Turn Your Suffering Into A Blessing

 

Job 42:1-16

The LORD Restored the Prosperity of Job

No one has ever experienced the intensity of Job’s suffering. Job lost his seven sons, three daughters, all his possessions (seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys) and servants in a calamity within a day under the broad daylight (1:13-19).

It left behind Job, who was afflicted with painful sores, sitting alone distressfully among the ashes, and scrapping himself with a piece of broken pottery, and suffering the ironic verbal attack from his wife (Job 2:7-9). His wife said to him, “Why do you still hold on to your faith in God, curse God!”

The most shocking implication is the theological issue of suffering of the righteous. The narrator described Job as “blameless and upright; and he feared God and shunned evil.” (1:1)

Job was a pious father who prayed and interceded for his children before they had sinned, and he was a faithful husband, who possessed good testimony in deeds, and who cared for the poor and the needy. He did not fall away from God because of his wealth, yet he experienced this calamity without reasons.

In spite of the sufferings, Job never sinned in cursing God, instead he fell to the ground and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21)

He also rebuked his wife who was upset, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” （Job 2:10）

However, when his three friends came to comfort him (Job 2:11-13), they had actually caused him moaning in agony under their verbal torture (Job 3:1-32:5). Hence, Job’s trust and praises to God was turned to bitterness.

They took turns to talk to Job, alleged that Job had sinned against God. They finished in three rounds of debate. Their words are not comforting but attacking, causing more pain to Job.

Eliphaz, being the eldest among them, began by asking Job to be patient and looked up to God, and he reminded him how blessed it was to be under God’s discipline (Job 5:17). Bildad went straight to the point in naming out the possible reasons that had caused Job to suffer, that Job had forsaken the righteous God. (Job 8:3-4) Zophar accused Job directly with the theory of cause and effect, that Job’s hidden sin had brought him sufferings, and he could only be saved through repentance (Job 11:14).

Job was forced to justify himself painfully because he was bombarded by the admonishment and correction of his three friends.

At the second round of debate, Eliphaz pointed out that Job’s opposition to God had revealed his own foolishness. (Job 15) Bildad dogmatically said that those who suffered must be evil men who did not know God. (Job 18) Zophar insisted that the wicked would surely be destroyed. (Job 20)

In the third round, both Eliphaz and Bildad concluded decisively that sin was the only reason for Job’s sufferings (Job 22, 25). Zophar was silent and maybe he thought that Job was too stubborn to confess his sins and thus he was beyond remedy.

They used the cause-and-effect theory of Deuteronomic Theology, to condemn Job, and ignored the possibility of suffering for righteousness and being tested by the Lord (Matthew 5:10; 1 Peter 1:7).

Therefore, Job was incited to complain and murmur, and he was badly wounded physically and mentally after the three rounds of debates with his three friends.

Anyhow, we also see that Job had come out with some nuggets of truth during the long debates, such as, “I know that my redeemers live, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.”  (Job 19:25-26), “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10) and “The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” (Job 28:28)

From the interaction between Job and his three friends, we learn that whoever wants to comfort the people who suffer must come to understand that healing of the soul and heart takes time, and it is impossible to have it quick fixed.

And, do not simply judge those who suffer and label them with the “cause-and-effect theory that you suffer this because you have sinned. We must learn to mourn with those who mourn, and lay down our subjective views and theological systems (Deuteronomic Theology) in order to do so.

The last few chapters of Job record the three healing medicines to our souls and spirits: Acknowledge that we have limited wisdom and submit to God; Reconcile with God and build a relationship with Him and be reconciled to men.

Job finally heard the heavenly voice after a long debate on earth. God revealed Himself in a whirlwind to Job and talked to him! Two times in their conversation, God questioned Job.

The first time, God brought Job along to see the sky, jungle and under water fishes. God used the workings of the nature He created as an interrogation to Job (Job 38-39). The second time, God used the authority and righteousness He revealed in the nature as another interrogation to Job. (Job 40:6-41:34).

Both interrogations had gone beyond Job’s rational and logic systems, forcing Job to deny his own “doubts”. Consequently, Job realized his own ignorance through God’s greatness. ““I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.”  (Job 40:4)

Finally, he said with conviction, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.  You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely, I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (Job 42:2-3)

Interestingly, God did not give Job an answer for his suffering. With this approach, God wanted to tell Job that the world was complicated, and it was extremely complicated too between the issues of God’s righteousness and men’s sufferings.

The book of Job does not provide answer for suffering, but it invites us, who are living in this complicated world, to trust the Lord every moment of our lives and build a good relationship with God.

If we were to be reconciled with God and build a relationship with Him, we must first acknowledge our ignorance and limitation. We must come out of our finite mindset of self-centeredness, and praise the One who creates and keeps all things in order.

The secular concept would measure people with their standards of righteousness when face sufferings. The three friends of Job considered Job to be unrighteous and it caused him to depart from God and hence he suffered. Job accused God as unrighteous who attacked him without reasons and allowed the righteous to suffer.

The book of Job teaches us to see that righteousness is not the totality of our lives, if not, Jesus, the righteous, would not have redeemed the unrighteous world through the cross.

The intention of sufferings of the righteous is not to reveal God’s righteousness, but His lovingkindness (James 5:11), culminated at Christ’s death on the cross.

Hence, in order to be reconciled with God, we need to acknowledge our limitation, and we also have to see the world through the lens of the cross (Galatians 6:14).

The sufferings that Job went through caused him to know God, and himself. “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6)

After Job had reconciled with God, the righteous God defended him in front of his three friends, and reckoned him as “Job, my servant” (It appears four times in Job 42:7-8). 

After God had healed Job’s spirit, He went on to heal his relationship with his friends that was estranged.

God said to Eliphaz. “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.  So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you.” (Job 42:5-8)

The three friends must be extremely astonished to hear this, “Lord! Haven’t we defended Your righteousness and the right theology? You want us to say sorry to Job?”

If you were Job, would you be willing to pray for those who had accused you of “lacking faith”, “loving the world”, “having hidden sins” etc. and caused you great pain?

Job who was reconciled with God learnt to be reconciled with men in the midst of his sufferings. However, we do see that some who have gone through sufferings harbored bitterness in their hearts instead. They become more intolerant of those people around them, and they feel that they are victimized, because nobody cares for them.

We shall receive a blessed life if we know how to come before the cross and be reconciled with God (vertical) and with man (horizontal).

When the three friends followed God’s instructions, “Job prayed for his friends” (Job 42:10) Job’s prayer pleased God, and “the Lord restored Job from his predicament” (Job 2:10) Job was revived spiritually and materially.

“And the LORD blessed the later days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Kerenhappuch. And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. (42:12-15)

Apparently after the sufferings, Job has become much more kind to daughters by making their names great and giving them family inheritance. This was an outrageous act from ancient eastern custom background.

This is a portrayal of God’s mercy and blessing towards those who are willing to be reconciled to men.

Conclusion

The book of Job started with a tragedy, but it had a happy ending because Job was willing to submit to God and forgive others. Not only was he blessed, but his family was blessed as well because God granted them family reunion, doubled his possession and gave him pious children (both heavenly and earthly).

When we return to the true God and be willing to be a peacemaker, God will bless us with a happy family. If we keep hardening our hearts and falling away from Him and refusing to offer ourselves to be reconciled with man and bring others to reconcile with God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18-21), our family might turn out to be a cruel gunpower room. We might estrange from one another and never stop quarrelling! (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

What have you suffered today? You ought to stop self-pitying and be reconciled to God and others in your sufferings. God would surely heal you and raise you up in the midst of your sufferings. God would bless others through your suffering experience too.