If you’re like I was not that long ago, every time the book of Job comes up in your Bible reading plan, you cringe just a little knowing you are about to read one of the most confusing and depressing books in the Bible. Honestly, it can leave you wondering what the point is of the book. Why did God include Job’s story in the Bible—His love letter to us?
The book can be confusing because it can be difficult to know who is speaking, if we can trust that speaker, and the motivation behind the speech. But as we unpack the layers, we can start to understand the messages we’re meant to receive from the book.
Some of the lessons are pretty clear and some take a bit more effort. Let’s start with the clearer ones.
Suffering Isn’t Always a Result of Personal Sin
I went into this topic in a previous blog post, so I won’t unpack it in detail here, but while suffering overall is a result of sin in the world, your personal suffering is not necessarily a consequence of your personal sin. The book of Job makes it clear that Job’s suffering had nothing at all to do with his personal sin but with the fact that he was so faithful to God that Satan wanted to test him.
There are actually many reasons God allows suffering in our lives. Our suffering can absolutely be the natural result of our sin, but it can also be a means God uses to draw us closer to Him, to help us recognize blessings in our lives, or to show us the power of prayer or faith. Our suffering can be a tool God uses to teach others, or it can be to show us we are not alone.
We tend to quickly jump to the conclusion that if we are suffering, we must have done something wrong, but the book of Job shows us that is not always the case. It also teaches us a lesson about judging those around us who find themselves in a season of suffering. We must be gracious, acknowledging there may be things we don’t know… but God does.
Job Teaches Us Not to Assume We See the Whole Picture
Often when we see someone suffering, we assume we understand the purposes God has for that suffering. But the truth is we don’t see the whole picture. We see a very small piece of the tapestry God is weaving, and we see it from the underside, with all of the tangles and knots.
Because God sees the full masterpiece from the right side, He knows what is best for us and what is going to accomplish His purposes. We can’t, like Job’s friends, assume that we have the whole story. As readers of the story, we are privy to information Job’s friends didn’t have. And as a result, they judged him wrongly.
One of the points the book of Job makes is that we can’t make those judgement because we don’t have all of the information. We don’t see the full picture. The book of Job teaches us to be gracious and humble as we serve those who are suffering.
Trust God in Spite of Your Circumstances
Job’s faith is inspiring! He did not allow his suffering to affect his faith, his worship, or his convictions. In spite of the emotional and physical pain he was experiencing, he made the choice to trust that God knew the truth, and he would be vindicated in the end.
Notice that Job questioned God and this is not seen as a lack of faith. God is big enough to handle our questions, and He longs for us to turn to Him in our suffering. We can’t allow our pain to drive us away from God. We must lean into Him and His strength when we don’t have our own strength to support us.
While the book of Job seems to be an extreme situation, it sets an example for us to follow in the hard times of life. Will we choose to lean in to God, or will we follow Job’s wife’s advice to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9)? God longs to sustain us even in our questions, our anger, and our pain. And because He is God, He knows the end result.
God vs. Satan
One important lesson the book of Job teaches us is the relationship between God and Satan. We often think of them as equal but opposite forces—the age old story of good versus evil. But the book of Job shows us that they are not equals.
Satan must ask God’s permission to attack Job. The book makes it clear that God had been protecting Job from Satan’s attacks, and Satan seems to think this is unfair. It always amazes me that God brags on Job, and Satan uses that as a springboard for his request.
Not only does Satan have to ask permission, but after he afflicts Job with illness, we don’t see him again anywhere in the story. He seems to just slink off as he realizes that Job is going to make a liar out of him. What started out as a story that seemed to be about these two big rivals turns into a story about a faithful man.
The book includes one of the few exchanges between God and Satan recorded for us in Scripture, and it presents a very clear picture of their dynamic: All-powerful master and begrudgingly submissive servant. Little did Satan know he was playing right into God’s plans to overwhelm Job with true joy as a result of these tests!
Job Shows Us that God Is Big Enough
Because I have grown up in church, I have heard well-intentioned people often say, “You can be angry at your situation, but you shouldn’t be angry at God.” I go into this in more detail in my short e-book, Good Grief: Wisdom for Godly Mourning from the Book of Ruth, so I will summarize here. I feel this is a matter of semantics.
God is in control of my circumstances. He could change things if He wanted. So being angry at my circumstances is the same as being angry at God. And the emotion of anger in and of itself is not a sin. So it isn’t a sin to be angry at God.
What matters is what we do with that anger. Do we raise our fists at Him and curse Him for our circumstances? Do we turn our backs on Him and wait to heal before we can speak to Him again? Or do we come to Him in our anger, pour out our hearts to Him, and let Him give us the comfort only He can give even if He never answers our questions?
God is big enough to handle our questions and our anger. Job models that for us, as does Naomi in the book of Ruth. He isn’t afraid of our anger because He knows what we are feeling and He knows why and He knows how to heal it and He knows what the result will be. Don’t be afraid to lay all of your emotions at His feet, BUT don’t turn away from Him in the midst of those emotions.
True Joy Is Found in Knowing God
After Job experienced the tragedies of his children dying, his livestock being stolen, and his crops being destroyed, after he was stricken with physical illness that literally deformed his body so he was barely recognizable, after he sat through his friends judging him and berating him because he wouldn’t acknowledge that he broke God’s law, God spoke to him in a whirlwind. The God of the universe gave Job what he wanted: an audience with Him.
But it wasn’t exactly what he asked for because God didn’t answer his questions. He did better. He revealed to Job Who He truly is. He gave Job just a glimpse of His glory, just enough for Job to realize just how little He knew of God. And as Job’s knowledge of God increased, so did his awe of God. Job realized that even when all of the pleasures of this world disappear, God is enough.
While God’s gifts bring us pleasure and joy in this life, true joy comes from knowing Him. As we get to know Him, we fall deeper in love with Him, and the more we see ourselves through His eyes.
And what a blessing that today He doesn’t have to speak to us through a whirlwind in the chaos of this world because He has written us a beautiful love letter—a letter that is living and active and allows us to go deeper each time we read it. The more time we spend in the Word of God, the more we get to know Him, the deeper we fall in love with Him, and the more we experience deep, honest joy.
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