smile for me. (:

With so much suffering going on in this world, it’s easy to point fingers at God and wonder why such a loving God would allow pain and evil to exist. I’ve been reading the book of Job, and I’m near the end where God answers Job, who, in his great suffering has been questioning God’s character and justice. Job was considered by God to be a righteous man, but later faced tragic events, was inflicted with severe pain, and ultimately lost all he had.

When Job’s friends see him, they accuse him of wrongdoing and rebuke him, saying that his suffering is to his demise, and that he is facing his consequences of sin. Following this thinking, we like to think that because we are good, we should be rewarded, and that those who are evil deserve pain and punishment. What happens then, when a good person encounters pain and suffering? Most of us would think it unfair and unjust—similar to Job’s line of thinking.

After a long time of Job questioning God and His justice, God finally responds to him. In reading God’s response to Job, we see that God challenges Job and clearly shows Himself to be way beyond Job’s understanding, power and character. We come see and understand that we are so unfit to question God because we just don’t understand—we don’t have the mind or capacity to understand God’s ways, His justice, His wisdom.

It reminds me of what God says in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” And I love the way Andrew Hill & John Walton put it, “God’s justice cannot be assessed because we can never have enough information to do so…His justice is inferred from His wisdom.” And God’s wisdom is defined in relation to Himself and His character. And because God’s character is righteous, loving, unchanging, true, eternal, sovereign, we can trust Him.

Hence, the question we shouldn’t ask is why does God allow pain and suffering, or how could He allow this and that, and so forth. The question we should ask instead, is of ourselves--can we choose to trust in God’s sovereignty and character even in the midst of our confusion, pain, and suffering? Can we trust in His plan, purposes and will, knowing that He is good and that He deeply loves us? Can we place our faith in Him in such a way that it will never be shaken by any person, circumstance, or event?

That this would be our undying anthem: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand on the earth.” Job 19:25