I realized quickly that there are no simple and straight answers to Job. Why do the righteous suffers? Why does a good man go through the pains of lives? Why? WHY? Why? Silence faces the anguished man.
Job's Friends and their Understanding of God
#1: "You must have done something wrong to displease God, that's why, Job, you are suffering...."
Wrong for Job's situation although right understanding of the general principle of Obedience brings about blessings while disobedience brings about curses. Job suffered because God issued a 'challenge' to Satan. Job 1:8 “have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” (God reaffirmed Job again in Job 2:3) In God's eyes, Job was a blameless and upright man. He did nothing wrong. If anything added on to his pain, it was the words of his fellow 'sympathizers', who applied truth to a wrong context. There isn't a one-answer-fits-all answer.
Lesson #1 for me:
We may know a lot but we don't know everything. God sees everything, we only see a part of the whole. We are finite beings, God is infinite. That's why we have every reason to stay humble, because knowing many things does not mean we are in control. Truth is, we are out of control. We can only surrender to the one in control and that is to the Author of life.
Quote Steven Curitis Chapman Song: "God is God"
And the pain falls like a curtain
On the things I once called certain
And I have to say the words I fear the most
I just don’t know
And the questions without answers
Come and paralyze the dancer
So I stand here on the stage afraid to move
Afraid to fall, oh, but fall I must
On this truth that my life has been formed from the dust
God is God and I am not
I can only see a part of the picture He’s painting
God is God and I am man
So I’ll never understand it all
For only God is God
And the sky begins to thunder
And I’m filled with awe and wonder
‘Til the only burning question that remains
Is who am I
Can I form a single mountain
Take the stars in hand and count them
Can I even take a breath without God giving it to me
He is first and last before all that has been
Beyond all that will pass
Oh, how great are the riches of His wisdom and knowledge
How unsearchable for to Him and through Him and from Him are all things
So let us worship before the throne
Of the One who is worthy of worship alone
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