Job – The Question of Suffering

It happens to everyone – suffering of disease, loss of life, loneliness, fear, natural calamity (we even call it “an act of God”), war. For some suffering comes with sharp, piercing strokes – the death of a child. For others it is a constant background noise, always threatening and generally present – the hurt of fibromyalgia or recurring migraines; the ache of lost love.

Why? Why, God, why? Why the pulsing bite of pain? Why allow it, God? Why not make pain disappear?

If you’ve wondered, if you’ve been in pain or if pain marks your days today, the book of Job speaks more loudly. A man suffers – without a direct cause in him. He suffers as a saint; in fact you’ll see he suffers because he is a saint.

And when you get to the end of the book, you’ll get the answer. It may be all the answer you need, as it was for Job. The answer is that God knows, God directs, and God is sovereign. Your place is that you can trust in His decision – even when it hurts.

Just ask Jesus.


From the Lutheran Study Bible:

Blessings for readers:

  • Despite Job’s lack of understanding and inability to explain his suffering, he clings to his belief that God is still his Redeemer. The Book of Job teaches that suffering is not simply God’s judgment for sin (though it certainly can be that); suffering may be a trial permitted by God for our good or for the good of another. Most importantly, human suffering is part of God’s redemptive plan for the salvation of all (demonstrated by Jesus’ suffering). Job trusts that a Mediator-Redeemer will justify him. And in the end, God leads Job to sincere repentance and renewed faith in His mercy.
  • As you study Job, pray for the patience, wisdom, and faith shown by this saint. No matter what you may suffer, confess your Redeemer and call on Him. He will deliver you!

Challenges for readers:

  • Suffering – Some commentators have charged that the book of Job never answers the questions it raises about suffering. This misunderstanding usuallyarises from trying to read Job as an explanation of human suffering rather than as a book about fear of God and redemption.
  • Date of Composition – Various dates have been proposed for the book of Job. Critics often date the writing of Job to the sixth or fifth century BC or even later, though it describes a setting from the Patriarchal period (late 2000’s or early 1000’s BC). The money Job describes (42:11), the Sabean and Chaldean raiders (1:15, 17), Job’s great age (42:16), and the way of sacrifice all correspond to a time before the establishment of the Israelite priesthood and tabernacle. The great events of the exodus and conquest are never mentioned. The style of the Hebrew is archaic and very difficult, the most interpretive in the OT. All these point to an early date.
  • The Redeemer – the greatest failure of critics is in not recognizing Job’s prophecy about the Redeemer and the resurrection of the body (19:23-29). In this passage, Job beautifully points forward to Jesus of Nazareth, who suffers Satan’s accusations, temptation, and finally endures the cross in order to redeem all people from sin. These themes are wonderfully drawn together by the English hymn writer Samuel Medley: “I know that my Redeemer lives; What comfort this sweet sentence gives! He lives, He lives, who once was dead; He lives, my ever-living Head.”

Reading Plan for Job

You need to read the chapters 1-3 of the book and the end of the book – chapters 38-42. That will give you the gist of the account, and is a fairly easy read. Chapters 1-3 are action packed; chapters 38-39 contain some of the most soaringly beautiful literature of the entire Bible and chapters 40-42 tell the conclusion of the account.

Now about chapters 4 through 37 … read them as you can. Chapters 4-31 are a series of arguments between Job’s friends and Job. They keep telling him he needs to confess his great sin (their logic? Nobody ever suffers as Job is unless they did something that really made God angry! No one needs friends like that!) Job on the other hand keeps defending himself.

In chapters 32-37 a new character enters the fray. Elihu rebukes Job’s friends, but then also condemns Job. In all of these chapters, you will not get God’s answers. They begin in chapter 38.

Sunday: Read chapters 1-3

Monday: Chapters 38-39

Tuesday: Chapters 40-42

Wednesday-Friday: Read chapter 19 (“I know my Redeemer lives”) and chapters 32-37; other chapters as you can.

Did you know …

…that Job may be the oldest book of the Bible? Perhaps it is older than the writings of Moses.

… that some of the creatures (leviathan, behemoth) in the book of Job are so mysterious that some scholars speculate they may be the land dinosaurs and water-borne dinosaurs? This is also one of the things that makes people think Job may be part of the pre-Flood world.

… the life of this saint of God is even a proverb among us. “The patience of Job” comes from the book you are about to read.

… two other Bible writers speak of Job’s life as a life of righteousness – a life worth imitating. See Ezekiel 14 and James 5.

In Eleven Words Or Less . . .

In this life, saints suffer, but God is still in control.

Worth memorizing:

Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised.(1:21)

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes— I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!(19:25-27)