1 John 4:8
God is Love
Job Has Questions
1 Then Job replied:
2 “Listen carefully to my words;
let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Bear with me while I speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 “Is my complaint directed to a human being?
Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled;
clap your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think about this, I am terrified;
trembling seizes my body.
7 Why do the wicked live on,
growing old and increasing in power?
8 They see their children established around them,
their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;
the rod of God is not on them.
10 Their bulls never fail to breed;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They send forth their children as a flock;
their little ones dance about.
12 They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;
they make merry to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their years in prosperity
and go down to the grave in peace
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain by praying to him?’
16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands,
so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
17 “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?
How often does calamity come upon them,
the fate God allots in his anger?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind,
like chaff swept away by a gale?
19 It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’
Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction;
let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what do they care about the families they leave behind
when their allotted months come to an end?
22 “Can anyone teach knowledge to God,
since he judges even the highest?
23 One person dies in full vigor,
completely secure and at ease,
24 well nourished in body,
bones rich with marrow.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having enjoyed anything good.
26 Side by side they lie in the dust,
and worms cover them both.
27 “I know full well what you are thinking,
the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great,
the tents where the wicked lived?’
29 Have you never questioned those who travel?
Have you paid no regard to their accounts—
30 that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity,
that they are delivered from the day of wrath?
31 Who denounces their conduct to their face?
Who repays them for what they have done?
32 They are carried to the grave,
and watch is kept over their tombs.
33 The soil in the valley is sweet to them;
everyone follows after them,
and a countless throng goes before them.
34 “So how can you console me with your nonsense?
Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”
Job 42:1-6
Job Replies to God's Questions
1 Then Job replied to the Lord:
2 “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 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.
4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.’
5 My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Why do we turn to God?...Job turned to God in his pain and suffering...And in his turning to God, he questioned Him...He had many questions for God as he suffered and endured...Job did not understand why he was suffering...Suffering is often a time when we do turn to God...But ironically pain and suffering is also the reason many people do not believe in Him...God knows why there is pain and suffering...And He alone knows how each of us will react to our personal pains and our personal sufferings...The griefs we have, the pains we have, the sufferings we have, and the deaths around us of family and friends make us think about our own limitations, and our own understandings, and how finite and fragile we are and life is...Through our pains and sufferings does He want us to think about these things, and maybe think about Him?...
Even though many turn to God in our pain and suffering on the one hand, but also others will not believe that there is a God because of the pain and sufferings in the world -I might suggest that part of this answer may be is about understanding...We seem to first look for help to those who understand us the best...We look to a close family member, close friend, the clergy, the doctor to talk about our pain and suffering...And we want to understand the why, if the pain and suffering lingers on...We just want to understand more...Why am I suffering?...Why do I have this continued pain?...And if we can't understand, we look to Someone who does understand why and what we are going through...We want someone who understands us, and understands something about suffering, our personal suffering...Job had his wife and his friends...But why do I have these particular pains?...Why do I have to chronically suffer?...Why do I have this long grieving period?...Job ask his questions, because he wanted to understand these things better, I think...And his questions were to his friends, by mostly directed to God...
Job's friends did understand why he was suffering...Oh, they tried to give him advice on why they thought he was suffering, but their advice fell short, and did not help their friend at all...I believe when Job realized that God completely understands everything, it helped him...He fell into repentance in the dust and ashes...Complete Understanding knows everything about LOVE...Complete Understanding is LOVE...LOVE is who saves us...And LOVE is what saves us...