God is Good
Author: Dr. Bob CaldwellA very early Peanuts comic strip showed Lucy begging a reluctant Charlie Brown to read her a book. He read: “Once upon a time they lived happily ever after. The end.” Then he walked away. Lucy flipped through the book puzzled and followed Charlie Brown to exclaim: “Hey! What’s on the rest of these pages? Advertising?”
Isn’t that how many of us treat the book of Job? It starts with a good story: two chapters explaining how Job came to be in misery. Then a final chapter where everything is restored to him. But what about the stuff in between? Chapter after chapter of Job complaining and his friends accusing. On and on it goes. What’s worse it is some kind of poetic form that does not translate well from Hebrew to English. How many Bible-
reading plans, based on a chronological reading, fail in the second week because of the difficulty of slogging through Job? Most of us treat the majority of the book as if it were advertising.
However, it is in the dialogue between Job and his friends, and in God’s response, that we find the real meaning of the book. When I take the time to read through all the laments and accusations, I draw one inescapable conclusion: Although they end up with different results, both Job and his friends have the same theology—and it is wrong.
Job’s friends believe that God blesses only the righteous and brings calamity only on the wicked. Therefore, since Job has been so afflicted, he obviously has sinned. Therefore, they get mad at his insistence of righteousness.
Job believes that God blesses only the righteous and brings calamity only on the wicked. Therefore, since Job has been so afflicted, there is some mistake. Job challenges God to either explain himself or to show him the sin that he knows does not exist.
Do you see it? They believe the same thing. In general, we agree that God tends to bless the righteous and punish the wicked in this life, but that is only in general. Their mistake (and often, ours) is to make this general principle an absolutely specific rule. You don’t need to live long to have determined that many who have easy lives are wicked and that many who try to live for God are in poverty.
This seemingly unfair result of life has always puzzled mankind. For example, check out Asaph’s lament in Psalm 73. The book of Job is merely the earliest reflection of the question: “Why do the righteous suffer?”
What is startling is the answer. Years ago, the anchor on the fake news program on Saturday Night Live used to open with, “I’m Chevy Chase and you’re not.” God gave Job a similar answer. “Where were you when I …?” “Have you ever …?” In other words, the answer to Job’s question could be summarized, “I’m God and you’re not.”
Whereas the comedian’s quip was mostly nonsensical and designed for a laugh, God’s answer makes sense and has a great purpose. Makes sense? You might complain, he didn’t even answer the question!
While it is true that God does not answer Job’s question to explain why he does what he does, he gives the answer that he thinks is important—his correctness in determining what should be done in every situation. What God emphasizes as he dressed down Job is that he is so different than we are. His power, purpose, and plans are beyond our understanding.
Now we freely admit that his ability to create the world and sustain it is far beyond what we can do or even comprehend. When it comes to everyday life however, suddenly, we become wiser than God. We have standards of fairness and insist that God operate according to them. God’s response, through the Book of Job, is, “Who are you to tell me?”
I don’t really like this answer. I want to understand why I suffer. I want to know what greater purpose is being served. And I want to know it while I am suffering, not at some future time or in heaven.
This insistence—like Job’s—is not the way of faith. It is like saying, “I will trust God only when I understand what he is doing and can determine for myself that it is the best way.” That is not trust at all.
In the end, Job did get it. His answer to God can be summarized as, “I was foolish enough to say that I knew more than God. I have nothing more to say.”
Does this mean that every time we suffer, we need to smile and declare, “God’s will be done?” I don’t think so. When we suffer, we mourn. When we experience loss, we grieve. When we don’t understand what is going on, we cry out to God.
But in all of it, we must remember that the God who created the universe is yet concerned with the tiniest details of our life. And because of his infinite knowledge, he is never surprised at what happens and knows in advance what is the best result to be obtained for us.
We don’t have to always like it, but we need to trust that he is God and that he is good.