God comforts believers in life’s circumstances, struggles
Formations – July 26, 2015
Job 42:1-17
Michael OlmstedSeveral times, when confronted with tragedy, the words of the Lord, “Have you thought about my servant Job?” (1:8, Common English Bible) have strengthened my faith. Typical human thinking involves figuring out how to use the “system” of living to our advantage, discovering the “secrets” of success, or knowing the “right” answers. By walking with Job through his journey of discovery, we can learn to trust God rather than our usual flawed religious ideas.
God was with Job all the while, but the characters in this drama were so busy voicing their own ideas that no one seemed aware of God’s presence in the room! When the friends’ hollow voices are silent and Job’s laments and complaints are exhausted, God speaks.
Job acknowledges that he has declared things beyond human understanding and that God is sovereign (vv. 2-4). The problem is not in the questioning of life circumstances or the struggle with how God is present in our pain. Our common error is in claiming to know more than God.
In the agony of the “ask” pile and his friends’ religious arrogance, exhausted in body and spirit, Job comes to a new understanding of God: “My ears have heard about you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore, I relent and find comfort on dust and ashes” (vv. 5-6). This is quite a contrast to the prophet Isaiah’s vision of God as high and lifted up in the awesome sanctuary of heaven (Isaiah 6:1-7). While there is majesty and power in Isaiah’s experience, the greater joy is found when we discover God with us in our darkest hour of suffering.
I cannot explain how God can be Eternal Lord of all and at the same time hold a 5-year-old cancer patient in his arms. Nothing compares to love and there are no words to adequately describe its reality in the cross and resurrection.
As Jesus so often did in his earthly living, God turns everything upside down. After the Lord speaks to Job, “he said to Elijah from Teman, ‘I’m angry at you and your two friends because you haven’t spoken about me correctly as did my servant Job” (v. 7). God commands Job’s three friends to offer sacrifices, says Job will pray for them and promises he will not make fools of them (v. 8).
Some interpreters struggle with the ending of Job, seeing it as “and they all lived happily ever after.” Consider the significant details: After their harsh and judgmental words to Job, he prayed for them instead of turning away or harboring anger (v. 10). The Lord doubled Job’s prior possessions, a repudiation of the falsehood that goodness and prosperity are earned or lost by certain religious behavior. Job’s family and friends comforted him and brought food for a feast, their presence being the most important gift.
“Then the Lord blessed Job’s latter days more than his former ones,” even giving him seven more sons and three daughters (vv. 12-13). These new children did not erase the tragic loss of Job’s former children, but signal the continuing progress of life and the idea that our children are gifts from God. The curiosity here is that Job’s daughters are named and given an inheritance like their brothers, a remarkable break with tradition.
But everything about this book breaks with tradition! From the opening scene of God and the Adversary discussing God’s man Job, to the horrendous tragedies, the rejection of shallow religious thinking and Job’s suffering, we are guided to a faith that becomes deep and personal.
Life and God cannot be explained by theories or limited human experience. We can learn much from history and science, but no one has all the answers. We are finite beings. All about us is evidence of the infinite. Whenever we try to force reality into our moment of eternity, we are playing the role of God, we are pretending to fit ourselves into a box as did Job’s friends.
Like Job, we may suffer and struggle. The words of well-meaning friends may hurt more than help. Religious ideas may add further pain, instead of comfort and hope. But one idea in Job is clear, from beginning to end, God never abandons us. No matter what, God never stops loving you, never stops working in your life and circumstances, never withdraws his grace.
My faith has been tested many times, and I have shared painful experiences with many friends and families. I have witnessed incredible faith in cancer wards and at funerals. I wrestle with religious ideas and rage against evil and injustice in our world. But as I have grown older and witnessed the same flawed patterns of life, my heart and mind find hope and comfort in one place. God is my strength, my shelter, my constant hope.
Some things I cannot know. But in Christ I know everything I need to know: God loves me. At first I heard about God, I learned about God, I wondered about God — “but now my eyes have seen (God)” (v. 5).
Retired after 45 years in pastoral ministry, Michael K. Olmsted enjoys family, supply preaching and interim work, literature, history, the arts and antiques.
Formations is a curriculum series from Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc. through NextSunday Resources.
