Chapter one of Job introduces the person of Job, a man highly regarded by God as one who was blameless, God-fearing and righteous. He was also wealthy with a great deal of livestock and servants. Thirdly, he had ten children, seven sons and three daughters. Job was not only righteous in his own life but he was also concerned that his children did not sin against God.
In this chapter, the curtain was removed for us to see what was happening in the spiritual realm. Here we see God putting forth the good example of Job. However, Satan, the Accuser, claimed that Job only feared God in order to receive all the benefits. Satan challenged God that if Job’s material benefits are removed, Job will no longer be loyal to God. God, in His permissive will, allowed Satan to test Job by removing all his material benefits.
Job lost his livestock, camels, servants and all his children in successive incidents rather quickly. But Job did not sin against God; instead, he worshiped the Lord God and declared that the Lord God gave and also took away. He blessed the name of God.
In chapter two, we see, in the spiritual realm, the Lord God praising Job in the presence of the Accuser. He claimed that in spite of Satan’s efforts, Job kept his integrity. Satan then declared that Job had not reached his breaking point and he would deny God if his own body and health were affected badly. God permitted Satan to cause Job’s health to be targeted but He did not permit the Accuser to take away Job’s life. Satan caused Job to have sores, boils and itch in his whole body. He had to scratch himself to relieve his itch and bore the pain of this severe ailment. His condition was so bad that when his three friends came to comfort him, they cried on seeing his condition. Job’s wife told him to ‘curse God and die’, but Job rebuked her saying that one must be prepared to receive bad and good from God and not complain. In all this, Job did not sin against God.
Notice that it was not only Job who was undergoing trials, but God’s policies and wisdom were being questioned by the Accuser.. He, in effect, was claiming that God was deluded to think that Job would be righteous and blameless without the benefits God showered upon him. If the benefits were removed, Job would also lose his righteousness. God was confident that Job would still be loyal to him even if his benefits were removed. He was proven right when Job responded with worship after being struck down with one calamity after another.
We see Job suffering not because of his sin but because he was favoured by God and was singled out as one who was truly God-fearing and blameless. Even after he was inflicted with sickness, Job did not sin against God. Even though his wife, probably influenced by Satan, told him to curse God and die, Job maintained his stand that one must be prepared to receive both good and evil from the hand of God. God was again proven right and it demonstrates that a man can love God for Himself and not just to get benefits from God.
Even though Satan departed from the scene, he was still working behind the scenes, namely, using Job’s wife and probably manipulating various individuals to make Job’s suffering more unbearable so that he would deny God. Job’s physical illness also involved emotional suffering. Later chapters show that although Job was regarded with much respect in his community in the past, now he had to endure jeering from children, and others kept their distance from him, spitting at him and taunting him. He cried for help without receiving any answer and he could not understand why God was cruel to him. Take note that Job was not aware of a being called Satan and he thought that all his sufferings came from God. Job’s positive response to God was even more commendable in this light.
We see that sufferings are not necessarily due to sin; we note the spiritual realm and the presence of a formidable foe.
Satan, however, can only operate with God’s permission. Indeed, God is sovereign, perfectly wise and good. Whatever He allows is according to His wisdom in ordering the cosmos and the world. But we must also recognise that after the fall, this is a broken world, plagued with broken relationships and disorder. It is in this context that God operates.. For now he provides some provisional justice but He is working tirelessly and will ultimately right all wrongs as He ushers in the new heaven and new earth. This is where justice prevails, and evil and suffering will disappear. This He will effect with the coming of the Son of Man who will accomplish victory by His suffering and death. This is a victory over death, the Accuser, the power of sin and the penalty of sin. He will exhaust all the power of evil at the cross of Calvary. In the meantime, the context is a broken world, a context of disorder. Additionally, God’s intended creation is not yet complete – the restoration and renewal of creation is yet to be finished. This will happen at Jesus’ second coming when he removes the presence of sin and suffering; simultaneously, he will bring vindication to God’s faithful people.
Before this, suffering and evil are to be expected. We should not be surprised when suffering and evil hit us in the face. We must not be deluded into thinking that the world is still basically all right and all problems and suffering can be resolved with progress in technology, education and political will. When disaster strikes; when man acts cruelly against fellow man; when world wars come and go; when natural calamities take place; and even when we stumble in our walk with Jesus, let us be reminded that this is a broken world and God is still not finished with restoring His creation.
The end of Chapter two sees Job’s three friends coming to comfort him. They mourned with him. They empathised with him in his suffering and sat silently with him for seven days and nights. Likewise, the suffering Christian needs fellow believers to rally around him, to comfort him, to pray for him and with him and to show empathy. Sometimes, being present in silence may be all that is needed. The wrong counselling, the wrong doctrines expressed at such a time may cause more pain for the one suffering. This we shall see in the subsequent chapters in the book of Job.
We see also that suffering without any hope of things getting better is not easy to endure. This is where Christian perseverance, endurance and faith come into play. Keeping the right perspective, keeping faith in a perfectly good, loving and wise Creator is needful. When we are perplexed God needs us to trust Him explicitly, not to understand Him comprehensively.