We in our selfish nature want to attach to this story our understanding of justice and fairness. Our finite comprehension of God wants to ask the same questions Job’s friends did. We who read carefully want to inquire of God why it is the He pointed out Job to satan and why He removed His hand of protection from a man that the Bible describes as the most righteous man in all the earth at the time. Surely if Job was not spared what chance do we stand who would hardly be labeled as righteous?
You see, we've barely even stepped off the porch to wade into the weeds and we have already raised massive theological questions about the character of God. And yes, it is true that when God finally answers Job, He almost taunts Him with his lack of knowledge and wisdom, daring him to try to counter a point that God has made. Such is the price for worshipping that which we cannot truly understand, as portrayed by C.S. Lewis in the Chronicles of Narnia, when confronted by the idea of Aslan, the lion, who is a picture of God, Lucy asks, "Is He safe?"
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
Mr. Tumnus also says, "He's wild, you know. Not a tame lion."
— C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55: 8-9)
God is grand, beyond our imagination, everywhere, powerful, gentle. We see His presence in the reality of a quiet snow storm, the painted evening sunset, the comforting embrace of a friend or lover, the grace of forgiving, gentle words from a loved one, in the flesh real live person who is being God to us, laughing or crying or having a warm, intimate embrace, and actively loving Him through each moment, understanding that He is the designer of these gracious moments of life.
But is that of comfort when the walls fall down, the storm is left unchecked, fear is paramount, and friends and loved ones cannot be found?
Yes, and No.
First, let's revisit the story of Job. The "Readers Digest" version is this: God allows satan to cause Job to lose everything, Job repents, and God restores Job double for his losses. The implication is that faithfulness in God always pays off in the end and that everything that you might lose will be restored many times over.
But Job did not emerge from this fierce Heavenly tug of war without serious permanent scars and painful reminders of his season of loss and torment. First there is the consideration of his physical affliction. Scripture says that upon satan’s appeal God allowed him to attack Job’s body. It is recorded that Job was suffering from painful boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. It also says that Job tried to escape the agony by scraping these boils.
I would never interject what the Bible leaves out, but we do have knowledge of boils through modern medicine and from this we can deduce that these boils, just as they do now, left permanent scars, especially given the fact that Job scraped these, a definite no-no in any modern medical journal because doing so increases scarring. In reading of God’s restoration of Job in chapter 42, no mention is made of Job’s physical healing. We can assume in time his health was restored but the Bible is silent so we can only apply what we know of these boils now-painful with permanent scarring. If so, every time Job looked in a mirror he would have been reminded of his epic battle with satan. And as he shared the same humanity that we possess, I'll bet the same feelings and questions would have surfaced and Job would have to remind himself each and every time of God’s faithfulness.
Then there is the matter of God restoring to Job double for what he lossed. Here is what the Bible said about Job's restoration; "The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him over all the [distressing] adversities that the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first [daughter] Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were found no women so fair as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. (Job 42: 10-15)
So God restored double Job's riches, his property, his cattle, his wealth. But it is interesting that God did not restore to Job double his children. He lost ten, God restored ten. But where is the double restoration in that? I believe that the double blessing that God restored in regard to Job's children is that in the life to come, He would enjoy the fellowship of all of his twenty children, not just ten.
So the reminder to Job on a daily basis was the physical scars that he probably bore as well as walking past the graves of his first ten children every day of his life. A daily reminder that this world was not his real home and that the best is yet to come.
You see, we are given a glimpse as to how dearly Job loved his kids. We know that they were adults so Job was a part of their lives for many years and they were a big part of his. We know Job considered their welfare so much that he offered up sacrifices for their sins so God would have mercy upon them in case they stepped out of line with Him. As we read how the story of Job unfolds, each messenger comes and relays to Job how his oxen and donkeys were stolen and his servants killed, how his sheep were wiped out by a fire from heaven, how his camels were stolen and those servants also killed, all with no response from Job.
Yet, it is only after the last messenger tells Job that his children all perished when their house caved in on them that we read that Job became distraught, tore his robe, shaved his head and fell to the ground in grief. It is apparent that Job’s greatest and most unbearable loss was the death of his sons and daughters.
Job’s earthly restoration was miraculous and generous, but not complete. He was left with scars, battle wounds and constant reminders of his testing and lived with them for another one hundred and forty years. To be honest, I've never been fond of the story of Job, primarily because I have a hard time getting past my selfish arrogance in questioning God’s fairness and purpose with my finite comprehension. I don’t enjoy or relish the thought of being part of the battleground God uses to prove a point to satan.
I want to grow in the knowledge of Christ but without the pain that accompanies the testing and refining process. I don’t want my friends looking upon me with pity. I want to be the one who raises other’s spirits, the life of the party, the happy-go-lucky person with the Teflon persona that nothing sticks to. My desire is to be that person who is blessed on earth by a wealthy God who spoils me with goodness that so many illegitimate preachers describe in their false teaching of prosperity by works. But that is most definitely not my life and it’s probably not yours as well.
Scripture is clear that we will each be rewarded in a heavenly kingdom. We are told to lay up for yourselves treasure in Heaven. We are told that our good deeds are credited to a heavenly account. All indications are that we must live life and endure trials, hardships and losses here on earth without any guarantee of a Job like restoration. We will go through periods, seasons and for some of us, lifetimes of silence from a God we have to trust in the darkest of times and the fiercest of storms. We have to pray when there are no words, study when there is little desire, and have faith when all indicators suggest only hopelessness.
If there was a magic potion or spell to make this process we all face easier, I’d own the world. God knows our doubts, sees our struggles with faith, hears our non-verbal prayers and feels our distress. I wish I couldn’t write these words from personal trials and seasons of my own doubt, but I can and I do. When tears no longer come, when the pain is so intense it causes numbness, when your knees buckle and your breath is stunted, and when all hope and light seems to have vanquished from your world, God remains.
In closing, let's end with the words of a man who also faced a lion share of suffering and pain, King David.
"Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast."
(Psalm 139:7–10)
