BibleProject | One Story That Leads to Jesusਨਮੂਨਾ

If God is infinitely good, powerful, and just, not to mention the creator who made everything, then how does suffering continue to run rampant and harm every human on Earth? The book of Job tackles this enduring question from the beginning, but never gives us a direct answer. It’s like a truth has been spoken, but how it makes sense remains unclear.

Remember that the authors describe Job as “blameless” and identify him as a faithful follower of Yahweh. But Job is also overconfident in his limited perspective, which leads to angry accusations of wrongdoing toward God. To help Job see his mistake, God invites Job to try his hand at overseeing the entire cosmos for a day. Does Job have enough wisdom and strength to wrangle down ancient monsters like the Behemoth and Leviathan—creatures that symbolize danger and chaos in the world?

Where would Job even start? Seeing how impossible that would be, Job recognizes that he has “declared without understanding” (Job 42:3). He’s assumed too much. He rightly recognizes that Yahweh has designed a good and beautiful world, but had wrongly assumed he knew how it should work and the way God should act.

The book never explains why we suffer, but it provides a picture of helpful and not-so-helpful ways to engage with God while experiencing deep pain. We see Job evolve through different (likely familiar) stages. The patient one who trusts and waits on God (the prologue). The one who protests and wrestles with God. The one who accuses God of wrongdoing. Though understandable, perhaps even normal reactions, none of those approaches proves helpful. However, in the epilogue, we meet the humble Job who acknowledges his limitations and finds reason to trust God once more.

While God never endorses Job’s overconfident accusations, he does honor Job’s raw and honest prayer. At the end of the book, God says that Job—who spoke to God—spoke rightly about him in a way that the friends—who only spoke about God—did not. Job is the wise one who learns from God to trust God’s goodness even through intense pain and to accept the limitation of his understanding.

Watch the video to sum up and reflect upon all you’ve learned about the complexity of God’s wisdom as envisioned through the book of Job.

Reflection Questions

• Look up Psalm 74:13-14, Psalm 104:26, and Isaiah 27:1. What have you learned from these passages about the dangerous monsters God describes in today’s reading?
• How does the wisdom of the book of Job differ from the wisdom of Proverbs? Why might we need both perspectives to help us live wisely in God’s world?