ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS OF SUFFERING

Job 1-2

I. INITIAL RESPONSES TO SUFFERING

A. Suffering elicits different initial responses in different people:

1. Job responded in faith and worship (Job 1:21-22; 2:10)

2. Job’s wife encouraged Job to curse God and die (Job 2:9)

3. Job’s three friends mourned with him and kept silent for a week (Job 2:12,13)

B. Our initial response to suffering can be different upon further reflection (Is that your final answer?).

II. ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS OF SUFFERING NOT ADDRESSED IN JOB

A. God doesn’t exist (cf. Psalm 14:1; 53:1).

B. Evil doesn’t exist.

C. God isn’t all-powerful. He “has a hard time keeping chaos in check.” (Rabbi Harold Kushner)

III. ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS OF SUFFERING ADDRESSED IN JOB

A. Job’s three friends answer the problem of suffering by saying that God punishes sinners. Without any evidence, they concluded Job suffered because he sinned (Eyeball Theology; Job 6:24; 13:4,19; 24:25; 32:3; cf. John 9:1-3).

In Hinduism, karma is the principle of reaping and sowing. A person is born a beggar because they were unkind to beggars in a previous life. To see a suffering person is to see the outworking of justice. The argument of Job’s three friends was essentially a Hindu argument: we see you suffering Job and you must therefore be the worst of sinners.

1. Your sons sinned; therefore, God abandoned them (Bildad: Job 8:4)

2. Repent and God will restore you (Zophar: Job 11:13-19)

3. You have undermined piety (Eliphaz: Job 15:1-6)

4. Your wickedness is great and your sin is endless (Eliphaz: Job 22:5-11)

B. What makes the eyeball theology of Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz all the more vexing is that some of their theology is orthodox (cf. Job 5:13 with 1 Cor.3:19)! There are six references in the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) to speeches made by Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad.

1. God is “infinite in being and perfection” (Job 11:7-9 [Zophar]; cf. WCF II:1; Q.4 of the Shorter Catechism)

2. “What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?” (Job 15:14 [Eliphaz]; WCF VI:3)

3. “Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise man benefit him? What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless?” (Job 22:2-3 [Eliphaz]; WCF II:2; VII:1; XVI:5)

4. “So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish, Whose confidence is fragile, And whose trust a spider’s web. (Job 8:13-14 [Bildad]; WCF XVII:1)

C. Zophar, Bildad, and Eliphaz were, in some ways, good theologians, but the application of their theology to Job’s situation was demonic.

D. The false charges leveled against Job point us to the suffering of Jesus (Isaiah 53; Matthew 27:43).

E. Job answers the problem of his suffering by saying God is Almighty and I am innocent. Therefore, there must be something wrong with God’s goodness or justice (Job 7:20-21; 9:3-11,28-35; 10:5-22; 13:26; 14:16-17; 40:8; 42:6; see Job 34:10,12). Job was more certain about his innocence than he was of God’s goodness, mercy, and justice (Job 13:13-28; 27:1-6; 31:1-40; 32:2; 35:2; cf. Job 34:5,10,12).

F. Elihu does not answer the problem of suffering but he does answer Job and his three friends (Job 34:10,12).

G. God’s answer to Job’s suffering consists of more than seventy questions. God answers Job’s question with questions, and Job “understands” (Job 38-41; cf. Romans 8:28-39; 11:33-36)

1. Job’s nonparticipation in the creation of creation (38:1-11)

2. Job’s nonparticipation in the ordering of creation (38:12-39:12)

3. Job’s lack of understanding about the nature of nature (Job 39:13-41:34)

QUESTIONS FOR SABBATH DISCUSSION & MEDITATION

Take what you have learned this morning and make it into a prayer for yourself, your family, the church and/or our nation. Remember that prayer consists in Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication (Feel free to use the outline for praying).

What were the initial responses to Job’s suffering?

Job –

Job’s wife –

Job’s three friends –

What were the later answers given by Job and his friends to suffering?

What was the sin of Job’s three friends?

Is it wrong for the church to judge or excommunicate a person? How is this different from the judgment of Job’s friends?

What was the error of Job?

How does God answer Job?

What is one of the best things to say to a person who is suffering?

Read Job this week and take particular note of the different trials:

ü Satan versus the Almighty

ü Satan versus Job (serpent versus the seed of the woman) –

ü Job versus his three friends

ü Job versus God