Real Hope: Learning From the Book of JobSýnishorn

Is God Just?

Is God just? That’s the key question in the book of Job. Job is an upstanding man who, for the purposes of this story, is entirely blameless in the sight of God – when Job experiences unimaginable suffering, the question of why becomes central to the rest of the story. Job starts with the belief that God is just. However, he cannot reconcile his sufferings with this truth, so he begins to question God. His friends are also struggling to reconcile Job’s suffering; however, the conclusion they draw is not to question God’s justice but to question their friend’s innocence.

Job is on an emotional rollercoaster as he wrestles to explain both God’s justice, and his own innocence, again and again, coming up short. Finally, he demands a response from God; however, it is not what Job expects. God points out that Job simply does not have enough perspective on the universe to make assumptions about how the world is run. He describes His creation as complex and beautiful, but not one that eliminates suffering (not yet anyway).

The question of why bad things happen to good people is still as relevant now as it was all those years ago. It’s almost as if God knew how many times humanity would ask Him this simple question. We try to reason our response, often concluding as Job and his friends did, that either God is not just, or we have done something wrong.

The book of Job invites us to explore the possibility that we are not actually equipped to answer this question; we simply do not have all the information. Today, we continue to learn to trust in His goodness, knowing that one day, when God makes all things new, we will truly understand.

Written by LUCY WEIL