*This article pretty much assumes that the reader is at least familiar with the story of Job. If you are not familiar with it, I would recommend reading at least the first two chapters of the story before reading this (and thanks for reading by the way)… 

Anyone who traverses this world for any length of time will no doubt experience pain, heartache and suffering. This life is riddled by difficulty which every person encounters on various levels. There are also times, which are more infrequent, when people experience extremely difficult, life-altering tragedies, which can really shake the core of who you are and how you view the world: it may be through successive deaths of near relatives or friends, a long term, severe health issue, or heartbreaking, family destroying decisions and/or actions of people, etc. Many times these catastrophes will cause people to doubt (understandably so) God’s existence, goodness or wise providence of the world. You may be going through a time like that right now in your life. Thankfully, we are never alone in such circumstances, and also Holy Scripture is not silent on the subject either. There is an entire book in the Bible devoted to this specific subject, which most Bible scholars agree was the first piece of divine Scripture committed to writing in the world. Perhaps the biggest and most puzzling question of mankind, “Why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?” was the first question God answered for man in written form. The following are fifteen brief lessons we can learn from the story of Job’s tragedy…

1. “Bad things” happen to “good people.”

The very first line in the story of Job summarizes his character, “[Job] was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed (rejected) evil.” (Job 1:1) By God’s own testimony Job was a very godly man. He was not just religious, but internally, genuinely pious – he loved God. He also did right by man. However, in one day his very successful business was all stolen, many of his employees killed and all of his children (seven sons and three daughters) were killed altogether in a tragic accident. Soon following Job was struck by a horrible disease in his flesh that went from the tip of his toes to the crown of his head. The trials of Job were not the direct result of Job being punished by God for something evil he had done. There were much bigger purposes involved, which we will get to. The point here is to simply say that just because tragedy has happened, does not automatically mean that you are being judged by God, or that God has forgotten about you. It may be that God is trying to get your attention about something not right in your life, but not necessarily. It was not the case in Job’s situation.  

There is a wrong tendency that we have as weak, fallen creatures, which is to assume that it is always the case that “good things” happen to “good people,” and “bad things” happen to “bad people,” but this simply is not true. Consider the story of the man that was born blind. John 9:1 says, “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” (John 1:1-3) God allowed (actually purposed) this man to be born blind, for many reasons, but ultimately the purpose was so that he would be miraculously healed by Jesus and be at the center of an amazing experience and testimony of God in the world. One of the things his story did was inspire one of the greatest Christian hymns of all time – Amazing Grace, which has the famous line, “I once was lost, but now I am found; was blind, but now I see.” The ultimate example is the passion of Christ. He experienced horrendous suffering – in the will of God – yet he was the godliest man to ever live (God in the flesh). There was a much greater purpose to His sufferings.    

2. There really are no “good people” in the world. 

When people say, “Why do bad things happen to good people?,” it is usually assumed that we all understand and agree on the standard of what a “good person” is, but we most often have an arbitrary, man-centered standard that is not supported by Scripture. According to the Bible, God is the standard of “goodness.” God is good, which means that He is morally perfect, pure, without fault or defect in any way. So if someone is “good” by God’s definition, they would be morally perfect, or without sin. By this standard (God’s standard) we have all fallen short, which is what the Bible teaches: “for all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Since Adam & Eve sinned, the human race has been a fallen race, and the world has been a fallen place. Evil, sin, suffering and death are all byproducts of the corrupted world we live in. Not only is it the world we live in, but we ourselves are all sinful and selfish from the womb. The Bible says that we are estranged from the womb and go astray as soon as we are born, speaking lies (Psalm 58:3), which is why we all need to be Born Again. But what this means is that ultimately any measure of comfort, peace and prosperity we enjoy is actually a mercy from God, gifts that we do not deserve. Things truly could be a lot worse.

3. We humans tend to overlook the blessings, taking them for granted, but highlight the struggles and tragedies we encounter.

It is very easy and natural for us to breeze through days, months or years with things going well without much thought, and perhaps without much thanksgiving to God; but when tragedy strikes we are all of sudden bent out of shape with a “woe is me” “I don’t deserve this” entitlement attitude. I know that I am certainly this way (wrongfully so) when I am physically sick. I am thankful for generally good health, and give thanks to God – at least quietly, but when I get sick I tend to shut down and think, “Oh no! How could this be happening! Not now! When is this going to end?!” At least those near to me will hear about it! 

Perhaps the better question for us to ask more often is, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” That is what we should truly be suprised about! Perhaps we would be better off to be more vocal in our gratefulness when things are well, and reserved and thoughtful while things seem to be falling apart. We certainly should not fall into the pit of blaming God for tragedy, if all the while when blessings were being showered on us we were silent about attributing all of that to God. 

In the movie Courageous, a family lost a young daughter in an accident involving a drunk driver. The father began to be bitter and would have nightmares about all of the things he would not get to experience with her (graduations, a wedding, etc.). In counseling, a minister gave him some very profound advice which we would all do well to take heed to. He said, “You are going to have to make a choice. Are you going to be bitter about all of the time that you will not get to have with your daughter, or will you be thankful for all of the time that you did get to have with her?” 

4. In general, blessing does accompany obedience to God and judgment disobedience (the law of sowing & reaping), buuuut…be very careful to not judge others’ situations  according to the appearance.

In the meat of the story and in the midst of Job’s sufferings, his “friends” basically told him, “Job, we know that you did something evil. God is righteous and doesn’t overlook sin, so it’s obvious you did something wrong, which is why all of this is happening to you. Just confess it and be done with all of this.” Unfortunately, they had an immature and incomplete perception of reality and the way God and the world work. Things are not always the way they appear. You might think someone is suffering because of sin when in reality they are truly, deeply righteous. Also, you may think that someone is prospering because they are righteous, but they are actually not right with God. Be careful. Things went well for the first seven days that Job’s friends were there to visit him, but this was because they didn’t say a word in those seven days – often that’s the best thing that we can do for someone who is laboring through tragedy. 

5. God promises that every “bad thing” will become a positive in the end, for the Christian. 

In the end Job was restored twice as much as he had before: he was completely healed from his sickness, he was given seven more sons and three more daughters, and he was given double the amount of livestock than he had originally. Not only on the physical level, but more importantly on the spiritual level, much good came out of the situation: Job’s understanding of God and of life was massively heightened, the Devil was shamed in the spiritual realm and exposed for his accusations and lies, Job’s “friends” and society were well aware of the situation as saw God’s restoration in his life, and not the least of which was the publication and preservation of his story, which has given countless encouragement and hope for millions of people over the course of thousands of years now. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” The ingredients to make a cake, if eaten individually, are either not very tasty or inedible, yet when they are mixed together and put through the fire they become delicious. If you love God, you will encounter some things that will seem too hard to bear, but take courage, God is mixing it all together into something beautiful to be seen in its time. Did the sufferings of Jesus churn any good into the world? 

6. Job’s trials did not happen by accident or chance. 

There is an amazing insight given to us in the story of Job (I think certainly one of the most striking features of the whole story). The revelation is that God was the one who suggested Job to Satan and then afterwards authorized him (twice) to disturb Job’s life (Job 1:8). Satan did not come to God looking for permission to hurt Job. Instead, God proposed Job to Satan. Our natural tendency when tragedy happens is to think that it was not what God intended and that certainly God was far removed from being the origin of it, but this doesn’t seem to be the totality of what is being communicated in the story of Job and other parts of Scripture. God was the initiator in the series of Job’s sufferings. He wasn’t the one physically hurting Job, but He was ultimately responsible for it. Satan is responsible for his evil intentions and actions, but God is also responsible for His intentions and actions. Was God willing that Job would suffer? Well, in one sense, “Yes,” and another, “No.” God’s heart is that of a Deliverer, a Savior and Healer, but in this fallen world God also knows the way to the ultimate goal of Salvation sometimes involves suffering. Sometimes a physician will break a bone in order for it to heal correctly. This can seem overwhelming, but I think if we are willing to receive it, it becomes deeply, deeply comforting and reassuring. It means that there is no purposeless evil in the world. God not only allows evil, but He also (at least in some sense) superintends all evil. We must confess, based on Scripture, that God does and cannot do morally evil things, yet at the same time no evil exists outside of His will. The ultimate Power behind all things (or situations) – good and evil – is God: a pure, unchanging, all powerful, benevolent Being, Whose name is Love who cannot be manipulated or sleight handed in this universe. Satan and no other power or force in this world can sneak tragedy into our lives. Whatever the trial, God has always been with you, not standing far off, but intimately involved in the whole entire process. 

The greatest example of this again is the crucifixion of Jesus. Before the foundations of the world (also before evil existed) God ordained that Jesus would be crucified in order to bring about salvation to the world. The cross (which remember was a torture device) is central to the will of God, not only for the good of mankind, but also for the exaltation and glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. It was God’s will for Jesus to suffer. Sometimes it is God’s will for us to suffer, but always for our good and for His glory. God brought Job into this tragedy without his permission. Good thing He doesn’t ask us before He does it in our lives, because we know what we would answer. Some people get bitter at God for evil, but does that help to take it away at all? Bowing before God’s sovereignty brings joy and the best understanding that can be attained, albeit it may be imperfect, but we have the promise that He will give us peace that passes all understanding.  

7. We must realize that our lives serve a much greater purpose than ourselves. 

After God suggested Job to Satan it says that, “Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (Job 1:9-11) Essentially God and Satan are disputing about whether Job will love and serve God only when God blesses him, or whether he will remain faithful to God even if God allows evil to strike his life. God and Satan are “betting” on Job’s reaction as if he is a contender in a ring, and he has no idea that he is even in this “competition.” There were certainly purposes of God for those who were on the earth, but the bigger and greater purposes for Job’s trials were actually in heaven, or in the spiritual realm. We are bound by flesh, and are therefore naturally limited in our perception and tend to focus only on what happens on the earth. Our lives are real, we are not puppets or chess pieces, but what was more important in the story of Job – the good of Job or the glory of God? Every situation that happens has at least three elements to it – the punishment of the wicked, the complete salvation of the righteous and the glory of God, but the glory of God overarches the other two. Justice on evil is good and helps mankind, but ultimately it serves a greater purpose – to magnify the justice and righteous indignation of God towards evil. Salvation serves a wonderful purpose for those who experience it, but still here the greater purpose is to bring attention to and glorify the profound mercy, grace and love of God!    

Did we mention yet that Jesus and His sufferings at the Cross are the best example of this??? 

The Cross was the grand, climactic showdown between God and Satan. Jesus struck Satan with a death blow, and how? By a cross and through death. “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15) The picture I believe that is being painted is that after Jesus won the victory, his ascension and return into heaven was a triumphal victory procession, and among the parade was the devil himself (the arch enemy) bruised, beaten and chained up, for all the universe to see – angels, demons, saints and God himself! The ultimate tragedy of the ages – the suffering of Christ – became the catalyst through which God would most publicly shame the Devil, in the most awesome way!  

If we handle tragedy, by the grace of God, with joy, reservation, patience and hope; recognizing that our personal skirmish is in the context of the greater, comic, spiritual war; we will be accurately and powerfully declaring the glorious Gospel of God, not only for this world to see, but also for all those in the spiritual realm to see.

I hope that one or some of these lessons were an encouragement to you. Stay tuned for part 2…