Job and Why Bad Things Sometimes Happen to Good People
Once upon a time in a faraway place, members of the heavenly court — maybe angels — came before God. Along with them came Satan. And what happened next became the premise of a 42-chapter book in the Old Testament of the Bible, the book of Job.
Where have you been? God asked Satan. Arguably, He already knew the answer.
Hanging out on earth, Satan answered. Watching what’s going on. A conversation between the two ensued. Like it was just another day, another ordinary discussion between Satan the accuser and Holy God.
Did you notice my Job? God asked Satan. He is a fine man. He is blameless. He has integrity. He fears me. He stays away from evil.
That’s only because you protect him, said Satan. You’ve made him prosper and he’s rich. If you took away his wealth, he would curse you to your face.
I wonder what God thought at this point. Did this challenge from Satan, this insult to both Job and Himself make Him angry or aggravated, or did it fill Him with sadness? Whatever it was He felt, we’re told He calmly responded, Okay, go ahead and test Job. I give you permission to do whatever you want to his possessions, but don’t harm him physically.
So Satan did just that. He wasted no time as he proceeded to attack Job’s possessions. He used the Sabeans, a fire, the Chaldeans, and a windstorm to:
- steal Job’s oxen and donkeys,
- kill his farmhands,
- burn up his sheep and shepherds,
- steal his camels,
- kill his servants,
- collapse his oldest son’s house,
- and kill his children, all seven sons and three daughters.
Satan didn’t just destroy a few of Job’s possessions, he destroyed almost all of them. And then it got worse. Satan returned to the presence of God and the conversation continued in similar fashion as before.
Where have you been? God asked Satan, as if He didn’t know.
Hanging out on earth, Satan responded. Watching what’s going on.
Did you notice my Job? God asked. He’s still blameless, full of integrity, God-fearing, and still staying away from evil even after all he’s suffered.
Satan didn’t give up. He said, Take away Job’s health and he will curse you to your face!
I wonder if God looked around at the members of the heavenly court and rolled His eyes or shook His head or let out a sigh. Surely, He felt grief for the suffering Job had already gone through. But nonetheless, God said to Satan, okay, do with him what you want, but you must spare his life.
And then, Satan doubled down.
He again wasted no time returning to Job, striking him with sores, maybe boils, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Imagine being completely covered with an itchy, oozy, crusty, painful skin infection. Disgusting and miserable. That’s what Satan did to Job. So there Job sat in the ashes of his former family and wealth, physically and emotionally broken. His wife came to his side advising him to curse God. His friends came to his side accusing him of committing sin that brought on this punishment. Job cursed the day he was born and wrestled with God, asking why, why, why, but ultimately, he refused to curse God Himself.
He is a fine man. He is blameless. He has integrity. He fears God. He stays away from evil.
When you hear this story, how do you feel about Job? And how do you feel about Satan? These two questions are easy to answer. Simply stated, Satan was evil, and Job was faithful.
But the real question is: how do you feel about God? How do you feel about Him granting Satan permission to test and torment Job? Why would He allow this? Didn’t He love Job?
Doesn’t He love me?
Doesn’t He want me to prosper, to be happy, to have an abundant and peaceful life?
Why would He allow me to suffer from financial problems, relational problems, or health problems? Why, why, why?
I wish I could say: Here’s why, but I can’t. None of us have the ability to understand the mind or the ways of God. He’s not one of us. He’s wise beyond our comprehension. He’s above and beyond the humans He created. But the amazing thing is that He loves us.
Based on the first chapter of Job, there are a few things we know about God: He engaged Satan, He was confident in Job as His follower, He allowed Satan to attack Job and his family, He clearly saw what Satan was doing, and finally, He cared. He cared deeply about Job and He cares deeply about every single one of us.
He cares so much about us that it’s possible, at this very moment in time, He’s discussing you. She is a fine woman. She is blameless. She has integrity. She fears God. She stays away from evil.
So, the answer to why bad things happen to good people is this: what we see on earth is only a part of the picture, probably a very small part. There’s another dimension, a spiritual dimension intertwined with the one our eyes can see. That’s the one God inhabits. God, Satan, the angels and demons, and all the unseen forces of the spiritual world. There is a battle for our lives in that dimension, one we cannot fully understand, but one that explains life and its struggles more clearly.
We can’t know how our individual stories will play out while we are on earth, but we do know what happened with Job. In the final chapter of the book, Job says to God, When I questioned Your wisdom, I didn’t know what I was talking about. I didn’t understand the things that are far too wonderful for my comprehension. And in the end, God restored Job’s fortunes, in fact He doubled them. He gave him seven more sons, three more daughters, and 140 more years of life in which he saw four more generations after him. Finally, he died an old man, having lived a long, full life.
I recently heard a sermon presented by David Chadwick from Moments of Hope Church in Charlotte, NC in which he stated, “The more serious you get about Jesus, the more serious the evil one gets about you.” If you are a believer in Jesus Christ and you have accepted Him as your Savior, it’s simple. Satan, the evil one, is interested in you. He’s watching you. His laborers are doing their best to keep you from making a difference for God, from bringing attention to Him and from bringing others to Him. Here is the challenge before us: cultivate your relationship with Him by searching the scriptures, praying consistently, and sharing your faith when the opportunity presents. Participate in a community of believers. In short, love Him well. And then remember Job and be ready. Double down in your faithfulness to your Heavenly Father because there is no greater honor or privilege on earth than to live for God and His Son Jesus Christ.
Katy Shelton is the author of Forever Matters – How the Return of Jesus Completes You.
The Truth About Jonah
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Jonah was a jerk.
I’m sorry, but it’s true.
Simply read his book of prophecy in the Bible’s Old Testament and you’ll agree.
You see, Jonah was a man on a mission from God. He had been called by God as a prophet, an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. But he had a problem. He didn’t like that calling. In fact, it made him so angry that he did the exact opposite of what God had instructed him to do.
“Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh,” God said, “and announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” (Jonah 1:2 NLT)
As soon as Jonah received these instructions from God, he got up and started walking. But did he head toward Ninevah? No. In fact, he headed away from Ninevah toward the port of Joppa, where he planned to board a ship to Tarshish. There is some debate about where ancient Tarshish was located, but we know it was not near Ninevah where God had instructed Jonah to go. We do, however, know that Ninevah was located in current day Mosul in northern Iraq near the eastern bank of the Tigris River. It was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the largest city in the world. Think Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, or in the US, think New York City which comes in at number 11 on the list of the world’s largest cities. In its time, Ninevah was enormous.
The Ninevites and Israelites were bitter enemies, and poor Jonah did not want to go to this huge, bustling city to tell its people about God’s wrath toward them. Can you blame him? This would have been an unpleasant, possibly even dangerous assignment. How would the people of Ninevah respond to an Israelite? Would they ignore or mock him? Would they turn on him verbally or maybe even physically? It didn’t matter, because God had chosen Jonah as His prophet and His messenger, and this was an assignment, not a request.
But Jonah.
Jonah made the decision not to head to Ninevah, not to deliver God’s message, not to obey God. He just said no.
Have you ever known in your heart you needed to do something that you didn’t want to do? Do your homework, do your housework, start the workout, finish the project, call the person, have the tough conversation, do the thing, don’t do the thing, etc. We all have God-given responsibilities to which we must attend that we dread and avoid. “Life is full of a number of things,” my dad used to say, and many of them are unpleasant. But sometimes, doing the difficult things moves us toward our calling. And that’s where we have to trust, have faith in, and obey our God.
But Jonah.
Poor Jonah couldn’t bring himself to move toward his mission. Instead, he moved away, “hoping to escape from the Lord.” (vs. 3) And as the story goes, he did board that ship which led him directly away from Ninevah toward Tarshish.
But God.
After Jonah boarded the ship, we’re told that God hurled a powerful wind, which whipped up a deadly storm, placing every passenger’s life in peril. Long story short, per Jonah’s request, they tossed him overboard to appease God and eventually, he ended up on a beach after having been inside a whale for approximately 72 hours. Whew. Exhausting at best. Terrifying and moribund — facing death — at worst.
But this was not the end of Jonah’s story, it was only the beginning. God once again told Jonah to deliver His message to the people of Ninevah and this time Jonah made a wise decision, headed to Ninevah, and delivered God’s message. I suppose being inside a whale for three days will shake some sense into a person.
But God.
After Jonah delivered the message of God’s judgment against the Ninevites, we’re told they were sorry and they repented of their ways. How surprising and wonderful and life changing. God saw that the people had repented, and He decided not to punish them. He forgave them for whatever they had done wrong, and He gave them another chance. God is good like that. He loves giving people all the chances to turn to Him. In short, God simply loves people.
But Jonah.
Sadly, Jonah didn’t appreciate God’s mercy toward the wicked people of Ninevah. In fact, it infuriated him. Not only did he want to see his enemies destroyed, but also this reversal of judgment would mean Jonah’s prophecy would not be fulfilled and it would make him look foolish. So, because of his hate and his pride, he got mad. Mad at God. So mad that He complained and pouted and sat outside the city watching and waiting and probably hoping for the destruction he had promised was coming. How sad. Jonah would rather have seen the 120,000 people of Ninevah destroyed than spared by God’s mercy.
Like I said, Jonah was a jerk.
He allowed hate and pride control him. Have you ever been controlled by negative feelings toward someone? I sure have. But thanks be to God, He still loves us even when we act like jerks.
There is an absolute plethora of lessons to be learned from both Jonah and the people of Ninevah. According to the book of Jonah, God clearly isn’t a fan of disobedience, hate, or pride, just to name a few. But again, He gives us an overabundance of chances to return to Him. He forgives, He shows mercy, He loves.
He loved the people of Nineveh, He loved Jonah, and He loves you.
When you become a follower of God’s Son Jesus, you, like Jonah, receive a mission. What’s your calling at this moment in life? If you haven’t discovered it yet, keep searching. If you have discovered it, move forward with gusto. Don’t avoid or procrastinate or long for someone else’s calling. Embrace yours because you are hand-picked by God to achieve and fulfill that commission. We’re all called to love God and love others, but only He can show you specifically how He wants you to accomplish that call day-by-day. Spend time with Him, read His Word, and listen to Him. Love Him well. This will enable you to hear and see Him and better understand what He has in mind for you. Then don’t be like Jonah and run away from Him, but instead walk, or maybe run, toward your mission — your sometimes difficult calling — and get ready for exciting things to happen in your life. Exciting for others, exciting for Him, and exciting for you.
Katy Shelton is the author of Forever Matters – How the Return of Jesus Completes You.
Katy Shelton 