Almost everyone is familiar with the story of Job, of how an unseen battle between the Lord and Satan resulted in this man Job losing everything he had, including his children, and then being afflicted with a most hideous and painful disease. While most of us may be able to give at least an elementary account of the book, few people really understand what is the deeper message of the story. Few understand what kind of man Job was, what was the sin of Job, and what was the purpose in God allowing Job to suffer as he did. Furthermore, how the Lord brought Job to see himself, to see God, and to have a more elevated relationship with God. The book of Job, as many have already said, is the primer on the suffering of God’s people. Being possibly the oldest book contained in the canon of Scripture, the Divine Author provides us with a source of enlightenment to some of the most perplexing questions we have as human beings; but questions especially bewildering to those who have put their trust in God and seek to serve Him; and they are—what brings about suffering; who causes our suffering; and what is the purpose of suffering?

From the following account of the life of Job some things are easy to see, but hard to explain. We can see, that on the surface, Job was a good man and had done nothing to deserve this onslaught of suffering. We can also see, as many people already suspect, that the Devil is directly involved in many of man’s troubles. Last of all, we can see that God is also indirectly involved in the sufferings of men. 

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
9 Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Now if the story were to end here, we might well say that Job passed his heavenly examination with the highest marks. After all, he took all that the Devil threw at him and “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” His wealth was gone, his children were taken away, even his physical health was destroyed, and yet he still seems to worship and give glory to God. However, Job’s outward demeanor belies what he was beginning to feel in his heart. The Scripture testifies that “In all this did not Job sin with his lips”; but that is not the gage of our true spiritual condition. A person may honor God “with their lips, but their heart is far from” Him spiritually. However, something will begin to break through Job’s exterior shell between chapters two and three, and that something is the passage of time. Although the Scriptures do not tell us the length of time between the beginning of Job’s suffering and when Job’s friends heard about his calamities and journeyed to see him, we do know that they sat with him for seven days before anyone even said a word.

Mark 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Job 2:13 So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.

Sudden severe trials are not always the ones that destroy our fortitude and faith in God. We often regard these as the workings of Satan and tend to hold up for a time in a mixed state of shock and the hope that God will somehow make it all better. We might even have the vain belief that we will be propelled into super saint status because of the sufferings we are going through. However, time has a way of wearing us down. We wait for God to intervene and restore to us our happiness, but it soon becomes apparent that He is not going to intercede on our behalf. Eventually, we are unable to hold out anymore in the face of doubt, discouragement, and despair. Job was not immune to the feelings that arise in all of us when faced with such terrible events. The following words by Job, in the presence of his three friends, certainly indicate that his suffering was beginning to have an effect upon his demeaner.

Job 3:1 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2 And Job spake, and said,
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day: 10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
14 With kings and counselors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

Seeing very plainly, from the record of Scripture, the “conspirators” of Job’s calamities, for what purposes, may we suppose, was Job made to suffer? Many have viewed the sufferings of Job as a kind of heavenly contest between Satan and the Lord, with Job being the hapless object of their sport. While Satan can certainly be charged with such frivolous game playing, we can hardly imagine the Lord being a partaker of such a sadistic contest; a game in which one of His most devoted creatures is subjected to cruel and painful afflictions of his body and soul. Although God’s glory is certainly at stake here, and there are eternal ramifications in the trial of Job, God’s greatest purpose was the ultimate enrichment and blessing of Job himself, while at the same time making his experience a source of revelation and comfort to all of God’s people.

While this trial cannot be viewed as a punishment for some outward sin of Job, we cannot ignore that Job, as well as all of us, need correction if we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. Job certainly could have lived his life without such a horrendous experience, but he would never have known the revelations that God had in store for him as the result of this trial. C. H. Spurgeon[1] once said, that he doubted that anything of any spiritual significance ever came to him except through suffering. To be sure, if God never intervened in our lives through the tool of suffering, none of us would ever come to Christ for salvation; nor would we ever be more than just a babe in Christ when once we became God’s child. Job had heard of God with the hearing of his ears, but it wasn’t until after his trial that he saw God.

Many view the sufferings of Job as merely a test of his patience, while failing to recognize any faults in his life. Job was, without a doubt, a good man; but he was not a perfect man. Through Job’s suffering God was going to reveal areas in Job’s life that were diseased. Pain is an instrument that God uses to tell us that something is wrong. If we didn’t feel pain, we would not remove our hand from being burned by fire, or seek medical attention for some internal or external injury or disease. Emotional pain also tells us that something is wrong; it tells us we are not in a right relationship with God; it tells us we have things in our lives that are at the very least, objectionable to God, and some that are even filthy and disgusting to Him. It is this physical and emotional pain that drives us to the Great Physician for healing.

1 Pet 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Jam 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Jam 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

The most important lesson to be learned from Job is that God always has the good of His people in mind. God does not cause pain or grief merely to see us suffer. He does not cause or allow bad things in our lives just to punish us for sin. God’s purposes in the sufferings of His children are much greator than the everyday faults and failures that we all make.

Lam 3:32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.
33 For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

As we continue to study the experience of Job, it is my hope that we may glean some of the benefits or purposes behind the sufferings of God’s people. In a short summary of what is to follow, I offer the following list:

1. Suffering brings about our death to self. All that we treasure about ourselves must be laid upon the altar of sacrifice to God. We must have only one source of strength. Our human endeavor will only last until the sun of adversity withers it and our beauty fades away as a leaf.

Ph 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

2 Cor 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
[10] Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

1 Pet 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

2. Suffering brings about our death to the world. We must let go of any and all possessions that would keep us from serving God completely. We must live without regard to what the world thinks or says about us, so that we may please only one Master.

Matt 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Gal 1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.

Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

3. Suffering brings us into a real relationship with God, where we worship Him “in spirit and in truth.” Satan challenged the Lord concerning Job, asking, “Doth Job fear God for nought?” What glory does God receive, or what kind of honest love can we show to God, if we only serve Him because we fear Him; or because he blesses us, protects us, and gives us things?

Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

John 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

4. Suffering is the means by which our faith becomes a reality in our lives. There is no greater evidence for a believer knowing they are a child of God, then by experiencing His providential hand of chastening. The sincerity of our profession, before God and the world, is also proven by the trials and suffering we go through.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

1 Pet 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1 Cor 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

5. Suffering strikes a death blow to human pride, bringing us again and again to repentance and faith in Christ alone. Spiritual pride would overcome us without the humbling effects of trials. As we see God’s power at work in us and through us, our human nature sees this as a means of promotion and recognition of itself; and God will not share His glory with anyone. We are given spiritual treasures in the weak, earthen vessels of our bodies; and whatever God has done for us in Christ, or through us by Christ, He gives us no place to glory.

Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

I Tim 3:6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

Isa 42:8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

2 Cor 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.