Job 38:1

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?... Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?..." Then Job answered the Lord and said, "I know that you can do everything, and that no purpose of yours can be withheld from you.... I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Job's suffering ends not in bitterness but in resurrection—a picture of the eternal hope that steadies every trial.

Everyone Suffers—The Question Is How We Respond

We began this series in the book of Job six weeks ago to consider the servant of the Lord named Job, and I hope you've seen that his story is one of the most fascinating in the Bible. If you haven't been able to be here every week, I'd encourage you to listen to the messages online at lifeinconnection.com, or recommend them to someone going through a trial. I've received a lot of feedback through this series, and I think that's because each of us experiences suffering at some level.

There is a sense in which suffering is relative. Sometimes what seems insignificant to others feels very great to us, and our own troubles may seem small compared to what others endure. But we all experience suffering. Even if we don't personally suffer, we are impacted by the suffering of others—especially in our day, when we are constantly bombarded with heavy news from around the world.

So the question is not whether we will suffer, but how we respond. There are really only two ways to come out of suffering as one who seeks to walk with God: either you come out angry and hardened toward Him, or the suffering draws you closer to Him as you begin to see what God is working in the midst of it. As people have said before, you can come out better or you can come out bitter. I've met some who were hardened and bitter because God either didn't intervene or they felt He was doing something to them.

What's striking is that if anyone could have been angry at God—asking, "Why are you doing this to me?"—it would be Job. Not everyone who suffers suffers from the hand of God, but in Job's story there's no way around it: this came from the hand of God. And yet Job does not end up bitter. A transformation takes place. Everybody suffers in this fallen, broken world, but not everyone emerges from suffering the way Job did, in a better situation.

Count It All Joy: The Promise in James

In the New Testament book of James, we have a verse that deals with this. James writes to the church:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (James 1:2–3)

Some of you know these words. Many have heard the saying, "Don't pray for patience"—because of this verse. People even say, "Don't read the book of Job, or everything in your life will fall apart." But you're going to encounter trials regardless. You will have them whether you pray for patience or read Job. The point is that you only enjoy the benefit in and through the trials we face. James continues:

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (James 1:12)

The word "endures" is the same word as "patience" in verse 3, and "temptation" is the same word as "trials." So, "Oh how happy"—that's what "blessed" means—"is the one who is patient in trials." Why? Because the blessing is not in the trial itself, but in the outcome for the person who patiently endures.

This is a theme throughout James's short letter. Look at how he closes it:

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.... Take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. (James 5:7–11)

It's fitting that we land here as we close this series, for this is the one reference to Job in the New Testament. "You have heard of the perseverance of Job," James says—and now that's true for us, having gone through this series.

The Prophets as Examples of Suffering and Patience

Who are the "them" that James says we count blessed? Verse 10 tells us: the prophets. People often read the prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the minor prophets—looking for clues about the first or second coming of Jesus, the Antichrist, or the end of the world. I once saw a tabloid at the newsstand promising "12 prophecies the government doesn't want you to know," and when I opened it, it was just Isaiah. People love that sort of thing.

But James, one of the earliest Christians, doesn't read the prophets that way. He says to consider the prophets of old as an example of suffering and patience. I've studied the prophets extensively—I've taught both Isaiah and Jeremiah at the Bible College in Murrieta for many years—and one thing you find is that these men lived through the end of their world. In Isaiah's day, the Assyrians annihilated the northern ten tribes and destroyed 46 cities of Judah before surrounding Jerusalem. Isaiah was convinced it was the end of the world, and he endured. Jeremiah, about 150 years later, watched the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and burn the temple, and he endured great suffering. Ezekiel was a prisoner of war in Babylon, and he endured.

So James says we should take them as examples of suffering and patience—and not only the prophets, but Job. Job's patience and suffering is an example we should remember and follow. We count these men blessed who endure, because in the end, after the testing, there was a blessing.

The Crown of Life

God promises a blessing to those who patiently endure trials. James identifies it as the crown of life. What is the crown of life? To answer that, we look to the one other place in Scripture where the term is used—Revelation 2, in Jesus's letter to the suffering church at Smyrna (modern-day Izmir):

These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: "I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich)... Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." (Revelation 2:8–10)

Notice—Jesus does not stop their suffering or keep them out of the difficulty. The crown of life is given to those who remain faithful unto death, by the One who was dead and came to life. It is for those who stand steadfast in the face of trials, who are tested by the enemy and spoken of blasphemously by others. What is the crown of life? It is eternal life—life after death, life because of the resurrection of the One who is alive again. It is the crown of life given to us by the One who wore the crown of thorns for us.

Notice too that Smyrna's tribulation lasts "ten days." Most commentators agree this isn't ten literal days; it's an image of temporariness. This is a real challenge for us, because in the midst of suffering we start to think those burdensome words: This will never pass. It's never going to get better. But the promise is that it is temporary. Even if you were to suffer every day of your life, it is temporary. That is the message Scripture brings.

The End Intended by the Lord

James also says, "You have seen the end intended by the Lord." So go back to Job 42. When Job comes into contact with the living God, he says, "I have heard of You by the hearing of my ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes"—much like Isaiah, who saw the Lord high and lifted up and said, "I am undone."

Then the Lord turns to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has." That's fascinating—even after all of Job's words, God says Job spoke of Him what was right. God commands the three friends to offer a burnt offering, and says, "My servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him." And so the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends—meditate on that. Indeed, the Lord gave Job twice as much as before: 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, 1,000 female donkeys, seven sons and three daughters more beautiful than any in the land. Job lived 140 more years and saw four generations.

It seems like a good resolution—and James, inspired by God, says, "You have seen the end intended by the Lord." This was God's plan all along, to bring about a resolution. God has an intended end and purpose in suffering. We may not always see that purpose or fully comprehend what God is doing. You may have prayed, "God, I don't understand what You're doing in this situation." But we can and should trust that God has a purpose He is seeking to accomplish.

He Is Very Compassionate and Merciful

James finishes by saying three things: you have heard of the perseverance of Job; you have seen the end the Lord intended; and the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. Those last words need to be held close in our hearts. Why? Because I am convinced the enemy would love nothing more than for you and me to question the goodness of God, His compassion, and His mercy.

This is what the enemy has done since the beginning. In Genesis 3, in that strange exchange between Eve and the serpent, the implication is that God is holding something back—He's not being as good to you as He could be. The enemy constantly bombards us with the lie that the Lord is not compassionate and merciful. Yet throughout Scripture, from beginning to end, this truth is hammered home: God is very compassionate and merciful. We need to be reminded of that, and we need to remind others of it.

A Picture of Resurrection

As we bring this to a resolution in Job 42, several things are worth noting. First, the ancient Hebrews at the time Job was recorded did not have a clear theology of death, the afterlife, and resurrection. It was fuzzy and dark for them, and the afterlife was a fearful thing—as it remains for many today. Surveys consistently rank death among people's greatest fears (though, funnily enough, public speaking often ranks even higher—most people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy).

For the ancient Hebrews especially, there was no clear understanding of death and resurrection. So when we read this poetic restoration—Job receiving double what he had before, better than before—what we have is a poetic picture of resurrection. Job experiences a kind of death-and-resurrection situation: he goes through the suffering and now receives a great restoration. Job's restoration is a type of resurrection.

Now, not everyone who suffers in this fallen world is rewarded in this life. Not everybody gets back what Job got back. But the Bible reveals that God has for those who love Him an expected good end. Paul puts it in perspective:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

The End God Intends Is Just the Beginning

You might think Job is a story about one man's suffering and his response to it. But I want to suggest that the book of Job is about God's ability to resurrect and raise one up out of suffering—which is the hope the Christian has.

At the start of this series I mentioned a book from 1981 by Rabbi Harold Kushner, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, written after he and his wife lost their son Aaron to a terminal genetic disease at age 14. Wrestling with how bad things can happen if God is good, Kushner concludes that our concept of God must be flawed—that God is not all-powerful, because if He were, He would stop these things. I don't believe that's what Scripture reveals. And tellingly, about a third of the way through, Kushner mentions eternity and resurrection only to set it aside: "Who can know?" So there's no ultimate hope in what he presents.

But that's not what the Bible presents. The New Testament tells us in 2 Timothy 1 that Jesus brings to light life and immortality through the gospel. What was unclear in the Old Testament is revealed in the New. The mystery is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." This is why Paul could write to the Thessalonians that we do not sorrow as those who have no hope. We are sorrowful when we suffer loss, especially the loss of a loved one—but not as those without hope. "Comfort one another with these words."

The end that God intends is not the end of this life, for that is just the beginning. We live in an increasingly naturalistic, materialistic culture that believes this life is all there is. And if this life is all there is, and it's rife with suffering, then you have every reason to be depressed—especially when you look at the apparent success of others. In Psalm 73, the psalmist looks around and says, "This isn't fair"—wicked people prospering while he suffers. It's a bad perspective, and Job helps us gain a better one.

A Proper Perspective Brings Hopeful Endurance

Seeing all that Job went through and the end God intended should help us gain perspective in our own suffering or as we walk with others through theirs. Suffering may be relative—your trial may seem great compared to someone whose TV just broke, or small compared to a missionary watching people die in Liberia. But it never seems relative to us in the midst of it until we gain that eternal perspective.

It's no accident that just before this series, Pastor Mark taught on eternity and the importance, from Colossians 3, of setting our minds on things above where Christ is seated. Our culture constantly urges us to "live in the moment." There may be some truth to not being distracted by everything, but there's also a necessity of stepping back and seeing God above all things. That's exactly what Isaiah did. Isaiah 6 begins, "In the year that King Uzziah died"—when the nation was in chaos—"I saw the Lord, high and lifted up." It gave him perspective.

Paul gives us an important meditation in Romans 8: you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." You are a child of God, an heir of God and joint heir with Christ—"if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together."

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18)

If you haven't memorized that, I'd challenge you to. And ten verses later: "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." A proper perspective of suffering will help us maintain hopeful endurance in any and every trial.

This has been my own experience over the last six weeks. When I told the staff we were going through Job, Pastor Mark joked, "Oh come on, things are just going to get terrible." But here's another way to think about it: things are going bad all the time—yet when you read through Job, you have a different perspective. In just the last couple of weeks we had to put one of our dogs down, rebuild the transmission in the Suburban for $3,800, nearly had $5,000 wiped out of my savings by identity theft, and got dropped by my homeowner's insurance for being in a fire-danger area—with the new quote five times as much. And in all of it, I've at least had a different perspective. There is a peace that surpasses all understanding, because the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us, and we know He works all things together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

Closing Prayer

God, I thank You for Your word. It is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, able to divide between joint and marrow, soul and spirit, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our hearts. I pray that as we come to Your word, we would have our eyes lifted to see eternity. For the outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed day by day, being prepared for the day when we come into Your presence—and in Your presence is fullness of joy, and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. You have promised to wipe away every tear. So God, I pray You would help us to endure by Your strength, by Your Spirit, by the encouragement of Your word, and by the uplifting of the body of Christ, to walk through the challenges we face, knowing that the testing of our faith is producing something—even if we can't see perfectly what it is. Lord, help us to have that conviction, we pray. We ask this in Jesus's name, and all those who agreed said, amen.