Explanations for PainSample

The gap between you and God

In Job 38, we reach the moment we have been waiting for. In Job 1-2, God mysteriously allowed Satan to take away Job’s wealth, Job’s health, and Job’s children. In Job 3-37, Job and four of his friends argued about why everything fell apart for Job. Was Job bad? Was God bad?

And in Job 38, God finally shows up. What will he say to scab-covered, feverish, childless Job? The answer is not what you would expect. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand” (verse 4). “Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this” (verse 18). “Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!” (verse 21). God tests Job. And Job fails. During question after question (God asks 77 total!), Job just stares up at God. Clueless. Ignorant. Unworthy.

That might seem cruel given all that Job had suffered, but it was actually a sweet display of mercy. Job, who assumed he knew enough to judge God, was on the verge of losing his trust in God’s love. Therefore, God had to undo Job’s assumption, opening Job’s eyes to the massive difference in what each of them understood about life’s big picture.

If you have honest questions about your personal suffering, be slow to speak and quick to remember just how much God knows that you don’t. Your admission of ignorance just might save your faith in a loving God.