The theme of suffering is one of the biggest obstacles in the field of evangelization: "If God exists, why is there suffering?"And they give you a long string of 'unacceptable' miseries to show that He does not exist or else He is a very wicked man. I will not get into this debate today; but will focus instead on how we usually respond to suffering from the Book of Job, I want to .
Job was a righteous man. His integrity was such that God boasted about it to the devil who replied that it was normal because he had been abundantly blessed. To prove him wrong, the Lord allowed him to attack Job. In no time, Job lost his wealth and children and to top it all, he was also afflicted with a loathsome disease: he was covered with boils from head to toes. Faced with all his misfortunes, his loved ones had a variety of responses that are fairly representative of how we tend to react to the suffering.
1) Curse God and die!
This was his wife’s reaction and it’s the reaction of many people: ''What good is there serving a God so unfair? I don’t deserve this; He has no right to do this to me; enough is enough!'' This attitude refuses to understand; it’s the attitude of those who believe that everything must always be for the better (I would even say THEIR best) in the brave new world. The truth is that you can curse God as much as you want, it doesn’t stop Him from being God. And if you eventually die, whether you believe in Him or not, you will still find yourself in front of Him: you can’t get away from Him.
2) Confess your sin!
This was the reaction of Job’s three friends. In other words, “You are suffering like that because you have sinned; you must have done something wrong because God never punishes the righteous. Confess your sin and everything will go back to normal.” We really need to erase the equation ‘suffering = sin’ from our heads: Job, Joseph, Daniel, Jesus and the apostles endured terrible sufferings not because of their unrighteousness, but because of their justice. This said, Job’s friends’ view of things gives a truncated image of God. It portrays Him as a bogeyman and removes the love factor in the relationship we have with Him. We no longer have to love Him; we just have to avoid making Him angry and He’ll bless us in return. No wonder He told one of them, Eliphaz, “lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right…” (Job 42:8)
Don’t miss out next week’s posting; we will continue with the last three attitudes towards suffering.
Have a wonderblessed week!
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