Growing Through SufferingSample

God’s Sovereignty over Suffering

Do you ever wonder why your faithfulness to God doesn’t eliminate the suffering in your life? When you suffer, do you imagine that God has found fault with you?

We see in Job’s story that it is quite possible to suffer greatly even when we have been faithful to God. Job’s suffering did not result from sin, nor did he bring affliction upon his family. When Jesus and his disciples encountered a man who was born blind, Jesus underscored this truth (John 9:3). So, why did these men suffer? Was Job merely a pawn in a divine chess match between God and Satan? Was the blind man simply a tool for displaying God’s power?

The way in which God spoke to Job in the final chapters seems to suggest that the answer to these questions is yes. Rather than the explanatory language we might feel that Job deserves, God boldly affirmed his sovereign authority over all of creation. At times, God’s tone can come across as sarcastic, even scathing, and he never once explained to Job why his suffering occurred (Job 38:2-4; 40:1-2, 6-10, 14; 41:10-11). Of all the ways he could have responded, God chose to “put Job in his place.” Despite the sympathy that we feel for Job and his circumstances, God’s sovereignty assumes center stage in Job’s story. We find ourselves confronted with the truth that God is Lord of all. He is God. We are not. And we have no basis upon which to question his goals or methods.

However, this need not cause us to despair. Humility before God is the access point for receiving his mercy and grace (Psalm 138:6). We cannot receive salvation, or any other spiritual gift in Christ, apart from recognizing God as God, and ourselves as creatures in need of his grace as Jesus mentions in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3).

When Job was brought to his knees before the Lord, he exclaimed, “I was talking about things I knew nothing about” (Job 42:3). The Lord saw Job’s humility, commended him, and blessed him even more than he had in the beginning (Job 42:12). Similarly, as we are humbled under God’s mighty power, we will be exalted by him “at the right time” (1 Peter 5:6). Our faithfulness to God may not eliminate our suffering, but it positions us to receive one gracious blessing after another.