Trusting When it Hurts

Introduction

Life is full of good times and hard times.

The story of Job is a story about hard times. It would be hard to imagine someone experiencing more loss, all at once, than Job experienced in the first two chapters of the book named for him.

How we conduct ourselves when hardship strikes is something that God watches with great interest. What is He looking for? I believe that when we suffer, God's loving eyes are focussed on one small pearl, one eternal treasure, one seed that He is nursing to maturity: our faith. We will look at this in detail.

Job is more than a story about hardship—it is also a story about hardship that is undeserved. One of the major points made in the book of Job, as we shall see, is that Job did nothing to deserve all the bad things that happened to him.

And yet, bad things happened.

Maybe you've heard someone say, "if only you [had more faith; prayed more sincerely; fill in the blank], God would solve your problems; you wouldn't have these troubles."

The story of Job combats a very common wrong belief: if we are going through hard times, we did something to deserve it. Although sometimes true, it isn't necessarily true; and if we don't know why someone is hurting, it is wrong to assume.

Historical Background

Scholars are not sure when Job lived, but internal evidence, so they say, suggests the period around 1000 BC; around the time of David and Solomon.

Unlike most Bible heroes, Job was not a Jew. He is described as one of "the people of the East" (Job 1:3); that is, his home was east of the land of Israel. But even though he was, as Ephesians 2:12 says of Gentiles, "excluded from citizenship in Israel and [a foreigner] to the covenants", Job was a man of God. He worshipped God with integrity and diligence. He practiced what he preached. Fairness, compassion, and charity characterized his life. In chapter 31, as we shall see, Job describes at length his godly life style; and his friends, in spite of their determination to find fault, are unable to answer his defense. Job is such a good man that the writer describes him as "blameless" (Job 1:1).

Job was the patriarch of a large tribe, and he was rich. His livestock holdings amounted to some 11,500 animals (detailed in Job 1:2). We can imagine the size of the community that derived their livelihood caring for these huge herds. Job is described as "the greatest man" in his region (Job 1:3), suggesting that of all the nearby tribes, Job's was "the greatest" in some sense; wealth, perhaps, or population.

At the time of this story, Job was younger than the typical tribal chief. He and his wife had ten adult children before this story begins, and ten more children afterward, placing them firmly in the middle of their childbearing years.

Job's youthful ascension suggests that his father had died at a young age. In this patriarchal culture, if Job's father were still alive and capable, he would have been the leader instead of Job. So even before the story opens, Job has experienced personal tragedy.

And then the troubles began.