Wisdom in Suffering: Job

If there is one thing I've learned through the years, it's that most people like ROUTINES and FORMULAS (including me!). How do I know this? Well, when people tell me 'I just had a crazy, chaotic day' I assume that they are glad the day is over and are hoping that tomorrow is more ROUTINE. Also, most people I know prefer predictability over unpredictability when it comes to life. They like to stick to schedules. For instance, most students I know don't get excited about surprise exams (they prefer the dates for exams to be spelled out on a syllabus)! One last piece of evidence...the self-help section in Barnes and Noble keeps getting bigger. People obviously like FORMULAS to help them solve their problems!

This human tendency might seem harmless BUT when it comes to our spiritual lives it can create problems. How so? Well, because of this tendency 1.) We often try to fit God into a box in which He doesn't fit 2.) We turn God into a routine even though in the Bible He presents Himself as a faith adventure 3.) God becomes a formula to be solved even though He's someone to be followed. These outworkings of this human tendency can diminish our sense of God's GREATNESS and reduce our desire for obedience especially when the formulas breakdown. But thankfully God and His wisdom transcend any human formula. And this is precisely what the author of Job is trying to communicate to us!

WHAT THE BOOK OF JOB IS NOT
Many people assume Job is a book that sets out to provide a solution to the "Problem of Suffering" (that is, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?). However, while the book does provide some insight into this question, this is neither the primary purpose nor the main message of the book. In fact, as Job 38-41 makes clear, the book provides more questions than answers (literally!). And so just when we expect to get some answers from God about the problem of suffering, He confronts Job with a list of His own questions. God leaves both us and Job hanging and denies us a simple solution! This, however, is part of the author's literary strategy for creatively communicating God's intended message.

THE AUTHOR'S LITERARY STRATEGY
Knowing the author's literary strategy is important because you can't understand the book of Job without understanding it! In fact, the author's literary strategy actually plays a huge part in the message of the book. So what is the author's literary strategy? The author strategically let's the reader in on the behind-the-scenes perspective of Job's circumstances (Job 1). In this regard, the reader possesses God's all-knowing, omniscient point of view of the situation. And so, the reader knows that God is allowing Satan to bring pain and suffering into Job's experience and that this (and not Job's sin) is the cause of Job's suffering. In fact, we know that God views Job as a righteous man. Because we have this information, we are able to see Job's situation through the eyes of God's wisdom and therefore judge the wisdom of Job, his three friends, and Elihu. So how do each of them fair?

THE WISDOM OF JOB'S OLD FRIENDS
Each of Job's three "mature" friends draws from the same wisdom principle to provide insight into Job's circumstances. The principle goes something like this: "God rewards good people and He punishes bad people." This is often referred to as the Retribution Principle. And so their advice to Job is essentially one and the same: Bad things are happening to you (Job) because you must have offended God in some way... so REPENT and God will bring good fortune back to you! However, the author (using his literary strategy) has already told us (the omniscient reader) that God views Job as a righteous man (1:8). In fact, we learn that Job's regular custom was to offer sacrifices for each of his children just in case they might have sinned (Job 1:5). It sounds to me like Job has earned the nickname "God-fearer!" And so we know that Job's friends are WRONG! They flunk the wisdom test. And this is surprising because they are OLD men. And back in that culture it was believed, "With age comes wisdom." I guess that adage doesn't always hold true! WISDOM GRADE: C

JOB'S WISDOM
So how does Job fair? Job does curse the day he was born BUT like a person full of wisdom he never actually curses God. In this regard, Satan's assessment of Job was wrong (1:11). And so we begin to think that maybe Job didn't just live righteously for the reward of it all but rather for the principle of it. Job seems to be functioning like a wise person at an advanced stage of moral development. But that's not all. Job also refutes his friends' assessment of his situation and seems to correctly conclude that the Retribution Principle does not apply to his circumstances. So far so good! But then Job begins to put God's justice on trial. He begins to complain to God about his unfair circumstances. In doing this he says things like, "Is there any wickedness on my lips?" and "Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins." This makes the reader begin to think that maybe Job's wisdom is entrenched in the Retribution Principle. And that maybe Job does think that his circumstances stem from some hidden sin in his life! WISDOM GRADE: B+

THE WISDOM OF JOB'S YOUNG FRIEND
Now we come to the young scholar, Elihu. He immediately gets mad at Job for questioning God's justice and he thinks that Job's three friends have got it all wrong (even though they are older than him). He goes so far as to say, "It is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right" (Job 32:8-9). What does this mean? Wisdom not only comes through age but it also comes from the breath of God. And so here's Elihu's FORMULA (yikes!) for wisdom: Experience + God's Word = Wisdom. And despite his age, Elihu's response demonstrates that he truly possesses God's wisdom.

How do we know this? While Elihu does affirm some degree of truth in the Retribution Principle (Job 34), he unequivocally rejects the Retribution Principle in Job's situation (33:8-12). He simply thinks that Job lacks knowledge and insight (Job 34:35). As the omniscient reader, we know this to be true! But this is not the only reason we know that Elihu possesses God's wisdom. More importantly, Elihu's wisdom (especially in Job 37) sounds a lot like God's wisdom in chapters 38-41. Elihu essentially tells Job, "You lack enough information to understand your situation BUT God doesn't! He perfectly applies His omniscient understanding to his governance of the universe. So back off!" WISDOM GRADE: A

GOD'S WISDOM
And this is precisely the way God defends Himself to Job: He questions Job's understanding and insight. "Who is this who darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? (38:2)" "Have the gates of Hades been shown to you?" "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?" God is essentially saying, "You do not understand your situation because you lack omniscience. However, I possess perfect omniscience and therefore I can and do apply perfect wisdom to every situation. So back off!" WISDOM GRADE: A+++

THE BOTTOM LINE
Has it become apparent yet why the author wrote the book of Job using the literary strategy he did? It's actually quite simple. The author gave us (the readers) the same omniscient point of view God had into Job's situation so that we can better understand wisdom from God's perspective. Because Job lacked the same insight we (the readers) had, his response to his dire situation lacked wisdom. And in real life we aren't any different than Job. Just like him, we will NEVER have perfect insight into our circumstances (we're not God!). BUT despite our lack of omniscient insight, we need to rest in the fact that God does possess perfect knowledge and wisdom. This should help us respond with wisdom (rather than accusations toward God) in the midst of whatever life throws at us.

But what are we to make of the Retribution Principle? While it might have seemed like the author was trying to discredit the truth of this principle throughout the book, that is not the author's conclusion. How do we know this? The book of Job ends with good fortune returning to Job on account of his righteousness. By ending the book this way, the author essentially vindicates the Retribution Principle and expresses his GENERAL agreement with the principle! But even so, we must not forget that the message of the book clearly indicates that the author does not want us to turn the Retribution Principle into a hard and fast FORMULA that we apply to ALL of life's challenges.

So what is the main message of the book of Job? When it appears that God's justice has broken down, we must realize it only appears this way because we do not possess God's all-knowing, omniscient point of view. In these situations we need to continue to fear God and remain obedient to His truth. And as a result, our wisdom will grow just like Job's did!

You might be thinking, "The 'fear of God'? What does that mean?" Well, the book of Proverbs gives us that answer. And so on we go...