4 ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Job 38:4
Suffering and Job are almost synonymous. Why do we suffer and where is God when we know he has the power and wisdom to eliminate the plight we find ourselves in? The book of Job tackles this question. Job, a man righteous by all human standards, meets trials and loss that would defeat most of us. His children die in a catastrophe. His wealth is wiped out. Then to add insult to injury, illness depletes his reserves and his friends gather to comfort him. They are speechless at the extent of the suffering they encounter. We know that feeling of having friends encounter catastrophes beyond our ability to find words of comfort. We stand speechless beside them. I think of medical people accompanying people in their hour of helplessness.
Job contents that he is faultless and his agony is undeserved. He cries out for an audience with God to plead his innocence. His friends give the traditional human reasoning. For sure there is a cause and effect link in the series of events. Or perhaps there is unconfessed sin. Certainly God cannot be accused of doing wrong. Job, they contend, is just not facing and admitting to reality. Job maintains his innocence. After about 38 chapters of give and take, God appears in a cloud and questions Job.
God does not answer Job but asks questions that bring Job to his knees, as he understands that God is a master craftsman, a builder, creating a reality that we just do not understand. If we understood all that goes on in our lives then we would not need God. We were not there at the beginning and we do not understand. We see through a glass dimly as we look at our lives. I do not understand God’s plan in my husband dying before I did. I do not understand the purpose of the disease that ate away his body. I just can’t see the big picture. But I can be thankful for the years of blessing I had. I can lean on the friends who came to the funeral and reminded me of the good days that had been clouded over by the diminishing days. The sun is still shining. And God is still building a future I will live into. Only he knows what will unfold but I know he walks with all of us not just me, and God understands our dynamics and has a master plan he is building. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief! Blessings as you face your mystifying challenges.
On the Way to Wonder 