One of the great difficulties each of us, as human beings, encounter in life is the attempt to arrive at a reason for sufferings that we endure. Why do we suffer pain, disease, the loss of limbs, the fear of early death when we have so much to do in life? Why do we have to suffer the death of loved ones to accident, war, violence? How does a parent cope with the senseless killing of a child by a deranged madmen who kills for no good reason but just to kill, while the child is in school or in a movie house where they are supposed to be safe? We live in a world of terror, where we try putting the fear of harm to ourselves or our family members aside, until that terror strikes ourselves or a member of our family with violence and death. How then do we cope? With unending hatred for the perpetrator? With unending grief for our loss? With hatred of God for allowing something we do not understand?
In the book of Job, in the Old Testament, we read of Job, a just and good man, who is confronted with the loss of all his possessions and all the members of his family and does not understand why God has allowed this. Three of his close friends insist that he recognize that he is being punished for all his sins, for all his wrongdoings. But Job responds that he is innocent of wrongdoings that would justify such punishment. His three friends continue to insist that the reason he is being punished with such losses is because he has certainly done wrong; that the only way for Job to continue with his life, with any kind of happiness, is to admit his sins to God, repent and then ask God’s forgiveness; if he were to do that, they insist, God would forgive him and bless him with good things again.
But Job persists in declaring his innocence and points out to his friends that many people who do evil things are allowed to live their entire lives in luxury while they do harm to others; so, says Job, it cannot be that God is punishing him, an innocent man, while letting other sinners live without any seeming punishment; this would mean that God is unjust to him. And so he questions God, while not losing faith in God’s goodness, as to why he seems to be unjust in allowing such sufferings to befall him when he is innocent of wrongdoing.
God then answers Job in this way: He reminds Job of all the wonders of God’s creation, of his providing care and sustenance to all the animal kingdom; of is providing rain all over the world so that plants might grow to provide food even in remote places where no-one lives; of his providing many good things, as well as food and wearing apparel from plants, animals and fish, for his people; he reminds him of his justice in punishing sinners and giving good things to those who love him. Job understands that he had no right to think that God was being unjust, considering the immense power and goodness of God to all his creatures, good and bad alike;
Job repents of his complaints against God who commends him for not giving in to the unwise advice of his friends, while sticking to his profession of innocence. God then chastises his three friends for trying to mislead Job and finally restores to Job twice the possessions that he previously had, while giving him long years with new friends and family.
The author of the book of Job was inspired by God to write this story to help all of us understand that God allows sufferings and losses not necessarily in punishment for any wrong we might have done; that God in his infinite wisdom has manyfold reasons for sufferings we endure, but we may not understand the reasons this side of heaven; that God is good and does not treat us unjustly; that we acknowledge that God is Truth, Goodness, Mercy, Justice, Love, Humility, Understanding, Wisdom; that God can be trusted that he cares about us and loves us, with a constant love, through our sufferings; that God desires we not give up Hope; that we trust in his constant love for each of us; that God will give us the strength to go through our sufferings - a guarantee.
In the introduction to the book of Job, the author gives us a hint that sometimes God will allow suffering to test our love for him. The author writes of a meeting between God and Satan in which Satan tells God that his favorite Job will lose faith in him if he is tested with suffering; Satan is allowed to bring upon Job the sufferings that he endures.
The point of this introduction is not that suffering comes from Satan or that God allows suffering simply to test our faith in him; the real point is that God allows suffering for a multitude of reasons which we may or may not understand in this life. Whatever God’s reasons, for allowing each of us to suffer, they are manyfold, but God, in justice, must test our willingness to bear with the suffering, even though God may not reveal the reasons for it, without losing trust in God, without giving up our love for him; but we are to realize the presence of his overwhelming constant love for us and his understanding of our many different emotions that accompany our suffering; we are to realize that God wants to help us through that suffering especially when we ask for help.
If we remember that the Father commanded his Son, the Christ, to suffer and die on the Cross for the benefit of all mankind, we may begin to understand that if God can do that and have his Son suffer for us, then perhaps it might be easier for us to understand that our willingness to trust in God’s wisdom concerning our suffering, may result in our suffering even being of benefit to others.
A further thought - Is anyone greater than God? It is easy for any human being to be so overcome by tragedy involving the loss of a family member or close friend that trying to see things as Job did, in not giving up on God and his goodness even though he felt God was being unjust, can be extremely difficult. However, God's answer to Job involved God's explaining how great God is in his creation of all things, in his providing everything for the sustenance of all his creatures, in his unconditional love for all his people and in his wisdom in his management of all things good; so why, says God, is Job not recognizing God's greatness - does Job think his suffering is so great that God and his readiness to relieve suffering is next to nothing in comparison? Is Job in his suffering greater than God in his mercy?
A further thought - Is anyone greater than God? It is easy for any human being to be so overcome by tragedy involving the loss of a family member or close friend that trying to see things as Job did, in not giving up on God and his goodness even though he felt God was being unjust, can be extremely difficult. However, God's answer to Job involved God's explaining how great God is in his creation of all things, in his providing everything for the sustenance of all his creatures, in his unconditional love for all his people and in his wisdom in his management of all things good; so why, says God, is Job not recognizing God's greatness - does Job think his suffering is so great that God and his readiness to relieve suffering is next to nothing in comparison? Is Job in his suffering greater than God in his mercy?
No comments:
Post a Comment