We Ask "Why?"

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” (Job 1:8)

This past Sunday evening I taught on the book of Job. Several thought come to mind as a person begins to read the book of Job. One question that I have been struck by time and time again; "What would come from a conversation between God and Satan concerning me?" Of Job God called him a servant, a blameless man, an upright man, a man who fears God and shuns evil, and said that there is no one like him in all the earth. 

If you have read the account of Job you know that this blameless, upright, God-fearing man was tested and tried - he lost his wealth, his home, his family, and his health. Yet, through all of this - even when his friends and his wife encouraged him to - Job did not lose his faith in God. 

There is an important thing to remember as we read the account of Job, we are privy to a conversation between God and Satan that Job never was. We see the details and hear the reasoning behind the suffering that perhaps Job never did. Perhaps Job felt as though God was cursing him and surely he felt as though the lot that life was giving him and the lot that God was allowing him to handle was not fair. Yet, he did not curse God and he did not lose his faith in Him. 

Looking at Job, watching him suffer and wrestle with the reality of his situation we find that it was because Job was "blameless and upright" and because he was "a man that fears God and shuns evil", this is why God chose Job to be the one to suffer - the one to face these cruel tests and unfair trials. 

Weekly I sit and hear of cruel tests that people are undergoing, horrible suffering that is going on, unfair trials that are being faced, burdens that seem almost unbearable. Daily we cry out to God, humbly bowing before His Almighty throne and boldly asking the question; "WHY?" And as we ask the question we are confronted with the truth; God is God and we are not. 

I know that you can do all things no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand. things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. (Job 42:2-5)