“And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou taken heed unto my servant?
Job? For there is none like him on earth, – a man so righteous and upright, who fears God and shuns evil! And still he holds fast to his righteousness. And in doing so, you had incited me against him, to devour him for no reason.”
Hi 2,3
Arbitrariness or wisdom?
We don’t like to hear that God “devours” someone “for no reason.” This triggers discomfort. Such a statement can get under our skin when we are not sure if God is really working, if He is really there, and if He were there, if He is really standing by me. Many people have a split relationship with God. Now, should he do something “for no reason,” the understandable reaction is to first run away screaming.
For doesn’t this “without reason” also sound a bit like “arbitrariness”? Can I be sure that He will take care of me? Or can he change his attitude towards me? Without reason – we quickly understand this as unfair.
These are precisely the issues at stake in the Book of Job. It is about suffering in this world, which is not just at all. And profoundly, of course, about a suffering that is there in the first place, that affects all of us in some way. We do not want suffering. Most people long for life and harmony. Suffering unsettles us. Suffering brings forth questions, including questions to God.
The Book of Job is believed to be the first Bible book written. Others, however, place the book much later in the story. The text, however, seems to be firmly embedded in the world of the time, both in terms of locations and understanding of suffering. The Book of Job deals with central questions about being human, especially questions about suffering. These questions are timeless.
How we see the world
Probably no one was as close to Job as his wife. However, it does not share the fear of God that distinguishes himself. In Job’s dark hour, she sees her husband at the end of his godliness and declares his faith in God null and void:
“Do you still hold fast to your perfection? Curse God and die!”
Hi 2,9
To this Job responds:
“As one of the foolish women speaks, so speakest thou.”
Hi 2,10
With this foolishness Job indicates the godlessness of his wife. Compare Psalm 10:4, Psalm 14:1, Psalm 53:2. From these other texts, we can easily see that this was an issue at other times as well. So the attitude of Job’s wife is not an isolated case.
There are different ways we can deal with this world and with our lives. However, the people who are dear and close to us do not always share the realization that we ourselves have. God can seem far away, even to very God-fearing people. We cannot “feel”, “see”, “call” or “whatsapp” God. We cannot see or meet Him directly like a human being in dark hour. Frankly, I have never met God as I can meet my neighbor. Much about faith is “intangible” in the best sense of the word. That is probably why Paul speaks of a “mystery of faith” (1Tim 3,9).
So Job is in a different place of faith than his wife. In it is preserved a tragedy, but also a reality of this world. Job stayed with himself and with his recognition and saw beyond the current situation.
Faith is trust. Even if I do not see God, I count on His working and being. Job did not have a Bible. His faith was nevertheless deep and sincere. He trusted God. At the end of the book, Job makes an admission that he had previously known God only “by hearsay” (Job 42:5). Nevertheless, he believed, to the best of his knowledge and belief. No amount of perfection will get us there. We do not need perfection for this. Trusting God is not an achievement, but the alignment of the heart.
Job did not feel compelled to curse God. Perhaps it can also be seen that Job did not see himself as a victim of God. He did not stand in a drama triangle where he thought he saw God as the persecutor and himself as the victim. Even when questions come, he does not blame God.
“But he said unto her, As one of the foolish women speaketh, so speakest thou. We accept good from God, should we not also accept evil?”
Job 2:10
God is God. I am me. God can do whatever He wants, not because He is arbitrary, but because He is God and is above everything. God is of a different order. This is what Job is saying here: the good and the evil we can take from His hand. This is not because God is angry with you or me, but this world is often incomprehensible – God, however, is above it.
What distinguishes Job and his wife is the possibility of seeing life differently. Job, though suffering, has the courage to just let God be God, while his wife thinks in the here and now and in the visible. Faith sees beyond.
Here we can also think of the words of Paul, who writes – now in reference to the church:
“We ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we ourselves also groan within ourselves, expecting the state of sonship, the release of our body. For upon this expectation we were saved. But expectation that is glimpsed is not expectation; for that which someone glimpses – does he still expect that? But if we expect what we do not see, we wait for it with perseverance. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness…”
Rom 8:23-26
Job also saw nothing. His experience was harrowing. Yet he saw not only himself, but he saw a greater reality. Faith has nothing to do with denying a current need, but with whether one can see oneself in another way. This possibility gives us the foresight of Scripture. Using Job as an example, we get a glimpse not only of God’s activity, but also of our own inner attitude toward life that we can cultivate. Faith gives farsightedness, because it is based on trust in God, and this completely independent of what is happening at the moment.
Groundless
But how is this “without reason” to be understood? We make up our own minds, but are they the minds of the people of Job’s time? This is about standing still for once so that I can understand. The Book of Job was not born out of my situation, but out of his situation. If I want to understand what this “without reason” is about, my own thoughts are not enough. I must let Job himself have his say. And we must let God Himself have His say. It’s about listening without jumping to conclusions.
James summarized the book of Job, writing, “Of Job’s perseverance you have heard, and have seen the conclusion of the Lord, since the Lord is full of inward compassion and pity” (Jas 5:11). The Lord’s conclusion, that is, how God dealt with Job at the end, is crucial. The conclusion is full of innermost compassion. Job’s fate was turned around (Hi 42). The “without cause” from the beginning is more than made up for by the conclusion (cf. Rom 8:18).
Satan in his accusation meant that Job’s wealth and health was the “reason” for his pious life. In the further chapters, Job’s friends have their say. They mean that Job himself gave “reason” for God to bring suffering upon him. However, all this does not apply. There are no reasons for what happened here. Job did nothing wrong. It was really “without cause,” says God Himself.
“Without reason,” then, is not an arbitrariness of God. Job has given no occasion for any judgments or condemnations. Job has nothing to do with it at all. It was neutral without reason. God absolves Job with these words. He does not distance himself from him, but on the contrary stands by him! Job’s sufferings were not of his own making. They were not homemade. However, at this time Job is still fully in his distress, and probably does not know what to do next.
The essential questions
The book of Job encourages us to ask the essential questions. The book is just overflowing with questions. It is the book of questions par excellence. Asking questions is important. We can’t know everything and we don’t have to know everything. But if you ask questions, you have a better chance of getting answers. Asking questions is also a way of dealing with the suffering of the world.
One realization can be that God is really God. He does not have to think or act like us. He is not uninvolved in the suffering of this world and recognizes Job very well. Job’s situation, however, is not abruptly rectified by this. God offers no band-aids for the wound, no symptom relief on demand. Sometimes suffering is really that: suffering. This puts us in the real world.
But we are also standing in a story. Let’s wait and see what happens next: the story of Job, our story, God’s story with this world. Some things are bigger than we initially think.
Exchange
- Do you understand God?
- Do you understand yourself?
- What would you like to have clarified?
- Do you know suffering from your own experience?
- Does God act without reason? How do you know?
