The book of Job has a significant effect on the human heart. It poses the question all Christians must ask at some point in their Christian lives: what do you do with faith when suffering has no purpose? As a community volunteer, I have spent long nights with patients and families in grief, and heard that question whispered in the dark. The book of Job does not provide a clean solution. It has something better: a faithful self-portrayal that withstood its questions.1 In this reflection, I will explore Job’s loss, the failure of Job’s friends to offer him counsel, Job’s protest, God’s response, and what I learned from these about suffering and faith.
The book starts by telling us that Job was blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.2 That observation is important as his pain is not retribution. He loses his livestock, servants and his ten children all in one day. The first thing he says is a song of praise to God. He contends that “the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”3 His wife then encourages him to curse God and die, when he has sore spots all over his body. Job replies, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”4 It is not a single quiet act of surrender that is a sign of faith in Job. It takes a long and expensive effort.
After seven days of silence, during which Job has nothing to say, the struggle intensifies. He does not curse God, but he curses the day he was born.5 Job’s grief and expression of grief are not concealed in Scripture and are not softened. The Bible allows for expressions of grief, and that is a sign that there is no opposition between faith and grief. The pain makes many believers feel bad about their faith. Notably, they feel like they are sinning when they feel pain. Job is the exact opposite: The raw grief can be brought to God, and yet he counts as a faithful person.
The comfort that Job’s friends give him is different. It is the kind of comfort that wounds. At first it is silent. He is surrounded by three men who sit beside him, in silence: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar; they are the best gift that he has. Then they start talking: The basic argument they make is that if God is righteous, the innocent are not afflicted and so Job had to have sinned. “Who, being innocent, has ever perished?”6 (Eliphaz asks). Job says that they are miserable comforters. I have seen the same in contemporary times, where people would say that everything happens for a reason or that one has not been lacking in faith. Sometimes the best thing to do in the face of pain is to be quiet and listen, Job tells Christians.
But Job maintains his integrity and insists on meeting with God. His utterances are somewhere between despair and astonishing hope. Yet, at one time, Job states, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”7 He further states, “I know that my redeemer lives.”8 His hope is not based on knowledge of his afflictions. It is based on the confidence in God. That revelation has altered my perspectives on faith. Faith does not have all the answers; it is remaining in relationship with God when the answers are not provided.
So, when God speaks to Job from the storm, no one is expecting what He has to say. From the Bible passage, it is clear that God does not give Job any reason for his suffering. In fact, He never speaks of the heavenly wager. But He asked, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?”9 Readers who hear sarcasm and criticism in these questions would do better to read them as an invitation. Job waited for a response, and was given a manifestation. He modestly and fully responds: “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”10 Through suffering, Job moves from second-hand belief to firsthand encounter.
The friends’ theology is also turned upside down in the ending.11 The Lord reproaches Eliphaz for not speaking of Him what is right, just as His servant Job has done.12 The truthful protest of Job was more pleasing to God than their well-turned phrases. Then Job is restored, but not his losses. New children do not replace the ones he buried.
Ultimately, the Book of Job shows Christians that sometimes suffering is not explained and sometimes faith is not serene. Job’s story is a refutation of the notion that pain is an indicator of God’s displeasure. It allows us to mourn with integrity, offers no easy consolation and reveals the God who is with us in the storm. It is vital for Christians to take these lessons with them when caring for the suffering. People might not know what makes others hurt, but they can be honest and believe that God is not abandoning them. This is the kind of faith Job demonstrates, not a certainty, but a strong trust in God’s presence.
