Our world is undeniably and self-evidently unfair. For the unbeliever, this is just the way it is in a godless universe—it’s what we would expect. For those of us who believe there is an Infinite, Personal, and Holy God, this is troubling. Since we believe that God is truly and fully good, why isn’t His creation, especially since He declared it was very good (Genesis 1:31), very good? Yes, it’s troubling; it’s morally troubling. And so, we grapple to understand, and faith compels us to do so.
For me, this is not simply an academic, intellectual puzzle, to be relegated to Christian Apologetics. There is nothing fair about an 11-month-old baby contracting Polio, living his life with a serious disability, and now spending all his waking hours in a wheelchair. Yet here I sit. And I grapple. In a profoundly deep faith in my Abba, Father, I grapple.
Among the greatest literary works in human history, that engaged in this grappling, is the Biblical book, Job. Job, the protagonist, was an amazingly good, decent, and religious man who was treated with punishments only appropriate for the Devil incarnate. Unfair doesn’t begin to cover it!
Of course, a blog is no place to give a full study of Job. Let me, however, make some observations.
Most of us want the world to make moral sense. In the world we want, goodness is always rewarded, and evil is always punished. But that world isn’t our world. We are tempted, then, to force our answer, like a wrong piece of a puzzle, into our world so that it makes some kind of sense to us. Job shows us the folly of that.
The drama highlights our inclination to fix blame for unfairness.
In a superficial reading, it is easy to blame the Devil for injustice and unfairness. However, in Job, “Satan” is not a proper name, but instead, a title. It is not “Satan,” but “The Satan,” the accuser. The accuser is part of the Divine Council, who keeps the record of all who do evil. As prosecuting attorney, he is a bit of a “show me the man, and I’ll find you the crime,” kind of prosecutor. He is betting that Job is into goodness, merely for the reward, and not “good for goodness’s sake.” God takes the wager.
More important is the fact that only the readers are aware of the heavenly events. Job knows nothing of this. For Job, (book and character) the buck stops at the throne of God. After the opening, The Satan disappears.
Job’s wife has a simple, but a too simplistic answer, curse God and die. For her, God has abandoned Job, and is the cause of his suffering. She advises her husband to let God know what he thinks of Him, in his dying breath, and end his suffering. Job will not go there.
The major section of Job has cycles of dialogues between Job and three of his “friends,” Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and later joined by a younger disputant named Elihu. They have their best moments as friends when they are silent. However, after Job expressed his anguish, they each felt compelled to “correct” Job. What unites these three different voices is their common conviction that suffering is a punishment for sin.
There is an interesting parallel to this in John 9, when Jesus’ disciples, upon seeing a man born blind, ask “who sinned?” Such obvious unfairness for them can only be explained as punishment for his, or his parents’ sin. Convinced of this, as well, are the Jewish leaders who assert that this, now formerly blind man, was born in sin (John 9:34). As with Job’s friends, they are wrong.
For the friends, Job shouldn’t complain, he should repent. Not only will Job not repent, he challenges God to meet him in court. His last words to his friends are a fiery defense of his innocence and integrity (Job 31). God may punish bad behavior, but that’s not a full answer to unfairness in God’s world.
The LORD enters
In chapter 38, the LORD takes the entire stage. “Who are you?” He asks. Through a series of questions, He essentially states, “I am God, and You are not!” There is so much that Job, his friends, and we, do not know or begin to understand, that our moralizing is foolish.
Job gets the point and repents. He does not repent for his supposed life sins, but for his arrogance in attacking God’s justice.
The epilogue, which describes the LORD restoring Job’s fortune, has disappointed some critics. They see it as undercutting the point of the book. Rather, it seems to me, it reaffirms God’s sovereign freedom to show grace to whom He chooses, and how He chooses.
How might this speak to us?
God is the Creator, and He does not owe us anything.
We can trust God when we don’t know. Our lives are in Him, not in our answers.
We all should have humility in our questioning. What we don’t know, may be the very thing we need to know before judging situations or others. Others don’t have to prove their innocence before we give them our support and comfort. Silence may be far better than our moralizing speculations.
Life is a gift to be received in gratitude. I know that life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful. We can all live significant lives when we gratefully receive His strengthening grace.
God will make all things right in His own time.
In my next part of this series: “Faithful Lives in an Unfair World.”