“If I be wicked, woe unto me; and [if] I be righteous, [yet] will I not lift up my head. [I am] full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;” (Job 10:15 AV)
This verse is perhaps the most succinct description of Job’s situation than all others. He cannot figure out why the LORD would cause or permit the circumstances he now faces. He admits that if he is perpetually wicked, then what is happening is reasonable and justified. If he is not wicked, then he is not presumptuous. He is not arrogant about it and therefore, what is happening is not a result of pride. He confesses he is right with God. Which he is. And in his righteousness, he is also humble. Which he is. This leads to the confusion. Job is a pragmatist. There has to be an explanation for what is happening. He simply cannot see it. Because he cannot see it, he is confused, and this confusion is his greatest affliction. It wasn’t the loss of his family. It wasn’t the loss of his living. It wasn’t the loss of his health. What bothered him the most was he could not make sense of it. He could not see a reason for it. His mind and spirit were in complete disarray, and if the LORD opened the eyes of his understanding, he could endure a lot better.
As a chaplain, I had several situations of tragedy where those who needed ministry wanted only one question answered: why? The who, what, where, when and how comes easy. These are facts in discovery. But ‘why’ explores the unseen aspects. It goes to motive. Discerning motive or purpose is difficult, and often these two questions are answered after the fact. It was certainly the case with Job. When you have to counsel two young parents who lost their first child or a victim of a senseless crime, the ‘why’ of it is absent. When you have to meet a family in a counseling room whose loved one was in an accident and the doctors have little hope, the ‘why’ of the situation is not there. When you sit with a family who just received a very bad diagnosis, ‘why’ is not on the tip of your tongue. When a family has no income and jobs are not available, the ‘why’ doesn’t put food on the table. If we could simply find the answer to ‘why’, then maybe our situation would be a bit more tolerable. Or would it?
What would have happened if Job found out his situation was a contest between God and Satan? What would his reaction have been if Job knew it was the LORD who asked Satan to consider Job? How do you think he would have felt of the LORD allowed all this to be brought upon one man simply to prove God was a God who deserved to be trusted no matter the consequences and that because He is sovereign, He owes no one an explanation? What Job went through, once enlightened, I am sure he would go through it again. He learned that God is God and owes no one anything. He learned that God has a right to determine all things that happen to what He has created. He has the ultimate right of a Creator. His creation has no right to demand of Him anything. They have no standing. What Job learned as submission to the Creator for no other reason than that He is the Creator and demands it. What Job also learned was that God relies on the character of His people to justify the glory He seeks. Job was not going to crumble. God knew this. He knew Job’s integrity and love for Him would be greater than any trial of faith he would be asked to go through.
Keeping Job in the dark was part of the plan. Keeping Job uninformed was the only way Job was going to learn God’s ultimate rights as sovereign Creator. It was the only way Job was going to learn complete and unabated trust. The ‘why’ may never come. It may not even matter. The ‘why’ gives us the moral or ethical reasons for what God allows or causes. But the ‘why’ doesn’t change the fruit God is attempting to produce. It is a hard thing to exist in ignorance. But sometimes, that is what God requires. Sometimes, there are no answers. Sometimes, events in life seem out of sort or not profitable at all. These events seem unjustified or without any discernable purpose. It is the quiet child of God who remains silent and patient and God does His work that will endure less scathed than the one who has to have all the answers. Job and his three friends would have been better off keeping quiet and ceasing to figure out what could not be known at the time, and waiting for God to do His work. The ‘why’ often comes much later. It comes often after the fact. The ‘why’ is seen as patience has her perfect work.
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