“Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You’ ” (Job 42:1, 2).
It’s the deepest, most persistent question that has ever been asked and it begins with a three-letter word: “Why?” Why do bad things happen to good people? When we see injustice striking righteous saints, when we watch the innocent being slaughtered, when we read about power- less children being abused, something rises in the human heart and demands to know why. “Why, dear God, if you are all-powerful, do you let evil fall upon faultless, blameless, honourable people? Why?”
If you’ve ever asked this question, perhaps while standing next to the coffin of a virtuous, decent friend killed by a drunk driver, or perhaps snatched from this life by an unexplainable disease, you are not alone. A Bible character named Job could empathize with you. After losing all his wealth and each of his children, he was struck with a strange illness that splotched painful boils all over his body.
Three friends came to commiserate with Job. After quietly grieving with him for a period of time, they began to attempt to answer the burning question, why? Each of their three rounds of statements fell short in explaining Job’s predicament. All of them accused the righteous man of sinning and were appalled that Job was angry with God.
But in the end, Job refused to blame God and acknowledged the divine sovereignty of the Lord. In other words, even in the most difficult circumstances, Job knew that God could be trusted. When injustice was shouting in his ears, Job persisted in believing that God was just.
Could you come to the point where your faith led you to say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21)?
Heavenly Father, when the winds of difficult circumstances bear down on me today, I will trust in Your love for me.
For Further Study: Job 42; John 9:1–3; 16:33; 1 Peter 3:14