The Man Who Asked “Why?”

Apr 16, 2016 1782

In the Bible story of Job, here is a man who suffers seemingly without cause. Naturally, Job asks, “Why?” He has three friends who come to him and who give him bad answers to his questions.

These three friends – Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar – say some things that are right, and many things that are wrong. Ultimately, in different ways, they all tell Job that he is suffering because he has done something wrong. And the solution that they give him is that he must confess and repent so that God will bless him.

God doesn’t like their advice to Job at all. In fact, God says that he is angry at them because they have lied about what he is like (Job 42:7).

The book of Job doesn’t give us the ultimate answers. Why? Because we will never have them in his life. However, the book ends with God telling Job all that he can handle, and all that he needs to know.

What God tells Job in essence, is that he is much more powerful and much more loving than anyone could ever imagine (Job 38–41).

The chances are, simply because you are human, that you are suffering right now. Sure, we’ve all made wrong choices in the past. But ultimately the suffering in this world bears no relationship to those things.

The assurance that God was all-powerful and all-loving was enough for Job. It restored the joy in his life. Now that Christ the Messiah has come and overcome, should it not be enough for us also?

One day, we will have all the answers to every question we ever asked. Until then Christ is enough.

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