There once was a period in my life when I questioned my existence. Not that I have it all figured out now, but at my lowest of lows, I did exactly what Job is doing in this chapter: I asked WHYYYYYY in a thousand ways. And sometimes that’s what it takes. And sometimes I think that’s what God wants from us. He wants us to ask questions that only He can answer. He wants us to realize that only He can bring true relief. He wants us to recognize that He alone can bring peace beyond understanding. And sometimes that requires bringing us to our knees.
And it’s ok to think that’s a double-edged sword because it certainly is, and God knows it, so don’t be fooled into thinking you’re thinking something He hasn’t realized. We humans tend to feel extra sorry for ourselves because sometimes we feel alone in our suffering. It’s not nice to feel alone or tormented or punished for something you didn’t even do. It’s not nice to be punished for something you did do let alone something you didn’t do. And those are just our individual battles. We can look around and see that God has not spared the masses. And one of the biggest questions I see as a Christian from people who don’t believe in Jesus is WHYYYYYYY would God do all this????? WHYYYYYY would he cause such pain for the people He loves so much? And that’s basically what Job is asking here. But think about it: Job doesn’t have what we have; he doesn’t have a book of stories that show us God’s love and forgiveness through all the dumb stuff we’ve done. Job doesn’t have much guidance at all. All he has is his faith, which I’m sure was brought about by stories passed down through generations, but still, he didn’t have what we have … he didn’t have Jesus. And he wanted a Jesus so badly. Remember the last stanza of the last verse? I’m still thinking about it today … “If only there were a guy …,” Job said. If only there were a guy who could answer all these questions.
Job pondered the reasons WHYYYYY God does things long before we ever thought about feeling sorry for ourselves. And in between the time Job begged God for answers and the time we begged God for answers, God actually answered, with Jesus. But we forget that sometimes, don’t we? We forget in our pain and suffering that there has been greater suffering, and that through suffering, faith is multiplied.
Writing prompt: faith
How is your faith today? Write about a time you suffered and compare your response to your own suffering to Job’s response to his.
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