Part 1 can be read at Where is God When Bad Things Happen? Finding Understanding through Job, Part 1 –Asking Hard Questions
Part
2 – Facing Tragic Loss
Time
and time again, I can’t help but return to Job when I experience suffering or when
I see or hear of the suffering of others.
Corresponding to the extensive suffering he endured, the literal meaning
of Job’s name in the Hebrew language is “persecuted”. The story of Job, the man who was persecuted,
begins this way:
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| The Art of William Blake |
1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job;
and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. 2 Seven sons and
three daughters were born to him. 3
His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500
female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all
the men of the east. 4 His sons used to
go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send
and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When the days of feasting had completed their
cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and
offering burnt offerings according to
the number of them all; for Job said, “ Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed
God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
Job was quite the
upstanding man! He was known to be “blameless, upright, fearing God”, one
who turned away from evil, the “greatest
of all men of the east”, and he had widespread possessions under his
name. That’s quite an impressive resume
for Job. He was what we would call a
really good person and blessed beyond measure.
Job regularly offered sacrifices on his children’s behalf, just in case
they had sinned in any way against God. Because
he was such a “good person”, it naturally seems to us that he would only have what
we call “good things” happen to him. But
this earthly life has no such guarantees.
A really good person can go through some really terrible circumstances. Being good or bad doesn’t have anything to do
with it.
When did Job’s
troubles start? Let’s find out.
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| The Art of William Blake |
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on
it.” 8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no
one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning
away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered
the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10
Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every
side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have
increased in the land. 11 But put
forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your
face.” 12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do
not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.
I
always find verse six quite intriguing.
It says that the sons of God “came
to present themselves before the Lord”.
The heavenly beings regularly present themselves before God and check in
with Him. These sons of God include
Satan. He also presents himself before
God and answers to God for what he’s been up to and where he’s been hanging out
and doing his thing. God asked Satan (the
Adversary) a rhetorical question, “From
where do you come?” I wholeheartedly
believe that God knows exactly where the Adversary has been and what he has
been up to. God is not asking because He
is unaware of the facts. He is asking the
Adversary to give an account for himself.
God
goes on to ask the Adversary if he has noticed how Job is a man of great
character and faith, “Have you taken
notice of my Job? Isn’t he awesome?” The Adversary suggests to God that Job only
loves and worships Him because He protects Job and does not allow any harm to
come to him. Ah, isn’t this
interesting? Isn’t this part of the lies
that the Adversary profusely spreads around mankind today?
“If God really loves you, He wouldn’t let bad things happen to you?”
“If God really loves you, He wouldn’t let bad things happen to you?”
“Bad things only
happen to bad people. You must be bad.”
“If you don’t love
God before you die, He’s going let me torture you forever.”
“See! God is not protecting you. He must be mad at
you and giving you what you deserve.”
“God will not give
you more than you can bear.”
“God doesn’t really
love you because He let your loved one die.”
“I’m more powerful
than God and He has no control over me. His hands are tied.”
“God can’t stop me.”
“In the end, I’m
going to have more souls to my name than God will have to His.”
“ROAR! I can do whatever I want with you and this
world! I rule!"
LIES
and MORE LIES! The Adversary is superb
at lying and promoting lies. He goes to
great lengths to spread his lies, and his lies have power on this earth.
“He was a man killer
from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, for truth is not in
him. Whenever he may be speaking a lie,
he is speaking of his own, for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44, CLNT)
The
Adversary suggested Job only loved God because of God’s protection over Him. God knows the Adversary is dead wrong in his
estimation of Job. God is intimately
familiar with every single detail of each one of us, inside and out, because He
created every single detail of us. God
is fully aware of the extent of Job’s character and faith; the Adversary is
not. The Adversary’s insight of each one
of us is limited. It is obvious, by his
dialogue with God, that he does not know Job like God knows Job. For reasons we cannot truly know God proceeds
to give the Adversary permission to bring evil upon Job’s life. With that permission, He also sets boundaries
on what the Adversary may not do against Job.
The Adversary is told that he may not touch Job, but everything else of Job’s
life is at his disposal. Essentially, God
just put forth His hand to touch all that Job has. Knowing the boundaries, the Adversary leaves
the presence of God and goes to do his desire of evil and destruction upon
Job’s life. This is what he does:
JOB 1:13-22 (NAS)
13 Now on the day when his sons and his
daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came
to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
15 and the Sabeans attacked and took them.
They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have
escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was
still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven
and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have
escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was
still speaking, another also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands
and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge
of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While
he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your
daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
19 and behold, a great wind came from across
the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the
young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you." 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved
his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 He said, “Naked I
came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and
the Lord has taken away. Blessed be
the name of the Lord.” 22
Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.
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| The Art of William Blake |
The Adversary brought about a horrible, evil devastation upon Job’s life. It was more than one could bear. To the human eye, destruction was caused by the Sabeans, a fire from heaven, the Chaldeans, and a great wind. Using the means of people and earthly catastrophes, the Adversary killed all ten of Job’s sons and daughters, most of his servants, and did away with all his livestock. God did not perform this destructive work; the Adversary did, with God’s permission. God was well aware of the devastation the Adversary would bring upon Job, and He did not prevent it or intervene. God’s hands were not tied and unable to stop it. Through the Adversary, God put forth his hands to touch all Job had. He could have intervened with the Adversary’s work, if such an intervention had been in accordance with His plans and purposes. If God had intended for Job’s children to remain alive, He could have easily held back the hand of the Adversary and prevented their deaths. However, God had greater purposes that we can only speculate about.
What
was Job’s immediate reaction to this tragic and colossal loss in his life?
He
tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground, worshipped, and blessed
God. Something most of us probably
couldn’t do. As Job worshipped, he
acknowledged he was born having nothing at all and would be taking nothing with
him when he died. He recognized all he
has ever had has ultimately come from God. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall
return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job painfully and
worshipfully made the declaration that God had given all to him, and God could
also take it all away. The Adversary’s
initial attack left Job with a handful of servants, the agony of his immense
loss, and his nagging wife. My guess is
the Adversary didn’t touch her knowing she would be a source of aggravating hurt
to his wounds. In his greatest agony and
loss, Job did not sin, nor did he accuse or curse God. This chaffed the Adversary and proved his
estimation of Job wrong. His goal was to
bring Job to curse God and turn away from Him, and that did not happen.
Do
you realize that is one of the Adversary’s goals for each and every person on
this earth? He desires to drive us to
despair and cause us to curse and shake our fist at God and turn away from Him.
The Adversary knows that if we have no
faith and no hope in God, he can have us hopeless, faithless, and as easy prey
for more of his destructive schemes and lies.
The Adversary knows that if he can bring us to raise our fists up to God
in anger and resentment, our wrists will be in the perfect position for him to
shackle them with deceptions and hold us in bondage. If you are angry, bitter, hopeless, and
faithless, know that it is the perfected lies of the Adversary of God keeping
you that way.
What
happened to Job was not outside God’s sovereignty. It was not outside God’s will. It was not outside God’s power to stop it. What happened to Job was in God’s will. When God mentioned Job to the Adversary, God
knew what would happen next. God is not
ignorant, and He is no fool. He created
the Adversary and knows him inside and out—the same way He knows each one of
us. It is way beyond our human
comprehension why Job had to endure such huge and tragic loss at the hands of the
Adversary and ultimately, the hands of God.
It is way beyond our understanding why God ordained for it to be that
way. In an earthly, human sense, it
makes absolutely no sense at all. It
seems totally senseless. However, our
earthly, human sense is extremely finite and shortsighted. We see so little while foolishly believing we
know so much. We are told that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men”
(1 Corinthians 1:25) and that “the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” (1 Corinthians 3:19).
Humanly
speaking, death is one of the worst things that could ever happen to us or to a
loved one. We are afraid of death
because it is unknown to us, and we are scared of whatever pain or suffering may
come just before it happens. We also
want nothing to do with the agonizing sorrow we feel upon the death and loss of
a loved one. Yet, to God, death is only
a very temporary situation. In God’s
view and ultimate plan, death is not the end, and it is not horrible. God transcends the state of death. He clearly revealed that to us through Jesus
Christ. And through God and Christ,
death is defeated once and for all. There will come a day when we will rejoice
as “the last enemy is being abolished:
death” (1 Corinthians 15:26). (In
the future, I’ll discuss the subject of death in more detail.)
“The God Who makes
the world and all that is in it, He, the Lord inherent of heaven and earth, is
not dwelling in temples made by hands, neither is He attended by human hands,
as if requiring anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all…not
far from each one of us is He inherent, for in Him we are living and moving and
are…” (Acts 17:24-28, CLNT)
In
God, we live, move, and are. When we
face tragic loss, God is still God. God
is in control. God is in charge. God is completely aware. He cares.
He loves. He comforts. When we face tragic loss, we can turn to
Jesus Christ, our Savior and the best and most faithful friend God has given to
us. He has experienced death and been
resurrected by God. He has known the overwhelming
sting of death along with a resurrected life after death. When we face tragic loss, we can find comfort
through Him and through others who God has brought alongside to be part of our
lives.
Our country recently went through
the human tragedy of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Connecticut. Our hearts broke as we learned of all these
little children and adults whose lives ended so violently. Most who heard or read of this awful incident
struggled with trying to understand why in the world it happened. I struggled too. A friend of ours sent an email seeking help
to make sense of the senseless, and here is part of what I wrote back to her. I wrote it to help and encourage myself as much as I wrote it for her.
This is a horrible earthly
tragedy that has taken place. It is incomprehensible to us how it could
possibly happen. I also thought of my children when they were those ages
and imagined what if (my son) had been killed that way while he sat in his
kindergarten classroom. Oh the agony! I ponder these things so that
I can imagine what these parents, family, and friends are feeling.
I know that what those
children experienced for a few seconds before they were killed had to be the
scariest, most awful thing. But it was only for a few seconds and now
they are asleep and without a care of this world. It is those people left
behind to endure their loss that I am so very sorry for. It is for their
pain and their long road to find healing that I am sorry for. I am also
so very sorry for the family of that young man who was chosen to be a vessel of
dishonor.
God did create evil and
chose to make it part of this world. The Adversary goes about wreaking
his havoc. God does not have tell him what to do, but God will put up
boundaries for him. The story of Job is my best resource for
understanding the relationship between the Adversary and God. How God
puts up with the Adversary’s evil ways and schemes is truly beyond me.
There are days in which there is no way for us to comprehend why and it seems
almost impossible to accept.
… we can take comfort that
those children and adults who died are not suffering whatsoever. Their
presence on this earth will be terribly missed by those who cared for them, but
it is obvious that their time here on earth was done. If they were still
meant to be here, then they would still be here. Their souls are
peacefully asleep without any cares or sorrows or fears. And one GLORIOUS
day, Christ is going to wake them up and they will see Him face to face and
rejoice. And that great glory of the presence of Christ and, ultimately,
also of God will be a million times more powerful and long lasting than the few
seconds of suffering they endured at the very end of their earthly life.
This human life of ours is
such a little blip in time in the context of God. The life *AND*
death of those precious children and adults have made a great impact on this
earth and in the lives of many people. Everyone who lived through the
tragedy or read about it and felt the touch of it has now been changed in one
way or another. That has put them on a certain course for the choices
they will make in the future and how they view their relationships with others
or appreciate their loved ones a little more. The life those children and
adults lived here and the death they faced are both equally important for the
impact that they have had on others.
I guess for me, it is very
humanly hard to understand how … God seems to give and take away. Whether
it happens through shooters or murderers or accidents or the act of abortion,
it is beyond my full understanding. It hurts my heart. But there is
also this part of my thinking that realizes that God’s ultimate redemption and
heavenly life with Him in the future is so much grander in scope than this
little life here on earth. He has that in His sights and as a goal that
is soon to be completed and a done deal, while we tend to humanly focus on the
here and now as lengthy and it being what is most important.
I’m not sure if any of this
helps. But those are some of my thoughts and maybe some of them will
encourage you. I believe it is good and perfectly fine to ache and
struggle with this tragedy. It helps us to sympathize for those who have
been personally touched and are intensely hurting and to have compassion upon
them. And it brings us to call out to God on their behalf, and even if
they do not know us, we are sharing their burden, and consequently, we will
also share in their comfort.”
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| Brielle & Kyrie Jackson - The Rescuing Hug |
May we continue to set our
hope on God—our life, our breath, our source of all. May we not allow the perverse lies of the
Adversary to make or keep us angry, bitter, hopeless, or faithless, even in the midst of the most painful, heartbreaking loss.
To
be continued in Where is God When BadThings Happen? Finding Understanding throughJob, Part 3 – Afflicted Beyond What We Can Bear
Related
posts:
Thank you for this excellent post. It is profoundly encouraging. Your discussion about the seeming senselessness of human tragedy brought to mind my favorite passage from Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe:
ReplyDelete"So little do we see before us in the world, and so much reason have we to depend cheerfully upon the great Maker of the world, that He does not leave His creatures so absolutely destitute, but that, in the worst circumstances, they have always something to be thankful for, and sometimes are nearer their deliverance than they imagine; nay, are even brought to their deliverance by means by which they seem to be brought to their destruction."
We indeed see so little before us, but regardless of our circumstances, we have so much to be thankful for. At times when all seems lost, you never know what good thing awaits you just around the corner!
Thank you so much for your comment. That is an excellent quote from Robinson Crusoe. I truly appreciate you sharing it with me. The last sentence is quite profound.
DeleteThank you Mary Ann. You are but one voice, but your voice is very important. In another post, you rhetorically question your own efforts fighting against an evil and what difference you can make. I believe your work here makes a difference in ways you’ll probably never know in this life. Keep up the good work.
DeleteThank you so much for the encouragement. I sincerely appreciate it.
Delete