Why Do People Suffer?

Why indeed. No one seems to know. It is clear however that this is a world filled with pain, making this matter of God's participation in the affairs of men one of life's most significant -- and enduring -- questions. It should come as no surprise therefore that the oldest contiguous book in the world, the Biblical account of Job, offers some insight into this age-old question.

The Fear of God
The story of the man Job, a contemporary with Abraham ¹, begins with a behind-the-scenes look at the ongoing spiritual conflict between heaven and hell; between good and evil. Much more than a mere preamble to the story's forty-two chapters, the scene depicting Satan and God arguing about Job's fidelity is no less than the key to understanding the entire book's message. Three times within the first two chapters, we're told that Job "fears" God. What is fear? It isn't fear of reprisal. It isn't groveling, fawning obeisance. It isn't vague and distant respect. Job simply has a loving dread of disappointing God. Of displeasing Him; grieving Him. This is important because it reveals that it is Job's loyalty, his genuine love for God, that God Himself characterizes as righteousness, not Job's rigorous religious observance. Likewise, it emphasizes for us the fact that the awesome tragedy that is about to befall the man is in no way punitive. It is the fact of Job's great faith -- not the lack of it -- that makes him the focus of this cosmic object lesson.

God on Trial
The otherwordly scene opens with Satan confronting God and levelling a charge against Him. Namely, that the Almighty and Job are in collusion in putting on a front for the world; that God for His part provides "kickbacks," if you will, in the form of prosperity, in return for something resembling love. In other words, that God buys faith in men in whom He could not otherwise find it. ² An audacious idea, to be sure, but one having an amazing number of human adherents. Make no mistake. Satan's tireless, unholy quest is to prove true, radical faith a lie. Everything Satan does is motivated by hatred of God. His appearance at God's heavenly convocation is marked with the ugly intent of petitioning God for freer access to the singularly tough case that is Job. He has good reason to chose Job. First, Job is rich, possibly the richest man in the world. Wealthy men, Jesus said, rarely have this radical thing that is faith.³ More importantly, the man Job is especially dear to his Maker, and this makes him more than ever a target of Satan's hatred. It is God Who is on trial, not Job.

Job's Physical Trial
Given permission to afflict Job, Satan delivers four volleys of devastation, each involving huge loss of human life. He delivers the blows in rapid succession, in apparent hopes of overwhelming Job, and doubtless with the intent of convincing him that the source of his misery is an angry God. He consumes the sheep -- objects of religious sacrifice --in an attempt to confuse Job concerning God's acceptance of his religious observance. And, he lets just enough firsthand witnesses escape annihilation to assure devastatingly unimpeachable reports. Note Job's response. He tears his clothes, demonstrating in the Eastern tradition deep grief over the loss of life. In the symbolic nakedness of the shaved head, he exhibits a piercing sense of God's special scrutiny. And, finally, in his eloquent "Naked came I and naked will I return," Job unequivocally declares God's right to do with His creation as He pleases, a theme he will return to numerous times in the ensuing argument. In all this, we are told, "Job did not sin." In other words, he did not respond as Satan expected.

Job's Mental Trial
Satan's appearance at the heavenly roll call is reprised, as is God's boast, in which there is an added element, "Job still loves me, even after you persuaded me to test him without cause." Again, the assurance that Job's experience is not punitive. And carefully note the responsibility God takes for Job's affliction, going so far as to say that He, God, did the deed. Satan asserts that the subject hasn't responded as he predicted because, "...what's a few hundred lives, including those of his kids, to a man when he himself is safe?" This is a dastardly accusation, directed toward two persons. First, toward mankind, about whom it is sadly true: We are at heart truly and thoroughly selfish. More importantly, it is another attack on God, because the implication that God approves of such hypocrisy and in fact engenders it is being repeated.

Job's Spiritual Trial
God agrees to Satan's motion for a harsher test. "Do whatever you want," He says, "...only do not kill him." Immediately, Job is stricken with a disease which makes his body one gigantic, grossly bloated, pus-filled boil. It is constantly oozing, scabbing over and breaking open again. He's a walking cadaver, unrecognizable to his friends. He descends from powerful political leader in his community to outcast, sitting on the town dump, covering his lesions with ashes and avoiding the taunts and stares of his countrymen. He can't sleep for pain and nightmares; can't eat for nausea. But there is also emotional torture. Job's wife deserts him. "Curse God and die, " she says, fulfilling Satan's purpose in the place of Job. Then his friends, older religious men from distant communities, instead of comforting Job, give him the third degree. "You're only getting what you deserve," they insist. And to top it all off, there is the spiritual anguish of unanswered prayer, for God is silent to Job's pleas for an accounting; for justice; for an explanation. And, when finally God does speak, instead of explaining His agenda, He expounds on His distinctly Divine attributes.

What does it all mean? Simply that for man, God is enough. While Job's friends, the traditional religionists, seek to apply cause-and-effect theology to Job's situation, and Job himself demands redress, God says only "I am God. Trust me." The single-mindedness of God's answer is significant. The life of faith is not predicated on "Why&quiot; but on "Who." The faith the Bible describes is radical. So radical that its definition begins with the belief that there is a God in the first place.⁴ That's fairly gutsy. But it's just the beginning, for the definition goes on with examples of men who believed unbelievable things. Noah, who labored 120 years building the world's first ocean liner, nowhere near water and probably long before anyone on the earth had ever heard of rain. Abraham, that doting father in his late years who must have agonized over God's command to sacrifice his long-awaited son Isaac, until, the Bible says, he reconciled the strange command with what he knew of God, expecting God to raise his son up again from the dead. ⁵ An incredibly awesome belief. So awesome in fact that it sealed his inclusion in heaven. ⁶ All of these men had one thing in common: They believed God. Not about Him; not even in Him.⁷ They believed Him. Trusted Him. Relied on that single strand of hope that was their knowledge of His nature, despite everything that their eyes could see, their ears hear, and their reasoning -- clamoring loudly in opposition -- could account for. Hope against hope, the Bible calls it. ⁸ Belief to the point of becoming outcasts, nobodies, destitute dregs of a world not worthy of them, yet approved by God.⁹

Why do people suffer? Because the world is poisoned by sin ¹⁰, because man is born to heartache¹¹, and because man is in rebellion toward God. "You will have trouble," Jesus said.¹² In a world actively opposed to God, chaos rules, and man's corrupt notions of "fairness" have no relevance. If it's fairness you want, Jesus said, stop to consider the tenuousness of your own position. ¹³

Job's experience is a practical lesson in faith. Humanity has a tendancy to interpret what God says, and Who He is, by the experiences of life. ¹⁴ If good things happen, God has "come through" for us. If bad things, then God is not loving enough or powerful enough. Job's story demonstrates that this is the farthest thing possible from faith, which is trust in God in the face of contrary evidence. It is belief in the patently unbelievable -- yet true -- nature of God. Such faith, the Bible says, is what God seeks. ¹⁵

The cause and effect, health and wealth dogma propounded by Job's three "friends" and their modern counterparts flies in the face of the painful dichotomy of spiritual man living in a corrupted world. A world in which suffering and injustice are impossible to avoid, particularly for those trusting in God¹⁶. Moreover, Job's experience reveals that there is much that goes on in the spiritual realm that we neither know of, nor, having knowledge, could understand. Nor do we need to. As God pointed out to Job, we need most of all to trust Him, despite circumstances and appearances. Remember Job's declaration? Though he demanded an explanation, Job's definition of God to his three friends was accurate, and God did not correct it. Job knew his God. "Naked came I and naked I will return. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away," he declared. Which is to say, "Whatever He wants to do is all right with me, for I know His heart." ¹⁷ The message of Job? When you can't trace His hand, trust His heart.¹⁸