Understanding Suffering: Trusting God's Sovereignty in Job

Well, many a Christian has gone to the book of Job, perhaps to search for an answer to the question why is this particular trial or suffering happening to me, or to my family or to someone that I love. And if you do that, the chances are that your question is not going to be answered. [00:02:50]

So, we're introduced to a dilemma because of this, that this is not the suffering of an ungodly person. In a sense, we can understand that, from a theistic point of view, from a Judeo-Christian point of view, we can understand why an ungodly person suffers. We might go -- and we won't pursue this today -- but we might even go to the extent of saying that they ought to suffer. [00:04:09]

The issue we've got here is, the suffering of a godly man. Actually the suffering of the godliest man on the face of the earth. Why do the righteous suffer? Psalms 78 ponders that question. Why do the righteous suffer? Why is it that if you trust in Jesus and follow Him with all of your heart, you abstain from outward ungodliness, you pursue holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, but still you suffer. [00:04:57]

We are introduced in the opening two chapters to the character of Satan. Satan only appears on three occasions in the Old Testament. Once in the garden of Eden, here in the book of Job, and a reference in Zachariah, but we are given a glimpse that behind the curtains there is this battle between God and Satan, and it is God who says to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?" [00:08:59]

So, the book of Job elevates the issue of the problem of suffering and pain, and the problem of personal suffering and pain, to the point that we can't remove God from it. So, Satan is given permission, first of all, he may do things to Job but not to Job himself. So he loses all 10 of his children, loses his wealth, and in one sense it's all Satan's doing, and then in the second bout in chapter 2 he loses his health. [00:10:04]

The end of chapter 2 and chapter 3, Job descends into a darkness. Wishes he'd never been born, wishes that the day of the announcement of his birth be wiped off the calendar, so that it had never occurred. Jeremiah in chapter 20 almost verbatim cites Job chapter 3. And Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross, expresses a darkness, a grief, a sorrow. [00:11:14]

I'm glad it's here, that some of God's choicest saints, some of the most godly men and women who have ever lived have known a day of darkness, and sorrow that has engulfed them, and has torn apart their mind, and the rationality with which they understand their existence. And maybe that's you. And Job chapter 3 is there for you. That you're not alone, and God has placed in the Bible an expression of this darkness from one of the most godly people that ever lived. [00:12:41]

What Eliphaz means is, that the reason why Job is suffering is because he is a sinner. That this is God's judgment, this is Gods retribution upon Job because of sin, either a big sin, either a sin in the past, either a sin that he's forgotten about, but in some form, in some way, in some manner the reason why Job is suffering is because he's a sinner. [00:14:27]

And they say a lot of stuff that's true. They're not liberals, they believe in the justice of God, they believe in retribution, they believe that God punishes sin, they believe in accountability, they're not liberals. They're fierce, and in many ways orthodox. But on this point they're entirely false. And wrong. That the reason for Job's suffering is not his sin. [00:17:43]

The answer to the question why did God make a crocodile is, I don't know. Actually, that's not the right answer. The answer is for the glory of God. And that's what pain is, and suffering. If you ask about a particular pain, a particular trial, a particular suffering, "Why?" I'm going to have to say to you, in all likelihood, I don't know. I have no idea. I don't have any answers for you, except this one: for His glory. [00:27:38]

Now, only a Christian can answer the question in that way. An unbeliever most definitely cannot answer the question in that way. For the glory of almighty God. It's not important that I understand, what's important is that He does, and I trust Him. And that's the message of the book of Job. [00:28:37]