Job 42:1-6
Epilogue of Job
1 Then Job replied to the LORD:
2 "I know that you can do all things;
no plan of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel 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.
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.
Jesus said we will have troubles in this world...He certainly is right about that...Sometimes the troubles in this world is the pain we have, or the suffering of our family and friends...Pain seems to shout at us...When we are in pain, something is wrong...We generally search for an answer to the pain we have...Suffering shouts at us regularly, as we read about the different problems in our world...Pain and suffering, and when we are trying to understand about the pain and suffering of ourselves and others, we most of the time look to God and want Him to explain the problems with our pain and suffering and also the world's pain and suffering...Job certainly looked to God for the answers and his questions to pain and suffering...When the LORD said to Job in essence how can a finite man who has sinned contend with the One Almighty, who is Perfect and Good and has Complete Understanding of all things...Job who had been arguing with our Father, finally got to feel His Presence...Job then said to the LORD: “I know you can do everything...You make plans, and nothing can change or stop them...You asked, ‘Who is this ignorant person saying these foolish things?’...I talked about things I did not understand...I talked about things too amazing for me to know...“You said to me, ‘Listen, and I will speak...I will ask you questions, and you will answer Me.’...In the past I heard about You, but now I have seen You with my own eyes...And I am ashamed of myself...I am so sorry...As I sit in the dust and ashes, I promise to change my heart and my life.”...
Author Philip Yancy wrote this about pain in the world and how the problems of the world are somehow related to God in Heaven...“C. S. Lewis introduced the phrase “pain, the megaphone of God.”...“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains,” he said; “it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”...The word megaphone is apropos, because by its nature pain shouts...When I stub my toe or twist an ankle, pain loudly announces to my brain that something is wrong...Similarly, the existence of suffering on this earth is, I believe, a scream to all of us that something is wrong...It halts us in our tracks and forces us to consider other values.”...
I think Mr. Yancy is telling us that we can better see God when we examine pain and suffering...Let us believe with all of our heart in the absolute sovereignty of God...Let us pray that God would give you that conviction...Let us understand that He has Complete Understanding that we may not know the answer until years to come or until we reach eternity with our Redeemer...