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Job, a Man of Suffering
We all know about Job and heard about him. We remember him as a man of suffering. We need to know a little bit of his background to understand about his suffering.
Job was a righteous man. Even God recognized his righteousness. This was what God said,
The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.’ (Job 1:8)
This was the beginning of all his problems. Satan asked this question to God.
Then Satan answered the Lord, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around 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. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.’ (Job 1:9-11)
There is an important question this raised. Is there a person who loves God purely for who he is? Or we all honor God because there are benefits?Is our faith simply our response to the blessings given to us?
That is the question Job had to ask. Job lost his children, his possessions, and at the end even his own health. Seeing all that his wife cursed him and left him.
Can Job still believe in God?
Who Can Suffer
The book of Job is a book about a man who lost everything and talks about what he went through. His friends tried their best to conclude that these sufferings came upon him because there was something wrong he did. They tried to lead conversation into the conclusion that Job was a sinner and therefore all these bad things happened to him.
It is the easiest way to say that our suffering is punishment for our sins. Jesus’ disciples did the same thing.
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ (John 9:1, 2)
But the book of Job says otherwise. The book of Job says that righteous people can suffer too. Just because you go through your own suffering right now, don’t automatically assume that there must be something wrong with you or you did something bad.
Do bad things happen to good people? Yes, bad things happen to good people. Our Lord Jesus showed that very clearly. Jesus was a righteous man. But people crucified him on the cross. Seeing suffering death of Jesus, a Roman soldier who was in charge said this strange confession.
The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” (Luke 23:47)
Seeing the suffering of Jesus, this man saw the righteousness of Jesus, not his wickedness. We don’t know why bad things happen to good people. That is mystery.
Even God doesn’t answer that. After the suffering, there is a whole bunch of conversations between Job and his three friends. And finally, God appeared to Job for the first time. That was what we read today.
He didn’t give Job a clear answer for his suffering. But instead he let him see the beautiful creation he made. And asked Job. Did you do any of these? Were you even there? Do you even know how I created all these?
God’s Gift
God created the beautiful world. We heard Darren beautiful perform that.
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder
Consider all The works Thy Hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
Thy pow’r throughout The universe displayed,
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
God made this beautiful world but we don’t know how he did it. God is saying that he will also make a beautiful life out of our suffering. And we don’t know. Why we suffer is not as important as what God will make out of our suffering. As God created the beautiful world out of chaos and darkness, God will create a beautiful life out of our suffering even though we may go through chaos and darkness when we suffer.
When we suffer, we ask this question. Why me? But there is no answer there. Instead of asking why me, let us see what God will make out of our suffering.
God is good. God granted to us all the good things. God gave us beautiful gifts. Beautiful family, friends, good job, good health – We should be thankful. But if these good gifts become what we expect and what we demand, then they become no more good gifts. When these things are not given, we will be disappointed and discouraged. We will be even disillusioned.
Our good God will make a beautiful life out of us no matter what circumstances we may be in. We should be joyful and thankful in all circumstances. Nothing will be able to take that joy out of us. No suffering can take the joy out of us. The early Christians sang praises and gave thanks even in prison. No suffering could take that joy away from them.
Suffering has no power over us. Suffering cannot even harm us. Suffering will only help us. When we suffer, God is right there. God works behind our suffering. God uses our suffering to build us up.
Let us see our suffering with new eyes. Instead of fearing our suffering, we should be able to see God who works behind our suffering. We should be able to see God’s creative work. Then we will have a new meaning for our suffering.
Overcome Suffering
This is what St. Paul said about our suffering.
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (Romans 5:3-5)
Suffering does not give us fear anymore. Because it can’t harm us anymore. It is not the reason for us to run away from our life. When we see that suffering becomes even beneficial, we can live a powerful and victorious life.
Jesus said,
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
He didn’t say if you have trouble. He said, in this world you will have trouble. He is saying that it is unavoidable reality. But do not fear but take heart he said. Because Jesus has overcome the world. We are Jesus’ disciples and we will also overcome the world.
The one who wins at the end is not the one who is successful but the one who has overcome the suffering.
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