We started our study on Job last night. One quick thought today: Satan couldn’t do anything to Job that God didn’t allow. Often we stop there, but let’s go one step further.
Satan didn’t start the conversation in Heaven about Job. God did. God knew what Satan would say and do, how Job would respond, and that Satan would want to do even more.
Knowing all that, God started the conversation. He didn’t just allow it all, He planned and set the events in motion.
Why? Wrong question — the book of Job wasn’t really written to answer that.
So also in our lives, we often don’t know “why.” We’re left, like Job, to trust without knowing why. Part of love is learning to trust even if you don’t know or understand everything the other person is doing.
Related: Why do Bad Things Happen?
Mind Renewers 
So true. “Why” is the wrong question in the book of Job. In fact, pointing out that “why” is the wrong question is one of the major points! Thanks for sharing. I pray your study goes well.
Thanks, Jonathan. Lord bless.
Indeed, again and again throughout this book, Job expressed this very question — Why? He even went so far as to challenge God to come down and give answer. Evenetually the Lord our God did give answer. Yet in His answer He never once answered the question — Why? Rather, in His answer the Lord our God answered only the question — Who? Thus we are taught the importance, not of knowing the reasons “why,” but of knowing and trusting the God “Who” DOES know the reasons “why.” Furthermore, through Job’s repentance and confession in the last chapter of the book, we are also taught that developing an attitude against the Lord our God when He does not reveal the reasons “why” is sin.
For the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord,
Abiding in Christ, and Christ in us,
Pastor Scott Markle
Your last sentence is key, of course. And yet, there is something interesting in this as well. Job’s friends receive a stronger condemnation — not because they spoke wrongly about Job, but because they spoke wrongly about the Lord. That’s worth some thought….
Concerning the condemnation of Job’s three “friends” — Yes, for a correct understanding of the book, it is important to understand that they were condemned for speaking wrongly ABOUT THE LORD. Most interpreters and preachers tend to focus on the idea that they spoke wrongly about Job, and they did. Yet I believe that they spoke wrongly about Job specifically because they had a wrong doctrine about God. However, I am not sure exactly wherein they spoke wrong about God. I have a broad understanding thereof. Yet some of what they said seems accurate. Therefore, it is difficult to determine exactly where the line should be drawn between accurate and inaccurate. Because of this, I choose not to quote any of the three friends as a support for doctrinal truth in preaching and teaching.
Yes, much of what they said is true. I also am careful with their statements (and careful with Job’s, for that matter, since we know he also erred in his words).
Sometimes I feel like Job. I have very serious circumstances in my life that most would ask, why are you smiling? This is not always the case. Before I was saved, I could not accept my circumstances and was mad at God. I rarely smiled and complained a lot. My life is not polyana. I still sometimes grumble and look to His return earnestly to make all things right. Even amongst horrible circumstances, I still have joy in my heart because I have Him. I don’t understand the why’s and when and how come—some look at me and say He is not answering your prayers. I have to trust that He is even if it’s not the answer I want now in my time and in my way. It’s not easy. Was the apostle’s road easy? They all died of martyrdom except one. The best I can do is trust He has my back, cause without faith, it’s impossible to please God.
Sue, are you familiar with the hymn, “Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord”? I need to post that one of these days. Your comment brought it to mind. We tend to want all the things we know He can give us if He will only do things according to our plan. We need to learn to want HIM.
Also, there’s a line in the hymn “Spirit of God, Descend Upon my Heart” that says, “Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.” The point is that when it seems like God isn’t answering our prayers, He is teaching us patience, and we need to learn that lesson.
Jon.
Thank you. He always answers prayers. But not always as I want. He’s not a vending machine.
Blessings
Sue
“Not a vending machine.” 🙂 I’ve always liked that way of putting it (and used it often). I don’t know where I heard it first, do you know the origin of that?
I heard it from a friend and it stuck. 🙂
Kind of like the coins I always dropped in vending machines — they’d get stuck, and I’d lose my money? 🙂
Sadly, that is exactly the way some people view God. Drop a prayer in the slot, push the button, and Ka-Ching! You get what you ordered! (And yes, I used the word “ordered” intentionally.)
Of course, (NEWS FLASH!) Job never prayed for deliverance from his suffering in chapter one or two (and it would be hard to make a case that he every prayed directly for that). He certainly didn’t see God as a vending machine.