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Lamentations-Job: God's Path Through Pain - Lesson 2.

Job: How a Good Person Grew Through His Suffering.
I. Introduction.
The book of Job is a great old book that has intrigued people ever since it was written. It is a book rich in its textures. It is a book of wisdom that talks about how a person is supposed to live in a wicked world. It is a book that is not always easy to follow, and one reason for that is its structure. It has a prose introduction and a prose conclusion, but most of the book's 42 chapters are difficult Hebrew poetic discussions, dialogue back and forth with Job speaking, and then one of his so-called counselors speaking, and then Job giving a rejoinder, and then some other counselor making a point, and Job referring to that, and back and forth, and back and forth.

The discussion is at a high level. These are people speculating about whether life is fair or not; they are speculating about how God works in our world. They all agree that there is tragedy; they all agree there is suffering; they all agree there is hardship; they all agree there are pains and trials. But why did these things happen, and why is the world the way it is? Why is wickedness allowed by a good God to prevail? These are questions that they address in detail with impassioned arguments, with deep and long expressions of their opinions; and as their opinions work back and forth, one against the other, it is awfully easy for a reader to become confused.

We are going to try in this segment of our course to see the basics of the book of Job and to provide some guidelines for reading through the book. It is really a wonderful book. It is, as we have said, a book of wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to make choices in life, and of course, the right choices are always the choices that reflect God's will. Those are the choices we want to make. Job wanted to make them, and yet in the midst of his suffering, which he understood to be suffering that he did not deserve, it became very difficult for him to decide how to make the right choices. What were his choices in life?

II. Job's Dilemma (1:1-2:13).
A. Prologue.
Job's suffering, we learn in the prologue in chapters 1 and 2, the prose prologue, is the result of a kind of contest. God, in His supervision of the principalities and powers of this earth, confronts Job, and He confronts Job by Satan. How does He do it? In a conversation with Satan, God says, "Have you considered my servant Job?" Satan says, in effect, "Oh sure, he loves You and serves You and does Your will, and is generous and kind and all of that, as long as You have given him a healthy life, a lovely family, plenty of wealth and comfort. But you know, if You would give him over to me, I could make his life so miserable that he would actually curse You, God." So God says, "All right, I will give him over to you."
Thus, Job is confronted with a terrible set of miseries. Disasters of various kinds come on his family, he loses everything, and his children are gone. He and his wife are bereft of them, and his wealth is gone and all the things that he owned either die off or are destroyed in one kind of disaster or another. He himself becomes horribly sick, and he is pained with boils and sores all over his body. It is a terrible time.

His wife actually says to him unwittingly the very thing that would have caused Satan to win the contest. She says, "Curse God and die." She does not necessarily mean by that that she hates God and Job should too. It is just that they believed in those days that if a person were to go so far as to curse God, God would kill him. So she is saying, "Give up." She is discouraged, she is beaten, she is forlorn. Job says, "No, I will not." Now Job does not know about the contest. He does not know that God has confidence he will come through his suffering without cursing Him, without giving up, without just saying, "I hate You God; may bad things happen to You; go kill me." That sets the scene.

B. Overview of Book.
Then after that prose introduction, with chapter 3 we begin what are called the dialogues of the book. There are three cycles of dialogues; that is, Job will speak, and then one of his comforters will speak (comforters Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz), and then Job will speak again, and one of them, and so on. This goes around basically three times, so there are lengthy speeches. Then in chapter 28, there is a wisdom interlude. Chapter 28 is not part of the dialogues; it is kind of a center of the book. If you are aware of it and do not just think it is a continuation of somebody's speech, you will realize that its words are profoundly helpful to you because it asks the question, "Where is wisdom to be found? Where do you get it?" The answer is: It is found with God. The person who turns to the Lord, who seeks Him, who studies His Word, is the person who finds wisdom, who knows how to make the right decisions in this life, who knows what life is all about, who is really clued in to how a human being should live on this earth.

Following the wisdom interlude, there are three monologues. Job speaks, then the reader sort of expects that another one of Job's comforters will, perhaps, come on and say something in response to Job. But this time a new character comes on the scene. His name is Elihu. We have not heard from him before. When Elihu arrives, there are some things that he says that, in effect, rebuke Job's comforters; and there are some things that he says that rebuke Job. It looks like the best Job is going to get is the words of Elihu, words that are ultimately very critical.
Then, suddenly, God appears; and for five chapters, chapters 38-42, God speaks to Job. That is very important. God actually addresses this person He has allowed to suffer so much. With chapter 42, we read Job's closing poetic words of contrition. Then comes the prose epilogue. In that epilogue we learn how, as a result of God's continuing mercy to Job, everything is restored to him, new children are born, and his wealth is given once again, and he is allowed to have good health, and other sorts of prosperity come to him. This was not as a full compensation, it seems, for everything he has endured, but as an evidence of the kindness and love of God for His servant.

III. Job Laments and Debates (3:1-37:24).
That overview does not tell the whole story, because the story really takes place in the dialogues in which Job and the others debate the question, "How do you live in a wicked world? Is life fair? Is the kind of thing that has happened to Job something that he deserves?" So let us take a look in greater detail at those dialogues. Follow along as we summarize quickly what is contained in each chapter. It is a quick run-through, but if you are attentive you can appreciate the way the dialogue works.

A. Job's Lament (3:1-26).
Chapter 3 houses Job's initial words. This is what he says after all the suffering that he has been through, and after his wife has suggested to him that he just ought to curse God and die. He says what can be summarized in this way: "For the unhappy in this world, is it not better not to live at all or never to have lived in the first place?" In other words, if your life is full of suffering, if your life is characterized by hardship as his life now is, if it is more pain than joy, if it is more trial than delight, is it not better not to have lived? What good is living a suffering life? What good is living an unhappy life? That is Job's question, and that is what chapter 3 is about. This is called his opening lament. He lays out, as it were, before the world this question: Is life worth living when it is full of hardship? That is a good question. It is a question a lot of people have asked, and it has been answered a lot of different ways.

B. Eliphaz's First Proposal (4:1-5:27).
One of Job's acquaintances named Eliphaz comes on the scene with the meritorious desire of comforting Job. Eliphaz is not an enemy of Job in any way; he is a friend and he wants to help Job. But Eliphaz comes from a perspective that many people have, and that perspective is that a good God would never allow a good person to suffer unless the good person deserved to suffer. In other words, any kind of misery, any kind of suffering, any kind of disappointment in this life, is some sort of punishment. There is something wrong with your life if it is not going smoothly. This is the mentality that comes forward in the so-called "health and wealth" gospel that one sometimes hears about. The idea is that if you have the right faith and if you are living the right life, you ought to be doing well. You ought to be prospering, you ought not to be suffering from disease, and so on; and Eliphaz represents that.

In chapters 4-5, Eliphaz has a turn at discussing this problem. Here is a friend of his that has had almost every imaginable kind of suffering come his way, who is sitting in dust and ashes, miserable, in pain, sick, and he tries to help him. From his perspective, Job needs to get some correction from God, as Job needs to get right with God. It would not have happened unless he was on the outs with the Lord, so he explains to Job that basically you get what you deserve in life. That is his message, of course implying that Job must have done something to deserve what he got. He also says that since God judges angels, surely He does the same with humans, doesn't He? And that is the way chapter 4 ends. If God is willing to judge angels (and the judgment of angels is a doctrine we see in Scripture with the fall of Satan to which Jesus refers, and so on), would not God judge humans? He is not going to let them go unjudged.

In chapter 5, his argument is: Do not be resentful; trust God to be fair; God is fair; that is His nature: for of course He is going to be fair. It ends with words that essentially can be summarized as simply this: God's correction is good for Job; God's correction is good for us, implying that these things that have happened are God's correction. We know that they are unusual. We know that Satan has been given powers to cause illness that he normally does not have. He has been given the power to cause various sorts of disasters, even bring about the events regarding the weather with storms and so on, things that Satan cannot typically do. God specially gave him those powers in connection with Job. But from Eliphaz's point of view, God had to have done it because something Job did displeased God. So he just wants Job to ‘fess up and get right with God. How does Job respond?

C. Job's First Response to Eliphaz (6:1-7:21).
We read in chapters 6-7 Job's response. First, his misery is very real and he says, in effect: "I would like to die but not having cursed God. I do not want to just get killed by God, but I sure do not enjoy living anymore. I have done nothing wrong." Now that is quite a thing for Job to say. He does not mean that he is perfectly sinless and never did anything wrong, but he is saying, "I did not do anything to deserve this. My life is not the worst of the worst that would produce such extreme punishment that none of us has ever heard of before." In chapter 7, he says life is tough; he talks about the ways in which it is tough for many people, not just himself. Then he asks God at the end of chapter 7, not so much talking now to Eliphaz or any of the other comforters but to God Himself, "What have I done, God?"

D. Bildad's First Round of Advice (8:1-22).
It is now the turn in chapter 8 of another friend, Bildad. Now Bildad, just like Eliphaz, wants to help Job. He loves the guy and wants him to be encouraged and wants him to get free from these awful tortures that have come his way. We can summarize what he says in chapter 8 simply as, "Job, turn to God; he helps good people", meaning of course, "You have not been good, you have been bad, but God will help you if you turn to Him." Turn to God; He helps good people. That is the essence of the message.

E. Job Replies to Bildad (9:1-10:22).
Well, Job does not find the advice to be helpful. He wants to know why God has done this, and that is not the answer. He knows it was not the answer, because he did nothing to offend God. So in chapter 9, Job begins by saying: "How might I argue with God? I would like to have a conversation with God on this. I would like to get to Him; I would like to find out what is wrong. Why is He doing this to me? How can things so inappropriate happen to someone who has tried so hard to be righteous?" In chapter 10, he continues to ask by a lot of words that can be summarized in this way, "Why me, God?" And also, "Why this? Why such severe, awful suffering?"

F. Zophar's First Charge (11 :1-20).
In chapter 11 , a third so-called comforter comes on the scene. He also has the best intentions toward Job, and his message can be summarized very simply: "Job, repent. God will forgive you." Good advice if you need to repent, if what has happened to you is the result of your sin, but infuriating advice if it is not.

G. Job's Response to Zophar (12:1-14:22).
Job then responds in chapter 12; his response also continues in 13-14. He first makes the point, "I am worse off than many people who are evil. There really are evil people and you might argue they deserve disasters, but I am worse off than they are. Worse things have happened to me than any of us has ever known." In chapter 13, he says to Zophar, and also to the other comforters, "You cannot help me, but God could. God could help me. I want relief. I want to be able to plead my case directly with God. That is what would be satisfying."

Then addressing God predominantly in chapter 14, he says, "God, You have given man a miserable existence, haven't You?" Now by that, again, he does not mean that everybody suffers equally, but he has certainly come clear in his mind to the fact that many people do. He is really sensitive to the widespread suffering in this world, and he cannot understand why God has done it. What is God's purpose? How does it happen that so many people have to suffer? And though he does not know anybody who has suffered as much as he, he sure does wonder why they have to suffer.

H. Eliphaz's Second Speech (15:1-35).
In chapter 15, Eliphaz has a second chance, a second round. Now you know they have not gotten through to Job yet, so they start getting rather tough in their words, and Eliphaz says, "Job, you are a sinner. You are an impious doubter. You really do not put yourself on God's side. Don't you get it? It is the wicked who suffer."

I. Job's Second Response to Eliphaz (16:1-17:16).
Job responds in chapters 16-17, "You are no help. God has really afflicted me, but you are no help, are you?"

J. Bildad's Second Speech (18:1-21).
Bildad has a second chance, a second shot at Job. In chapter 18, he says, "Job, there is no future in being wicked", presuming, of course, that Job's resistance to their arguments is proof that he really did something wrong and is kind of fixed in his wickedness.

K. Job's Second Response to Bildad (19:1-29).
Job responds to him, too, in chapter 19: "My misery is great, but I deserve vindication. You deserve judgment." Now, of course, this is stated out of frustration and anger. But Job is really turning the tables on his comforters in saying, "You guys are wrong. You are seeing it the wrong way, and you need to be corrected."

L. Zophar's Second Speech (20:1-29).
In chapter 20, Zophar has a second chance. "Anything the wicked enjoy is only temporary." That is his message to Job, suggesting that Job has done something wicked, or many things wicked, and has been receiving punishment accordingly. "Their end is always terrible," he says, trying to paint a picture that Job will not like, but one that will hasten Job's repentance.

M. Job's Second Response to Zophar (21:1-34).
In chapter 21, Job responds: "The wicked often do well. It does not work that they get punished all the time. God should punish them, but He lets them do as well as the righteous. We all believe that God should punish the wicked and that the righteous should be rewarded. Why then does life work the way it works?" That is what Job was asking. It is a valid question; it is the kind of question we would ask under the circumstances, too.

N. Eliphaz's Third and Final Speech (22:1-30).
Eliphaz then has a third round. "A good God," he says in chapter 22, "would never punish a good human. He would help you if you would ever humbly pray for help." That is his message, God would not do this.

O. Job's Final Response to Eliphaz (23:1-24:25).
So, Job responds in chapters 23-24: "God's distance makes getting justice hard. Oh, I wish I could find out what is going on. He does not even seem to police the world; the evil fare just like other people do." Of course, Job is reflecting on the fact that there is a lot of wickedness in our world that God does not step in and eliminate instantly.

P. Bildad's Third and Final Argument (25:1-6).
Bildad has a third try. "Job," he says in chapter 25, "God is so good that none of us can be good compared to Him. Thus, by definition you deserve judgment. You are just not as good as God. That alone should allow you to think of yourself as worthy of punishment."

Q. Job's Final Response to Bildad (26:1-27:23).
Job says in chapter 26, "Some advice, God is all powerful. . . ." (in chapter 27) "But He has denied me justice. I know I am right, and I am not going to curse God, for God would then be justified in greatly punishing me."

R. Wisdom Interlude (28:1-28).
Then comes the wisdom interlude. At this point, we are reminded that if you want wisdom, you can find it only in fearing God.

S. Job's Reflections (29:1-31:40).
Following that, Job says in chapter 29, "I have been upright; I have lived a good life." Chapter 30 is a chronicling of his words in which he says, "Worthless people are making fun of me now. My hopes for life are dashed." He describes in chapter 31 the ways in which he was a righteous person and says, "If I had done this kind of evil or that kind of evil, sure, I would be deserving of judgment; but I did not do that." He protests his innocence.

T. Elihu's Charge (32:1-37:24).
Then comes Elihu, and his speech goes from chapter 32 to chapter 37. He says, "I am not partial to either side. Job, you are a sinner so ‘fess up." God is fair and Job is both rebellious and sinful. Now that is really essentially the same kind of thing that the three earlier comforters were saying. Then he says, "Do you think you can make God respond to you? God does what is fair. He is superior to us all, He controls nature; He is surely above and distant from answering your puny concerns." Well, it looks like that is all Job is going to get, rebuke, in that he does not have any right to ask why.

IV. Job's Deliverance.
A. The Lord Speaks (38:1-40:2; 40:6-41:34)
Job responds in chapter 38-40, but only silently, because now God is talking and it continues into chapter 41. And finally, Job can blurt out the words that he says in 42, where he repents.

B. Job's Contrition (40:3-5; 42:1-6).
What is it that God says that causes Job to be satisfied enough to repent, to say "I should not have questioned you" (in chapter 42)? What is it? What is it that produces that response? The answer is God appears and just says to Job things like this, "Did you, Job, create everything? Do you control nature? Do you control the hippopotamus or the crocodile? In other words, are you able to run things like I am? Do you know how to do things like I know how to do, like how to control this universe like I know how to control it?" You know, that breaks through to Job. It is not an answer to every question that he had; it is not the solution to all of his musing about the nature of life. But, it is an important point, "Job, I know what I am doing. Do you realize that?" Then Job can then say, "I repent; I should not have questioned you."

C. Epilogue (42:7-17).
We know that it was a contest, and that the contest glorified God. God won! God says at the end of the book to the comforters, "Ask Job, my servant, to pray for you, because my servant Job has spoken correctly." In other words, Job was right: this life is not fair; there is much wickedness in it. Obviously, the answer is that one should not look for fairness in this world but should look for it in God's arrival. When that comes, when that finally happens, when the end of things happen that parallel God's own special arrival into Job's presence. Then we will see action; then we will know.

But Job never really finds out why he was tested, but it did glorify God. You know, we never find out either. We do not know why some of us get cancer, why some of us die young, why some lives are taken in car accidents, or why some people lose financially, or some people, who seem to be very wicked and cheat and do all kind of not very savory things, seem to get ahead. But we do know that God knows exactly what He is doing, and that faithfulness always honors Him. We, who know Christ, know that in the final judgment all things will be set right, just as they really were for Job in the restoration part of the epilogue and as they will be for us, too.