The Epic Story of the Bible, Part 7: Job

“God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.”  Job 37:5 (ESV)

This epic story of Job shows the struggle and suffering of humanity in a sinful world, all against the backdrop of God’s sovereignty. Job was a man of faith who had extreme wealth and lost it all. He did not deserve his suffering. He had to deal with the reactions and conversations with his so-called friends who did not understand God (sound familiar?). Job’s story shows us a suffering and the bigger plan of God. Like Job, we all want to know why, but only God knows the why and he does not always tell us. But by his grace, like Job, we can trust and rely on him, even when life is difficult and confusing.

Despite his pain, Job interceded on behalf of his foolish friends, just as Jesus, our Savior, intercedes for us.

As Job went through great sufferings, he persevered when it did not make sense to him or to us.  We all have so many questions we want answered. Why is there suffering? Why do bad things happen to good people? Where is God when life hurts? The simple answer is God is here, he knows, he cares. This is what Job discovered and what he showed us – the beauty of trusting God even with our doubts, fears, frustrations and questions. Like Job, we needn’t be afraid of our questions, but trust them to God alone.

The beauty is that God is still here, beside us. He restores, saves and cares for us. “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” (James 5:11 ESV)

Like Job, we may not understand our problems or ever get a reason for them, but we can still trust in the Lord, who is compassionate and merciful.

God’s sovereignty and his love trumps our circumstances, the injustice of the world and even our questions, because our Redeemer lives!  Jesus is the one who ultimately suffered in our place, and so we can trust him with everything we are. (Job 19:25-27; 33:23-24).

What questions do you want God to answer for you today? Can you trust him, even if those questions go unanswered, as Job did?

What if you embraced God’s love like Job did? Who would benefit?