Why do we suffer?

“Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied…‘Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you? Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless? You demanded security from your relatives for no reason; you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked. You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry, though you were a powerful man, owning land – an honoured man, living on it. And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless. That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you, why it is so dark that you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.” (Job 22:1,4-11 NIV)

It is easy for us to criticise Job’s three friends and the discouragement they gave Job when they were supposed to be encouraging him. In their defence I would suggest that they were trying to come to terms with had happened to him.

Job had been an influential man in their area, undoubtedly a civic leader. He was a wealthy land owner with grazing stock – wealth at this time was in flocks and herds. As a result he was looked up to and honoured. Yet he had lost everything in a day: his fall from the heights of power to living in abject poverty was swift. He had nothing left but a discouraging wife! His friends were trying to understand how this had happened.

In their minds, this had to be God punishing Job for some great sin he had committed – they were trying to discover what that sin might have been. “Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?” Eliphaz asked Job. All they could come up with was that it had to do with his wealth, as that was what he had lost.

Eliphaz began to throw out scenarios to try to discover what terrible sin Job had committed for God to reduce him to poverty. Perhaps he had demanded security from his relatives for absolutely no reason. The accusation seems to be that Job had taken as security things that people needed, like clothing – and he did it for no reason. 

Perhaps he had refused to give normal help like a drink of water to those who were tired or food to those who had none – yet he had all that he needed and more. Orphans and widows relied on handouts to be able to live – there were no welfare programmes. Job, being wealthy, was in an ideal position to give help to those who were in need. In Eliphaz’s mind, he must have refused to help them which is why he was now in the same predicament they were in. This must be why he had lost everything.

Before we come down too hard on Eliphaz and the other friends, we need to think about ourselves. Even people today, when someone is going through a difficult time with illness, job loss, or some other disaster, will begin to question what they had done for God to be treating them this way. While it is true we can make bad decisions and have to suffer the consequences, there is not always a cause and effect scenario that can be discovered. 

Perhaps we have asked God when our lives are not going well, “What have I done?” Perhaps we’ve gone so far as to comment about someone with an terrible illness, “I wonder what they did to bring this on.” It is so easy to assign God the blame when things go wrong!

As far as Job goes, we have an advantage over Job’s friends: we’ve read the beginning of this narrative. Why is Job suffering? What did he lose everything? Simply because he was faithful to God. It wasn’t God who took away everything he had – we know that it was Satan! He is the one who wants to harm God’s people.

When we see others going through difficult times – or even if we are suffering – it could be because we are living faithful lives.

Image created by Apple’s ImagePlayground by Jon Galloway.

Readings for next week: Job 22-30