Finding God in Our Pain

God can use evil and suffering as a means of judgment and chastening (I Corinthians 11:30), but it is not correct to say that all men who suffer various forms of pain and tragedy are suffering because they have done evil. On the surface it is concluded by some that God is not being fair by allowing Job specifically and mankind generally to experience evil, especially if there is no apparent cause and effect evident. It was the dilemma that Job and his counselors sought to understand. Three of Job’s counselors (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) concluded as some do, that Job must be experiencing these things because he sinned against God and deserved them.

The test of Job reveals also to us that while in the midst of our sufferings there are several things in our struggle that we must overcome while we endure, submit, and eventually accept the will of God as we are waiting upon Him. First, there is the matter of God’s sovereignty itself. It puts the real control of our lives in its proper perspective. When God spoke to Job, this appeared to be God’s overall message of His challenge to Job from chapters 38 to 42. God ask Job and it is also for us, who are we to question the purposes God has determined for our lives.

Secondly, from the broader context of the Book we are seemingly blocked from finding God or at times thinking straight, because of Satan’s attempts to discourage us (Job 1:7; 2:2). His prowling to and fro is his way of looking for opportunities to devour us (I Peter 5:8) and prove us unfaithful to God, while at the same time trying to deceive us to prove God is unfaithful to us.

Thirdly, there is the matter of God’s silence in our times of pain (Job 23:3, 8). “Oh that I knew where to find Him, that I might come to His seat! Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him”. These are the times we must recall the Word of God that we already know until God gives us new insight. Right thinking according to the truth of God in times of suffering can be the only source of balance we have to keep our emotions from going to a place of despair and hopelessness.

The final area of conflict for us that Job’s example reveals is complaining against God from our own sense of self-righteousness and pride. To this point American theologian Charles Caldwell
 Ryrie agrees that this was God’s purpose for allowing Job to suffer. Ryrie says, “God’s purpose therefore was to strip away all Job’s self-righteousness and bring him to the place of complete trust in Him”.

The Book of Job reminds us that though God’s sovereignty does not always line up with our personal desires, it’s never divorced from God’s love and purpose for our lives. The problem is not that God’s Word doesn’t give us answers, but It does not give us answers to our satisfaction.

Prayer: Father, help us to accept and rest in Your ways. Even when we cannot see everything. You have given us enough love and mercy as proof we can always trust Your heart. In Jesus name, amen and amen.
By Pastor Wayne Cockrell