The Unanswered Question

“Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.”  Job 38:4

Job was an upright man who worshipped God and tried to live an honorable life.  The devil, who spends his time hassling people, particularly those who love God, decided that Job would be a good candidate to tempt in an effort to diminish Job’s view of God.  (You see, the devil wants to take God’s place as the sovereign ruler over all mankind, but I think he is smart enough to know that is impossible, so he attempts to lure God’s followers away by questioning the goodness of God just like he did Eve in the garden of Eden–Genesis 3:1-5.  In other words, Satan tries to attack God by attacking His family which is never a good idea.  So maybe Satan is not all that intelligent after all, but rather just full of envy and a lust for power.  Thus, it behooves us to keep on our toes so that we don’t allow him to become any more powerful than he is!)

When Satan came before God with his proposal to test Job, God allowed him to challenge Job, I suppose, because God had something to teach Job that he couldn’t have learned any other way.  If you think about it, perhaps that’s why we have to go through some of the trials that we do because what God is desiring to teach us can only be learned through hardships and disappointments.  Job lost everything he possessed including his children, but he still maintained his integrity.  Satan then struck him physically with painful sores.

Job sat down to mourn his condition.  Friends (?) came to sit with him quietly for a while, but they eventually begin to speak their mind, trying to convince Job that he must have done something to deserve his affliction.  Job defended himself, listing all the good that he had done for his fellow man.  He came to the conclusion that he would have been better off never to have been born.  Job was having a major pity party, but I would have also.  Matter of fact, I have had pity parties, but found that no one wants to attend.

After his so-called friends ended their speeches, it was God’s turn to address Job.  God began to list all the things that He had created without Job’s help.  When God asked Job where he was when God created the world, Job must have felt no bigger than an eyeball of a sugar ant.  Job realized his own insignificance when compared to the glory and majesty of a holy God, the God who made heaven and earth, the sun, moon, and the stars.  Yet, Job did learn a very valuable lesson, the same lesson that we all should learn if we don’t already know it: God loved him (and us), and that he (as well as all of us) was to trust God regardless of his circumstances.