I recently heard a wise college professor pose the question, "What about Job?" in response to a theological paper entitled "Why Does God Allow Sin? Theodicies and the Problem of Evil." It's something I've always wondered and for many years, the philosophical notion stretched across the road of my Christian walk as a stumbling block, an enormous fallen tree. What was the deal with Job?
The wise professor said, "The story doesn't seem to go with the rest of the Bible. Why would God allow a man, and not just any man, but his most loyal and faithful servant, to suffer so greatly in the context of a wager with the devil? Why would God even bet with the Devil to begin with? Wouldn't that suggest some level of insecurity on his part?" It's a good question. And considering it came on the heals of my weekend long trip to attend the funeral of my dear sister-friend's three day old baby, it was a good time to ask it.
Most of us know the story. As I understood it since childhood, it was about a man named Job who loved and trusted in God and God loved him in return. Job was wealthy and extremely blessed in all the ways a person could be during those days. One day, the devil went to God and said, "The only reason Job loves you is because you've blessed him greatly. It is a selfish love." God disagreed and said, "To prove I'm right, you can take everything away from him except for his life and at the end of all that, I assure you, he will not sin against me."
In the context of our modern culture, this seems ridiculous, harsh, unfair, cruel and offensive. But during my walk with God I've been able to gingerly step over that big tree in the woods. This morning I woke with the question on my mind, a debate in my heart and an assignment from the Spirit to put work aside and read the entire book of Job from beginning to end.
Before today, I was under the impression that Job remained strong throughout the many tests he was given. "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." -Job 1:21 I worried and feared that I would never be able to stand up to such rigorous tribulation. My faith would undoubtedly waiver in such circumstances. But after reading the story for myself, I discovered Job wasn't as rock solid as I had been led to believe. By the end of his trials, after losing his children, countless servants, livestock and riches, the Lord allowed Satan to afflict Job with painful sores "from the soles of his feet to the top of his head." -Job 2:7
Three of Job's friends heard of his troubles and went to see him to sympathize with him and comfort him. They sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights without saying a word because they saw how great his suffering was. -Job 2:11-13 Such was the beginning of his faltering. He went into length expressing his feelings of forsakenness and his desire to die. Though Job remained faithful to God to the end, it was difficult and many times he questioned his ability and will to go on and he also questioned God's dealing with him. Job asked, "Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?...For now I would be lying down in peace." -Job 3:11-13
The initial meeting between Satan and God and the course of Job's trials actually occurred in the very beginning of the book, the first two chapters. The following forty chapters depict dialogue between Job and his three friends and a guy named Elihu. The body of the book actually lays out a philosophical debate about God, faith, evil and suffering where in the end, the Lord himself, puts the conversation to rest, "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?" -Job 38:1 The book ends with this, "The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first...Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers...After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. And so he died old and full of years." -Job 42:12-17
So there was never really a wager, that would imply God would gain something by winning. He knew he would win. So why agree to allow Satan to torture Job? Because it was inevitable. Maybe it's not a historical account, but an allegory where you and I are Job and we will never be able to avoid suffering and grief in this world. But we've been given this beautiful gift of life where joy is present and love abundant and hope pervasive. Satan believed Job loved God only because of his many blessings. It wasn't a bet, it was a promise...that if we just believe in Him, the second half will be better than the first.
