The quandary of undeserved suffering… It’s a puzzling mystery and an age-old question. Why does God allow the righteous to suffer? It’s the question that the Book of Job addresses:
In just a matter of hours an especially righteous and notably wealthy man loses all of his material possessions, each of his children, and his good health. Next, to add misery to despair, Job’s friends condemn him rather than console him and then his wife gives up and turns on him. Worst of all, the God he loves and serves refuses to answer his cries and rise to his defense and do something. The question of suffering has been addressed in countless ways through the centuries since the time of Job. Why do we suffer? Who or what causes it? Why does God not do something? Not all of our questions are answered and it’s worthy to note that Job himself did not receive a direct answer to his own suffering.
In Job’s story, the accuser suggests that Job serves God only because of the things he receives from God in return for his service – that if Job suddenly lost all his rewards, his reverence and respect for God would surely wane. Satan proposes that Job does not serve God out of love or devotion at all!
Satan’s suggestion clobbers the human race right at the heart of our basic, inner, egocentric existence: Selfishness. Do we only worship God for self-seeking reasons? Would we serve the Lord if we enjoyed no personal gain from it at all? The accusation was an attack on God as well for it suggests that the only way that the Creator can get people to worship Him is to promise them health and wealth and worldly treasures.
Surely God knew Job’s heart and understood his devotion. Indeed God allowed Satan to buffet and beat Job, so as to silence the accuser. And to be sure, God was in command of Job’s mystifying journey – a journey that would forever change his spiritual insight.
How about you? Are you in it for the blessings? Or are you worshiping the Blesser? The gifts are nice, but do you love the Giver? Have you reached the point where you can recite the words of A. B. Simpson as your own? . . .
In just a matter of hours an especially righteous and notably wealthy man loses all of his material possessions, each of his children, and his good health. Next, to add misery to despair, Job’s friends condemn him rather than console him and then his wife gives up and turns on him. Worst of all, the God he loves and serves refuses to answer his cries and rise to his defense and do something. The question of suffering has been addressed in countless ways through the centuries since the time of Job. Why do we suffer? Who or what causes it? Why does God not do something? Not all of our questions are answered and it’s worthy to note that Job himself did not receive a direct answer to his own suffering.
In Job’s story, the accuser suggests that Job serves God only because of the things he receives from God in return for his service – that if Job suddenly lost all his rewards, his reverence and respect for God would surely wane. Satan proposes that Job does not serve God out of love or devotion at all!
Satan’s suggestion clobbers the human race right at the heart of our basic, inner, egocentric existence: Selfishness. Do we only worship God for self-seeking reasons? Would we serve the Lord if we enjoyed no personal gain from it at all? The accusation was an attack on God as well for it suggests that the only way that the Creator can get people to worship Him is to promise them health and wealth and worldly treasures.
Surely God knew Job’s heart and understood his devotion. Indeed God allowed Satan to buffet and beat Job, so as to silence the accuser. And to be sure, God was in command of Job’s mystifying journey – a journey that would forever change his spiritual insight.
How about you? Are you in it for the blessings? Or are you worshiping the Blesser? The gifts are nice, but do you love the Giver? Have you reached the point where you can recite the words of A. B. Simpson as your own? . . .
Once it was the blessing,
Now it is the Lord.
Once it was the feeling,
Not it is His Word.
Once His gift I wanted,
Now the Giver own.
Once I sought for healing,
Now Him alone.
Once it was my working,
His it hence shall be.
Once I tried to use Him,
Now He uses me.
Once the power I wanted,
Now the Mighty One.
Once for self I labored,
Now for Him alone.
All in all forever,
Jesus will I sing.
Everything in Jesus
And Jesus everything.
- A.B. Simpson
- Pastor Mark
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