completely lost control of all reality. He was so far gone. [00:676:45]

This was a preacher of the gospel and, in my heart, I’m saying, "Lord, why? Why this man? This good man, this godly man, this man who spent his entire life proclaiming the doctrines of grace and preaching the gospel, and You used so mightily? And now, in this last season of his life, it’s as though Satan has been given permission to do his worst. Why?" Maybe God isn’t as powerful as you think He is. [00:738:61]

Well, Job’s response, of course, is -- "He said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women would speak.'" Foolish in the biblical sense here. The fool who says, "There is no God." In that sense. She’s speaking from a worldview that is ungodly. She’s speaking from almost like an atheistic worldview. She’s speaking like somebody who’s denying the existence of God. "'Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil?' In all this Job, did not sin with his lips." [01:265:79]

"Shall we accept good and shall we not accept evil?" What is Job saying to us? Well, whatever the philosophical and theological answer to the question of the problem of pain, may be, it is absolutely paramount that we live our lives in the absolute certainty that nothing is outside of God's ultimate control. Good days and bad days. Good things and bad things. What does Paul say in Romans 8:28? "All things" -- and this is something that we know -- "All things work together for good." [01:392:44]

The world is full of hurt and sickness. And sickness, well, it dominates some people’s lives. It dominates families, and marriages. One thinks of a little child suffering from cancer in a hospital. Texts that come -- as they did to me last week -- suggesting that perhaps this little child wouldn’t live very much longer. And then, in God’s sovereign providence, there’s a turning, and better news, and an indication that, perhaps, through a fairly long and difficult trajectory, hope is emerging once again. [00:937:09]

Is healing always God's will? Well, clearly not. Paul, for example, talks to Timothy -- Timothy has stomach problems, maybe an ulcer, one of those grumbling ulcers; maybe he has acid reflux before days when over-the-counter medicines now, and good medicines, and they work, and so on -- and he says to Timothy, "Take a little wine for your stomach's sake." It was for medicinal reasons, you understand. Or Trophimus he leaves behind, in Ephesus, sick. [00:995:94]

And then, in 2 Corinthians 12, we read that he wasn’t even able to heal himself. He has this thorn in the flesh, whatever that was. And it might have been something to do with his eyesight, because of something that he says in Galatians about "see in what large letters I have written to you." And he prays three times for this to be removed, and God doesn’t remove it. So, healing isn’t always part of God’s will. God intends for some of us to walk in the paths of ill-health of the body, of the mind. [01:050:63]