Introduction
The persistent question of why good people experience bad things is among the basic questions of faith and spirituality. The Book of Job tells the story of a good man who responded to the trials of life with faith and dignity. Job’s experience invites the readers of his story to think deeply about the complex questions about what causes suffering and the indisposition of human existence, as well as reasons to believe in God even when life appears unfair. Throughout his life, Job met the challenges head-on while also managing to maintain integrity and trust in God even when others advised him to “curse God, and die” (Job 2:9).
The book remains highly relevant to this day because, in life, only positive things cannot happen. There are downfalls and trials that a person will endure. It enables making a shift in readers’ attention from the idea that God’s justice is crucial to the world’s operation to the alternative that it is rather His wisdom that presents a more valid foundation.
Even though one may do good for others, respect their family, and help those in need, it does not mean that disappointment and hard decisions will never get one’s back. The Book of Job is important because it provides a moving perspective on the most challenging questions that people may have about life. Its purpose is to explore the policies established by God in regard to human suffering, especially concerning innocent and righteous individuals.
Analysis
The Deal Between God and Satan
The Job was quite a wealthy man who lived in the land called Uz; he had a large family and an abundant flock and herd. He is characterized as “upright” and “blameless” and was always careful to avoid doing bad things, thus following the word of God (Job 1:8). However, tragedy would strike upon the man because of the challenge God instilled upon him to test his faith and obedience, proving Job’s righteousness to Satan. An important revelation regarding Job as a person comes at the very beginning of the book when God allows suffering to be inflicted upon Job, not to punish him. Instead, God makes it clear that Job can endure the challenges because he is among the best of his followers and not the opposite.
Satan is quick to reject God’s conviction in the good nature of Job, implying that all humans have selfish motives when it comes to trusting and obeying God. Moreover, Satan insinuation that the human shows his dedication to God simply because he expects to get something in return: “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land” (Job 1:10). Satan is clear in his idea that humans are not as innocent and righteous as God imagines and only when they are put through challenges they will question whether their faith is worth maintaining. He demands a trial with God to prove that he is right and that a man cannot remain righteous and faithful to God if He allows bad things to happen over and over.
Job Persevering
Even when Job is forced to endure the loss of his flock and herd, a fire burning his property, and his children and servants being killed, his faith in God does not budge. This sets Satan to call for another challenge for Job, suggesting that a human can withstand anything as long as they remain unharmed. God allows Satan to cause horrific sores across his entire body, thus closing the circle of misfortune to which the man was subjected.
It was expected that after getting severely sick, a human would no longer trust in God’s protection and react against the senseless and unjust punishment. Nevertheless, Job did not reject God even when being put up to trial. He continued trusting the divine purpose that God set for him even though one suffering was rolling after the other. Indeed, his example is a metaphor for the believer who is suffering, reacting to the trial in a way that every believer should react.
The trials and tribulations to which Job was subjected prompt readers to consider their faith and the strength of their trust in God. Any person could ask themselves the question of whether they would continue trusting God and loving Him with all heart when He allows only pain and suffering to occur, especially for reasons that a human cannot understand. Many non-believers state that God does not exist because there are wars, diseases, and poverty still taking place in the world.
When having to test his faith, Job himself puts God on trial for all the negative things that the innocent has endured. The man is under the consistent pressure of pain and anxiety, being emotionally alone, confused, and angry. He demands meaning from Heaven in order to understand why it was he who was chosen to endure the suffering: “Why me, Lord?” (Job 14:1). The people around Job, even though they had good intentions to console their friend, could not stand his call to God and the accusation of injustice. The point of view that the three friends represent is that people tend to blame the victim. Specifically, they turn into God’s defenders, appealing to the cause-effect doctrine and the fact that Job does not have the right to ask “why,” nor does he deserve the answer from God.
According to Kierkegaard, people like Job’s friends tend to want to “see God as in the right, even while believing that he is in himself is in the right.” They ask Job to think whether he had done something wrong, and if it was not him, maybe it was his children who deserved to be punished (Job 4:7). In Job’s friends’ perspective, God acts within the limits of reason.
Asking God questions as to why there is pain and suffering is not something to which a human being is entitled. Besides, accepting the fact that Job is innocent and righteous and thus is not being punished for anything means opening a dangerous “crack in a closed universe.” The position that Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, hold is rather weak because it is grounded on the preconceived view that can only be supported by censuring the reality that one perceives. Specifically, the friends see that Job continues proclaiming his innocence while his behaviors and actions are well-known to the public and cannot be easily disputed.
However, it is complicated for humans to acknowledge facts that do not fit into their framework, which is why any reality that counters one’s measure must be reinterpreted. Therefore, Eliphaz persistently projects the cause-effect logic onto Job, stating that he must have committed some sins that provoked God’s anger. He tries to make up the sins, which is a natural human response of a person, to offer an explanatory hypothesis stemming from an evident effect.
Despite Job’s friends’ attempts to justify God’s actions by trying to find an explanation for man’s suffering, God did not appreciate their standpoint. In his affirmation at the end of the book, God speaks to Eliphaz, “My anger blazes against you and your two friends! You have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job” (Job 42:7). It may seem illogical for readers that God can turn against those who wanted to defend him. This way, He demolishes the cause-effect theory that entails that people suffer because of their past mistakes. Through this judgment, God frees reason from the restraint that persisted for centuries and restores the natural space, which calls for the search for a larger meaning of life and faith.
Job’s Friends Defending God
The dialogues between Job and his friends help discover the point of view that the book intends to convey to the audience. Job is sure about his innocence and says that he “prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated” (Job 13:18). When God storms into the presence of Job, the man sees this as an opportunity to plead his case. God challenges his servant: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2).
Even when Job asks Him questions about the suffering, God sidesteps on each of them and does not warrant the answer as to why the man was chosen to endure so much pain. Instead, God walks through His creations and speaks about the importance of appreciating all nature, from natural phenomena to animals. Even though, at first glance, such a derail from the much-needed conversation may seem irrelevant, further analysis indicates that it is highly relevant.
By placing emphasis on His creations, God shows Job that running the physical universe is not easy and no mortal man could do this successfully. Therefore, there is no point in Job questioning the way God runs the moral universe. This understanding allows Job to discover that his position about his innocence and unwarranted suffering was built on ignorance. Job now has the conviction in the infinite wisdom that God possesses and His ability to deal with humans the way He sees fit. A crucial revelation for Job is that there is a purpose for his suffering, and that purpose is enabled by God, which is enough for the man who endured significant suffering in his life.
Resolution
Job is finally given the answer, and even though the answer is not the one he expected, he accepts it as an important lesson. It no longer matters that Job wanted to request a trial with God, and his thoughts on presenting his own case are now irrelevant. When God appears, all the questions that Jobs used to have disappeared because God revealed Himself to man.
The reciprocal relationship between God and a dedicated believer is reflected in the Creator not condemning Job for accusations and the desire to hold him up to a trial. Instead, God corrects Job’s misconceptions regarding His ability to rule the universe. When God asks, “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself”? He never accuses Job of sin, nor does he call the man a blasphemer (Job 40:8). Such an attitude illustrates that God will never condemn His creations.
One of the implicit discoveries from the Book of Job is that a human can say anything to God, especially during times of anger, grief, and frustration. This is because God is much bigger than all people and has a higher purpose for all of them.
Notably, after Job hears the argument presented by God, he says that he despises himself for doubting God and repents himself of speaking about things that he did not understand, the things that were too complex for him to know. Even though Job does not have to deal with a certain sin he committed, he was challenged to grow and strengthen his faith in the understanding of the higher purpose. The man acknowledges the fact that he was too quick to conclude that God acted unjustly and was unable to rule the universe in the right way.
Lessons Learned
Overall, the Book of Job does not aim to explain why bad things happen to good people. Instead, it teaches people that suffering can take place in the world for reasons that they may not initially understand, and only through faith and trust in God is it possible to understand their purpose. Even when affecting good people, trials and tribulations may come into their lives because God wants them to strengthen their faith and maintain their belief in Him. The suffering that Job endured occurred for specifically that reason – proving that a faithful servant would continue loving God regardless of everything that was happening.
The lesson that Job learned offers deeper implications for people’s relationship with God, with suffering helping provide spiritual enrichment and build a closer connection to God. Besides, Job shows that there is not always a direct relationship between sin and suffering. Even though a Christian endures tragedies in their life, it does not mean that they are being punished by God for a sin that they committed.
The takeaway of Job is that God remains the most powerful being in the world and is always worthy of worship and love. As Job passed God’s trial, he vindicated himself as the Creator by maintaining his faith. Ultimately, the example of Job shows that because God can love His creations unconditionally, humans can have an unconditional love for God, too. This disproves Satan’s initial assertion that a person only shows dedication to God if they get something in return for their faith and servants. For Job, suffering presented itself as an extensive opportunity to demonstrate his faith.
In its essence, calling the Book of Job a piece about suffering means missing the point. In the modern Western culture context, which has been built upon the lessons of the New Testament, the book remains relevant as it asks people to question their own faith. Even Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of humans did not offer a “solution” to the problem of suffering. There remains a historical paradox that suffering will always take place and affect different people, and it is through faith and love for God a person can withstand the challenges. Thus, through trials, God can shape strong believers who will be dedicated to Him.
Conclusion
In reality, people will never be in a position to evaluate God’s approach to justice. To appraise whether a decision was just, it is necessary to have an abundance of facts, as justice can be prevented from occurring if information is limited. Since people will never possess all the information about their lives, they cannot evaluate whether God’s decisions were just in particular circumstances.
Moreover, it is impossible to affirm God’s justice through human-bounded understanding and knowledge. Therefore, people affirm the justice of God through the conviction in omniscience. At the end of the book, in His speech, God does not want to defend the justice He imposed onto people but rather assert wisdom and power. He teaches Job that the correct way of processing the issues that he used to endure is through prayer.
Therefore, the book of Job intends to transform how people think about the work of God in the world and the responses one can get in times of suffering. In the beginning, one may think that the book deals with the question of why good people have negative experiences. However, after reading it, the question shifts to finding out whether there is such a thing as disinterested righteousness. Following this logic, it can be concluded that the sense of the Book of Job lies in discovering the nature of righteousness rather than the nature of suffering.
Bibliography
Alden, Robert. Job: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Volume 11) (The New American Commentary). Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 1994.
Ignacio Carbajosa, Ignacio. “Job Puts God on Trial for the Suffering of The Innocent,” English Clonline, 2017. Web.
Kierkegaard, Søren. The Repetition. New York, NY: Harper, 1964.
Lewis, Marshall. Viktor Frankl and the Book of Job: A Search for Meaning. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2019.
Schroeder, Robert. John Paul II and the Meaning of Suffering: Lessons from a Spiritual Master. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor: 2008.
Vicchio, Stephen and Edward Greenstein. The Book of Job: A History of Interpretation and a Commentary. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2020.