Healing Rays of Righteousness

Where is God when it hurts? Isaiah 63:7-9 speaks of God’s relationship with his people, and says, “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.  In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”

Why do bad things happen to good, righteous people?  Job’s story tells us that sometimes we suffer precisely because we are righteous.  We know that Satan hates righteousness, and wants to destroy it in any way he can.  And so, he tempts us to sin, and in getting us to sin he hopes to destroy any righteous relationship we may have with God.

And if he can’t succeed in tempting us to sin, he will attack us by way of our family, our job, our physical bodies, to the maximum degree that our God will allow him to do so, hoping that we will give in to doubts about God, to denial of God’s existence, and to turning angry and bitter toward God.

I believe Job’s story reveals the following basic truths which can help us better understand God’s perspective on human suffering:

 First – The painful sufferings we experience are more likely due to Satan’s attack on us in his attempt to diminish and destroy our faith, rather than being an act of God punishing us for personal sin.  At other times it may simply be the consequence of our bad choices.  This is the human reality of living on planet earth where all kinds of evil abound, and the followers of Christ are not exempt from its sufferings.

Second – God accepts responsibility for allowing Satan’s attack on his followers, but retains sovereign control over Satan by setting limits to his attacks (Job 1:8-12 & 2:3-7).

Third – Our sufferings are not just about us.  Like we saw in Job, suffering tends to make us rather egocentric in saying “Why me?” and “Woe is me.”  Although Job never got his “why” question answered, he did come to realize that his hardships were about something bigger than his afflictions.  God overwhelmed Job with a litany of every day, everywhere evidences of his presence and power.  (Job 40:3-5 & 42:1-6).  This revelation from God transformed Job’s “why” questions into a “worship” response of confession and praise (Job 42:1-6).

Fourth – Job’s story of wrestling with God, gives us permission to do the same.  And we learn that spiritual unrest and questioning is a struggle that can teach us much about ourselves and our God, and hopefully strengthen us in Godly faith, trust, and hope.

Fifth – Because Job firmly believed that God loved him and would rescue him, he was able to maintain his integrity and faith in God throughout his suffering and so can we.  Job believed that God’s supreme sovereignty was consistently interwoven with his love and thus had a right to rule over his life.  In his own words, he asked, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10).  He also counted on God’s promise of resurrection.  Again in his own words, he declared, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-26).

Finally – Job’s God is the same God we worship today.  He is unchanging and his sovereign knowledge and control of things remains far above our best understanding.  We need to always remember that we are “creature” and God is “creator.”  Accepting this understanding of our relationship with God leads us to an eternal perspective of humility, submission, and dependence upon God.  

I continue to find the following few scriptures helpful in my understanding of God’s perspective and participation in our sufferings.  I would encourage you to read them frequently in order to strengthen your faith and trust in the God who created and cares deeply for you.

Psalm 139:1-18 – a lengthy and detailed assurance that God is everywhere and completely knows me and my whereabouts, and protects and cares for me.  “How precious to me are your thoughts, God!  How vast is the sum of them.”

Isaiah 43:1-3 – assumes suffering and assures me that I will not be destroyed by my sufferings, “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

Lamentations 3:22-26, 31-33 – God is always compassionate and “does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”

Job’s story clearly portrays God as allowing Satan to attack Job in order to test Job’s faith relationship with God.  The following scriptures lead me to believe that God continues to use our sufferings for the purpose of testing our faith, strengthening our trust, and deepening our love relationship with him.

Romans 5:3-5: “…but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”   – God would have us grow in righteousness and the only way we will ever grow is by exercising our spiritual muscles of faith, trust, and righteous living.

I agree with Ernest Hemingway when he wrote, “The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong in the broken places.”  He reminds us that we can use suffering to become stronger in our weak and broken places.  Some of the noblest human traits flourish in the soil of suffering – compassion, kindness, fortitude, patience, sympathy, and humility to name a few.

Above all, suffering reminds us that life on this earth is temporary.  This present place is not our home.  We wait in anticipation of our eternal home with God in his kingdom.  And so, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a).