Sacred Suffering - a Study on the Book of JobSample

Perhaps the day seemed like any other—comfortable and mundane. Little did Job know it would be the worst day of his life. Not once, not twice, but four times, messengers came to alert Job of terrible news. His oxen and donkeys were stolen. His sheep and servants? Gone. His camels were taken away. His children died in a windstorm. Unimaginable horror blew into Job’s life without warning—an attack from Satan but sanctioned by God.

As readers, we have peered into God’s heavenly throne room. We know God called Job blameless and upright, His own servant. We know that God’s love for Job is supremely why God allows Job to suffer. We know that Satan operates only within the boundaries God sovereignly controls. But Job feels the gut punches again and again, culminating in the deaths of his ten children.

Job could have been knocked out from the blows, falling in defeat to Satan. But Job did not curse God. As Job mourned his losses, he still had words of praise on his lips: “The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21b). Job clung to his relationship with God.

Job’s response in Job 1:21–22 is a prayer of hurt and reverence—proof that we can experience conflicting emotions at once. In our lowest lows, the presence of God lifts our eyes. Even if our nightmares come true, the God who loves us still sits enthroned in heaven.

As an outpouring of this love, Jesus left His throne, took on flesh, and suffered on our behalf. On the cross, Jesus bore the punishment of our sin—death and separation from God—so that we may be reconciled to the Father. Though Job did not know the beautiful, redemptive story that would one day unfold through Christ, he did know that God was worthy of all praise and glory, even in his pain. Job reminds us that God is still God, even when chaos happens. We can lay our worries, our disappointments, and even our anger at the feet of Jesus, knowing that He has been there and conquered it all.

Reflect and Respond question

How does Jesus comfort us in our suffering?