Job never saw why he suffered, but he saw God, and that was enough.
There is a historical account in the Bible of a man named Job (long “o”).
He experienced a time of horrible suffering. He lost children, possessions, and health.
He had 3 friends who came to sit with him in his distress. The Bible records their conversations with Job, who were disingenuous at best.
So, on top of his personal grief, Job had to suffer more without comfort and encouragement from his friends.
At the end of the story, God comes and speaks to Job and his friends. In the end, Job received even more than he originally had. Job suffered greatly. But that wasn’t the end of the story. And as Timothy Keller points out, Job did not question. He never knew why.
Instead, this is what Job says:
My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
Job saw God.
We have the opportunity to see God when we are suffering.
Job is an inspiration to all of us. Even if you don’t believe the Bible, there are people all over the world who are suffering like Job did.
And there are people, like Job, who saw God in their suffering.
I have been a Christian for 40 years. It wasn’t until I experienced the worst pain of my life that I could really say I “saw” God.
While I don’t understand why, seeing God was enough to not allow “why” to consume me for the rest of my life.
But it doesn’t stop there. Because when you see God, you know he is real, and you can believe what he says. No one can take that experience away from you, no matter what they say!
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Photo credit: nano.maus via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
when it hurts 