Why Did Job Suffer?

“In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” – Job 1:22

Most Christians know the story of Job—a man who lost everything, yet still kept his faith in God. Many of us know WHAT Job went through, but we aren’t sure WHY he went through it. Was it just a matter of God winning a bet with Satan, or was there something more to it?

 

In Chapter 1 of Job, our hero has a family he loves, plus plenty of livestock, servants and property. And the Bible describes him as “blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil” (v. 1). So, along comes Satan, telling God that Job would drop his faith like a bad habit if he wasn’t so abundantly blessed.

 

God responds by allowing Satan to do anything he wants to Job short of killing him. By the end of Chapter 2, Job has lost his children, animals, servants and property … plus, he’s covered with sores. Still, he tells his wife, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10).

 

And that line may be the heart of the matter. Looking more closely at Job 1 and 2, I believe this is not primarily a story about a good man who suffered, but a story about a God who is both sovereign and good – even when it feels like our world is crashing down around us.

 

Both Job’s prosperity and his poverty testify to the goodness and power of God. Job’s story reminds us that as followers of Christ, we must hold our possessions loosely, because they’re all God’s anyway. Everything in your possession is just on loan from God … temporarily. To paraphrase verse 21: “Naked we came from our mother’s wombs, and naked we will depart.” So, like Job, we should declare: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

 

Here are 3 life lessons we can draw from Job’s powerful testimony:

 

Life Lesson #1: During times of pain and suffering, remember that God is always sovereign. No one can touch you without God’s permission—especially not Satan. Just because we don’t always understand why bad things happen to good people doesn’t mean that God is weak. When natural disasters strike, when tragedies occur, and people are cruel, God is still on the throne. He remains worthy of our worship and praise.

 

Life Lesson #2: During times of pain and suffering, remember that God is always good. Nothing comes your way except that which can pass through the filter of God’s love for you. 

That truth has given me much peace and comfort over the years. I can almost hear God saying, “Dane, you think what you’re facing right NOW is hard? You should see what Satan had planned for you that I shielded you from.”

 

Life Lesson #3: Satan will continue to accuse you and slander you in God’s presence, but with the Holy Spirit’s help, you can prove him wrong. With the help of the Holy Spirit, you and I can echo what Job says in Job 23:10: “When He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” When gold is refined in the fire, only the get burned up and left behind. The same is true for us when we go through trials. What comes out the other side is much better than what went in. Our faith in God is strengthened. Our character is refined. And our priorities are re-aligned.

 

We’ll never have all the answers to all of our “Why?” questions—at least not this side of heaven. But if we respond to our pain and suffering the way Job did, God will reward us for it … and most importantly, God will be glorified as both sovereign AND good. 

Dane Davis is the pastor of Impact Christian Church in Victorville. Join us at Impact for Sunday services at 9am: at 17746 George Blvd., or at 9 a.m. on Facebook Live or YouTube. For more information, visit www.GreaterImpact.cc.