Reflection on Job 2:1-10

Scripture
“Should we only accept good from the hands of God and never anything bad?”

Observation
Job is a blameless man. He doesn't sin. Yet he experiences tremendous suffering.

Job's suffering comes ironically from his righteousness and not from sin. God is boasting about Job's righteousness and satan the accuser uses this as an opportunity to impugn Job's character- let him suffer and he will surely sin.

It is out of a desire to prove the integrity of Job that God allows satan to strike him.

Application
Suffering, illness, loss- these are a fact of life. We try to pin them down into theological principles, but it's never that simple.

Some people like to make a connection between prosperity and righteousness, between suffering and sin. As Job shows us, it is possible to suffer as a direct result of being good.

We live in a broken world which is also the scene of a mighty tug of war between God and satan. In this scenario people experience tremendous suffering.

This is not to suggest that we are merely pawns on a chess board subject to the whims of powers much greater than us. Far from it! God has shown us how much He loves us by sending His Son into the world to pay the price for our sins.

The cause of human misery may not always be obvious. But we can affirm that God meets us and comforts us in our distress.

Prayer
Father I don't always understand your ways. Sometimes the pain in the world and in the lives of people around me just seems too great to understand. Than you for entering into our pain and meeting us at the place of our distress. Amen.