The Problem With Job

And it's not what you think.

The problem with the Biblical character Job is not that he was "given up" by God to Satan. Sure, God handed him over to Satan to torture, but God was showing His sovereignty in all things by doing so. God was revealing that spiritual warfare begins and ends with Him, not with Satan, as many think. Go back and check the account in the book of Job -- God proposes the name to Satan, who was looking for someone to mess with. God put limits on what could be done, but to the amazement of most, God allowed a "righteous" man to be tortured, humiliated, and devastated to the hilt. And for what? Well, for one thing, thousands of years later, people are still reading about his life and learning tremendous lessons from it in the Bible.

The problem with Job is not that his friends were horribly misguided. They rightly thought that for this much calamity in his life, Job must have committed some heinous sin worthy of such pain. Maybe they didn't have a complete understanding of God, but they were convinced that if Job would just admit his sin, and confess it, then God would relent with all this punishment and Job could get on with life. Most of the book is consumed with the rantings of Job's "friends." To be fair, they were following convential thinking. Just look at John chapter 9. A thousand years later, people asked Jesus if the man born blind was stricken this way due to his own sin, or the sins of his parents. Jesus responded, "neither, but that the mighty hand of God may be revealed." Hmmm, sounds much like the overall theme in Job.

The problem with Job is that he was "righteous," or as righteous as a man got in his time. Keep in mind Biblical scholars consider Job one of the oldest writings in the Bible. Under the old covenant, Job was considered a good and honest man, a God-fearer. And in a manner of speaking, Job didn't do anything wrong. In fact, he was doing everything right. And yet, he still suffered tremendous calamity.

The problem with Job is that he is not like us. I don't know of anyone who could pass such close scrutiny and come out "clean." So how do we relate to Job's story? What do we do when clamity and chaos hits our lives, and we are left wondering if God is punishing us, or teaching us, or just allowing Satan to beat us up? How do we distinguish between God's discipline, God's wrath, and God's allowances for the sake of displaying His glory?

I wish I had an answer. I think the answer comes at the end, much like Job may never have known what God was doing, even after God gave him a thrashing at the end of the book. Maybe sometimes things just happen, bad things, untimely things, things that would happen if we were way outside of God's will, or deeply tucked within. Maybe God's punishment, discipline, and sovereignty all intertwine at times, and we are left asking and seeking. Maybe that is a good place to be most of the time.

I have never thought of myself as free and clear. I have always had reason to fear God's punishment. But I have not always thought of everything that happens as God's direct punishment. I think sometimes the world just isn't fair, and bad things happen.

I do think that God has good, holy purposes in all that He does. I do know that God will not share His glory with anyone or anything. I do know that in Job's case, God displayed His control over Satan, circumstances, and human reasoning for all time. God can and will do what He wants, when He wants, but He never does so without good cause.

What to do with Job? I don't know, but it wasn't Job's righteousness that turned things around. God chose to do so. For His own purposes. And Job learned a lesson about God for all time.