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So we have talked about suffering and the idea that God doesn’t shield us from things which require us to rely upon Him. And we know that He is with us in our suffering. Paul tells us that we connect with Jesus in His suffering when we suffer for being Christians. But not all suffering is because we are Christians, and not all pain is suffering.
In our lives we experience pain and suffering but some of it is self-inflicted. Other times it’s can be a result of generational sin, systemic injustice, or random traumatic events.
While we may want to have an answer for the reason why we are suffering sometimes there is no answer to the why question. Often times we would like to answer ourselves logically with reasons we think the bad things happening to us are somehow justifiable. Kind of like Job’s friends did. And that’s the story we want to look at a bit today.
Job 2:11-13 (NIV) When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
I wish we could all just do this when we have a friend or loved one suffering. If Job’s Friends had stopped there, that would have been the best thing they could have done…but they didn’t. And often times we don’t either. We try to soothe the suffering instead of just being with the person during the suffering. And some of the well meant things we say really can come off not so good.
Job’s friends, they began to reason with him over several chapters that somewhere someone had sinned, it was Job that had secret sin or one of his ancestors had sinned. And that was why Job was being punished.
I say all of that to say this, there isn’t a lot of comfort in trying to figure out the reason you are in a season of suffering, especially if it’s unjustly like Job.
Think about it for a minute, he’s accused of sinning by his friends. His wife encourages him to sin, and the Adversary predicts he will turn against God and sin. But nowhere in the entire book is there any mention of any sin.
Here’s what we do know. We know that God was not the “Author” of his suffering. He didn’t suffer because of sin that was committed by him or someone around him. It was simply that the Adversary made a claim that said in essence, God was unfairly protecting and favoring Job. And that if God removed this protection and favoring Job would simply turn against God. In other words, Job was blameless only because he was favored by God. I know that doesn’t truly answer our questions about suffering.
But we do have a visible example in our savior, Christ Jesus. And He is no stranger to suffering and pain.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us: Hebrews 13:5-6 (NIV) Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
That first part about how God will never leave or forsake us, comes from when the Children of Israel are entering into the Promised Land. God is reminding them that whatever they go, whatever situation they face, He will be with them. In the same way, wherever we go, whatever situation we face, God will be with us. We do not face it alone.