The sovereign compassion and mercy of God: A closer look at the story of Job

By: Lee Davis, Berlin Church

Why does God allow people to suffer? Why does God allow good people to suffer? 

These are age-old questions that people like us have been asking for thousands of years. There is a certain hesitation in verbalizing them as they may not seem very trusting. And yet whether or not such questions pass our lips, we ponder them and wrestle over how to make sense of our experiences. The Old Testament book of Job is a unique portion of Scripture that deals with this very problem, namely, if God is in control of everything and is good, why would He allow His people to suffer? 

Job likely lived around the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Issac, and Jacob). He was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). This wasn’t just the narrator’s opinion of Job, God Himself regarded Job this way. God said that there was no one on earth like him (Job 1:8). 

God pointed Job’s righteousness and integrity out to Satan. Satan sneeringly responded by saying that Job only served God because God had blessed him. Satan was convinced that if God’s blessings were removed from Job that he would be exposed as a fraud. God gave Satan permission to plunder Job’s wealth, kill his children, and afflict him with awful physical suffering. Despite all of this, Job still praised God (Job 1:21) and did not sin in what he said (Job 2:10).

Job’s wife responded differently as she told him to curse God and die (Job 2:9). Eventually, Job’s friends show up to sympathize with him and comfort him (Job 2:11). The second chapter of Job ends with these words: When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was (Job 2:12-13). This was a noble and gracious act of compassion.

But if you know anything about the rest of Job’s story, these friends turn from compassionate comforters (living benedictions) into adversarial antagonists (living maledictions). Job’ friends had an overly simplistic view of the world. They were moralists. Their way of thinking could be essentially summarized like this: an easy, blessed life is a sure sign that one is living with integrity before God while a difficult life of suffering is proof that one is living sinfully in some way and that God is allowing misery as a punishment.

They had no knowledge of God’s perspective on Job’s life, that he was peerless in righteousness compared to all people on earth. Their categories for suffering were simplistic, wrong-headed, and hurtful. Their advice for Job left him struggling to defend his integrity. While he felt abandoned by God (Job 9:11) and that God had become his enemy (Job 19:11-12), he still never cursed God. Job said some pretty bold things, but they were prayers of complaint that came from a hurting soul. God’s summation of the back-and-forth between Job and his friends was that the friends had not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has (Job 42:7).

The climax of the book begins in chapter 38 where God finally speaks to Job out of the storm (Job 38:1). Job’s life had been a storm and now God intensifies the experience. For the next four chapters, Job says very little. It’s God’s turn to talk. He didn’t reveal the conversations that had taken place between Him and Satan. He didn’t even give Job an answer as to why he had suffered. Instead, He talked about His sovereignty over creation.

He created the world and controls its order (Job 38:4-11). He fashioned the expanse of the universe and arranged the constellations (Job 38:31-33). He made and controls the animal kingdom, even the most fearsome beasts that cannot be tamed and cause us to tremble (Job 39-41).

What kind of answer is this? How is God’s sovereignty good news for suffering people? James, a New Testament author, tells us, “As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy (James 5:11).” In what way is God’s sovereignty connected to His compassion and mercy, virtues which God does not overtly proclaim to Job?

I think Jesus shows us how to understand this in the Sermon on the Mount. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they (Matthew 6:25-26).” Jesus argued from lesser to greater. WE are more important to God than the animals. If God so cares for them, will He not even more so care for US? In Job, God is really saying the same thing. We are more important than mighty beasts or the vastness of the cosmos. If He made all of these things and perfectly sustains and controls them, can we not trust Him to care for us?

Job understood this. After hearing God speak, he said, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you (Job 42:2-5).” God had been in loving control all along. Job then prays for his foolish friends and is restored abundantly.

Dear friend, you, like Job, may never fully understand why you are suffering. Please be careful to not listen to or draw your own simplistic conclusions. But you can trust God, the one who is in control of all things, including and most especially you. You are of infinite value to Him and He delights in you. In your storm, God is speaking to you words of love. Allow His voice to be the loudest and most compelling. May He comfort you with His sovereign compassion and mercy.