Hopelessness, Suffering, and Unjust Loss - Part 3
Life was Good
“Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them.”—Job 1:4 (NLT)
Life was good for Job’s family in the days before the tragedy. Theirs was a close family. They enjoyed life and enjoyed each other’s company regularly. There were no indicators—no warnings—of the devastation to come.
He Did All the Right Things
“The day after each of these parties, Job got up early in the morning, sent for his children, and offered a burnt offering for each of them. He thought, ‘Maybe my children were careless and sinned against God at their party.’ Job always did this so that his children would be forgiven of their sins.”—Job 1:5 (ERV)
Job did all the right things. God, in His compassion and care for us, gives us the example of Job so that we can take heart in God’s assurance here that if tragedy comes to our lives, it is *not *a sign that God is angry with us. Tragedy does not equal punishment.
God doesn’t work that way. He is not that kind of a father—blowing up with unpredictable angry outbursts and hurling punishments down on us without explanation. It is contrary to His nature and character. God is love (1 John 4:8).
If God sees a need to correct us, He doesn’t do it by bringing death and destruction into our lives. He corrects us with loving firmness, as a caring father does for His children, so that we will not follow a self-destructive path in life!
“Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].”—Revelation 3:19 (AMP)
“Know also in your [minds and] hearts that, as a man disciplines and instructs his son, so the Lord your God disciplines and instructs you.”—Deuteronomy 8:5 (AMP)
“Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law”—Psalm 94:12 (AMP)
Job certainly understood that there is a clear cause and effect link between our actions and their consequences. That is why he made sacrifices—just in case any of his children had sinned—, but as we will see, devastating crisis came into Job’s life through no fault of his own. And God was not the one who brought tragedy into Job’s life.
Next: God Pulls Back the Curtains
Back: Suffering Does Not Equal Punishment
