Bart Ehrman, one of the most influential atheists/agnostics today admitted: The problem of suffering became for me the problem of faith. After many years of grappling with the problem, trying to explain it, thinking through the explanations that others have offered—some of them pat answers charming for their simplicity, others highly sophisticated and nuanced reflections of serious philosophers and theologians—after thinking about the alleged answers and continuing to wrestle with the problem, about nine or ten years ago I finally admitted defeat, came to realize that I could no longer believe in the God of my tradition, and acknowledged that I was an agnostic: I don’t “know” if there is a God; but I think that if there is one, he certainly isn’t the one proclaimed by the Judeo-Christian tradition, the one who is actively and powerfully involved in this world. And so I stopped going to church (Ehrman, Bart D., God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer, HarperCollins. Kindle Edition, 2009, 3-4).
Before Ehrman went to seminary and began to doubt Scripture, Ehrman allowed suffering in his family to start turning him away from God. He relates one incident when his dad was dying of cancer in the hospital:
The youth leader visited Ehrman's father when he was dying of cancer in a hospital. The youth leader used a bottle of hotel shampoo to "anoint" his father, and tried to persuade his father to confess specific sins, Ehrman says he was angry at the minister for acting "self-righteous" and "hypocritical." "For a vulnerable high-schooler who is trying to figure out the world, a personality like that is very attractive," Ehrman says. "They're like cult leaders. They have all the answers" (Ehrman, Bart D. Former Fundamentalist Debunks Bible. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/05/15/bible.critic/index.html, 2009).
Ehrman says he later became an agnostic because he couldn't find the answer to another question. How could there be a God when there is so much suffering in the world? An agnostic disclaims any knowledge of God but does not deny the possibility of God's existence. From these early doubts, Ehrman went on to completely repudiate all beliefs in God and the Bible.
When Job proves Satan wrong, Satan is no longer mentioned in the Book of Job. In chapters 1 and 2, Satan is persistent in attacking Job's faith. But when Job's Christian critics take over in the next section, they do such a good job of verbally pounding on Job, perhaps Satan felt he could leave Job in the hands of his ash heap critics and destroy some other believer's faith
1. Suffering believers do not serve God for material and physical possessions (1-2)
2. Suffering believers do not serve God for the praise of man (3-37)
Bart Ehrman in his book God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Anser Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer devotes one chapter to the suffering of Job. Ehrman writes: Suffering in the poetic dialogues of Job differs radically from that found in the narrative framing story of the prologue and epilogue. The issue dealt with in the dialogues, however, is the same: if God is ultimately in charge of all of life, why is it that the innocent suffer? In the folktale, it is because God tests people to see if they can retain their piety despite undeserved pain and misery. In the poetic dialogues, there are different answers for different figures involved: for Job’s so-called friends, suffering comes as a punishment for sin (this view appears to be rejected by the narrator). Job himself, in the poetic speeches, cannot figure out a reason for innocent suffering. And God, who appears at the end of the poetic exchanges, refuses to give a reason. It appears that for this author, the answer to innocent suffering is that there is no answer. (Bart D. Ehrman, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer, HarperCollins. Kindle Edition, 2009, 172-173).
Ehrman believes that there are at least two authors of Job because of the two genres of narrative and Hebrew Poetry and two perspectives on suffering which are contradictory. Isaiah is also mostly Hebrew Poetry with some narrative sections (6-8; 36-38). The authors of the Scriptures were literary artists fully capable of writing in more than one genre. The author of Job, probably Job after all the events in Job are over, wrote the book with all of the details of the circumstances and conversations that an eyewitness could provide.
There are several purposes for suffering in Job just as there are throughout Scripture that are not contradictory but complimentary.
Satan’s purpose: Suffering proves selfishness (1:9)
Christian friends’ (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) purpose: Suffering punishes sin (4:7)
Another Christian friend’s (Elihu) purpose: Suffering profits believers (33:29-30; 36:22)
Elihu viewed suffering as protective, rather than retributive, as a means of keeping man from death rather than as a means of punishment leading him to death. The three companions had stressed suffering’s punitive value, whereas Elihu underscored its pedagogical value” (Roy Zuck, Job, Chicago: Moody Press, 1978, 148).
The suffering believer’s (Job) purpose: Suffering punishes believers (unfairly) 19:7
God’s purpose: Suffering matures believers (38-42:6)
First, Job was in the hands of Satan. Now Job is in the hands of “miserable comforters” (16:2). The second section of Job (Job 3-42:6) is no longer a Hebrew narrative where God expresses his view of Job's innocence. One of the conventions or characteristics of narratives is the Point of View of the Implied Author. The Historical Author is the human author. The Implied Author is God who superintended the human author to write the inspired narrative. There are different points of view in a narrative. I will mention two. There is the Psychological point of view (2nd Sam. 11:27). Here God states that what David had done [adultery and murder] “displeased the Lord.” The Evaluative point of view (1st Sam. 1:5 is an editorial comment). In narratives, God gives His view of the character. God’s view of Job in chapter one is that Job was innocent of any lifestyle of sin.
The next section of Job is Hebrew Poetry, which is the language of the soul. Hebrew poetry is the genre that expresses people's emotions. Sometimes the positive emotions of praise are expressed in Hebrew poetry as in the Psalms (for example Psalm 103 which is a Psalm of praise) and other times (Psalm 88 which is a Psalm of lament) as in the second section of Job the negative emotions of Job's "miserable comforters" and Job are vented in the three cycles of debate.
When discussing the problem of evil the topic usually makes a beeline to natural disasters. In Job 1, a natural disaster took Job's ten innocent children. Is there ever a pure natural disaster that wreaks havoc apart from God's control? Charles Spurgeon did not think so. From his sickbed, Spurgeon wrote his congregation: "We are in the hands of Jehovah, not Nebuchadnezzar. Noah's flood rose not an inch higher than God's decree allowed. Nothing great or small escapes the hand of Him who numbers the hairs of our heads and keeps the paths of our feet .... The wind is tempered to the shorn lamb .... the load is fitted to the weak shoulder ... the knife of the heavenly Surgeon never cuts deeper than is absolutely necessary" (World Magazine Online. Cataclysm by Mindy Belz).
One reason for personal tragedies and natural disasters is Adam's Fall. When Adam rebelled against God, according to Genesis 3:17-18, God judged and cursed the earth which later produced natural disasters such as the flood (Genesis 5-7), earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, mudslides, and tsunamis.
A secondary reason for personal suffering and natural disasters is Satan. In Job 1 and 2, Satan caused the lightning and windstorm that killed Job's ten children. In 2 Corinthians 12:7, Paul's physical and painful thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan.
But the ultimate cause is God. God permitted Satan to afflict Job. Martin Luther said, "Even the devil is God's devil." God has higher purposes in personal suffering that we may never understand (Isa 55:8, 9).
A. Job’s Friends accused him of suffering because of sin (4:7).
1. Eliphaz in 4:7 represents the view of the suffering of Job’s three alleged friends. In the three cycles of debates, Eliphaz always goes first perhaps because is the eldest. Job's friends encouraged Job to repent so God would give him back his wealth, health, and happiness. Of course, this would have proved Satan right that Job served solely for God's blessings (Job 1:9).
2. Job’s friends reveal what we could call an Old Testament prosperity gospel
Jim Bakker, the fallen and disgraced prosperity preacher wrote a book entitled “I Was Wrong.” In it, he wrote, “My previous philosophy of life was fundamentally flawed. God does not promise that we will all be rich and prosperous as I once preached.” Unfortunately, Christianity Today (click to open) reported that “Bakker has gotten in trouble again with the law. Jim Bakker and his southwestern Missouri church will pay restitution of $156,000 to settle a lawsuit that accuses the TV pastor of falsely claiming a health supplement could cure COVID-19.”
Walter C. Kaiser gives many reasons for suffering in his commentary on the national suffering of Israel as recorded in Lamentations:
a. There is suffering because of sin. In Job 4:7, this is the only view of suffering Job's friends held. Paul informed the Corinthians that some of them were sick and some were dead because of sin (1 Corinthians 11:30). But this is not the only reason believers suffer.
b. There is suffering to learn (Job 33:16; Heb 12:11). Elihu was right when in told Job that God teaches through suffering as the writer of Hebrews would agree.
c. There is suffering for others (Isa 53:5). This is the prophecy of the only truly innocent willingly suffering for the guilty. The just for the unjust.
d. There is suffering with others (Rom 12:15). We suffer with our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ (Romans 12:15) and because Christ suffered for us in His incarnation, He "is touched with the feelings of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:14-16). Job’s three friends failed in suffering with others.
e. There is suffering for God’s glory (Walter C. Kaiser. A Biblical Approach to Personal Suffering. Chicago: Moody, 1982, 121-130). This was the reason for Joseph's (Gen 50:20) and Job's suffering. Sometimes there is suffering in the life of the innocent caused by the evil of others which God uses for his glory. Erwin Lutzer describes this perspective on suffering: "Evil shall be seen to have been the slave of providence to introduce a higher and greater good than ever could have been, had there no evil at all" (Ten Lies About God, page 152).
Knowing these different reasons for suffering will help us not to falsely criticize God’s suffering people like Eliphaz. Walter Kaiser has an insightful article in Christianity Today: “Reductionist Justice, Where Job's Friends Went Wrong about Suffering.” Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. |posted 8/22/2007: "Their reasoning is that Job must have sinned and thus deserved all the suffering and discomfort because God is a fair judge and rewarder of all that is right. Their case is a reductionistic one: Doing what is right brings prosperity, while sin and wickedness routinely bring suffering and misfortune."
B. Job sinfully responded to his suffering.
While Job was not suffering because of some unconfessed sin in his life as chapters 1, and 2 reveal, Job did sinfully respond to his suffering. This is Roy Zuck’s concise summary of the book of Job (Roy Zuck, Job, 185).
1. Job accused God of not caring for His creation (Job 10:8).
2. Job accused God of injustice (19:7).
3. Job demanded answers from God (13:22; 31:35). God was more patient with Job than most of us would have been had we heard these accusations against God. Here is an important lesson for leaders and followers of leaders: Leadership fails. Leadership is not perfect.
To the leader who becomes bitter like Job and fails, John Maxwell exhorts, "Get Up, Get Over it, and Get On." Sure you failed. But learn from it and be a better leader.
To the followers, don't jump on your leader with both football cleats like Job's miserable comforters. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering, if necessary, but also like God with Job, be patient and help them through their suffering.
Job continues to grapple with the problem of evil and suffering.
1. Suffering believers do not serve God for material and physical possessions (1- 2) See Part 1
2. Suffering believers do not serve God for the praise of man (3-37) See Part 2
3. Suffering believers do serve God for His Pleasure (38-42).
A. God questions Job about the physical earth that He created (38:1-21).
Thankfully, everyone ends his arguments and counterarguments after three long cycles of debates. From God's speech, we learn that God does not have a "Hands Off" policy with nature. Nature is not a loose canon out of God's control. God sends the rain on the just and the unjust. Paul in Colossians 1:18 assures us that by Jesus Christ "all things consist" or hold together including our universe and our personal lives.
1. God shows Job that He created the earth in 38:4-7.
2. God shows Job that He created the oceans in 38:8-11.
3. God shows Job that He created the sun in 38:12-21. Job had accused God of unjustly taking his wealth, family, and health in 19:7. God says, "They were never yours in the first place."
One of the purposes of personal suffering and natural disasters is to produce repentance. Jesus held this view of suffering. In Luke 13:4-5, Jesus interpreted this current event: "Those eighteen, upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, and slew them, do you think that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No: but, except you repent, you shall likewise perish." Albert Mohler has a helpful article describing the difference and even overlap of natural and moral evil: The Reality of Natural Evil and Moral Evil: Devastating Earthquake in Afghanistan, Genocidal Attack in Israel (click to open).
When my Mom's alcoholic brother died, Mom looked in the casket as he lay in state, and wondered, "Where is Paul? Is he in Heaven or Hell?" But then she pondered, "If I died, where would I go? Heaven or Hell?" God used the death of her brother to bring her to Christ. Another reason for suffering is the benefit of others.
"Every deadly calamity is a merciful call from God for the living to repent" (John Piper in World Magazine. "Mercy for the Living").
The unsaved should repent and trust Christ as Savior because they are going to die. C. S. Lewis made it clear that "natural disasters do not increase death, all of us will die."
"Recall that when the Titanic sank, it went under with 1522 people knowingly going to a watery grave. Even if we attribute the sinking to a series of human errors, God most assuredly was able to keep it from sinking without any violation of the human will. This is another reminder that the God who permits such unthinkable tragedies is one to fear. After the news of the Titanic tragedy reached the world, the challenge was how to inform the relatives whether their loved ones were among the dead or the living. At the White Star office in Liverpool, England, a huge sign was set up; one side read, "Known to Be Saved," and the other, "Known to Be Lost." Hundreds of people gathered to watch the signs. When a messenger brought new information, the question was: To which side would he go? And whose name would he write on the cardboard? Although the travelers on the Titanic were designated either first, second, or third class, after the ship went down there were only two categories: the saved and the lost" (Erwin Lutzer, Ten Lies About God, page 115).
B. God questions Job about the heavens that He controls (38:22-38).
1. God controls the snow in 38:22-24. Job could not.
2. God controls the rain in 38:25-30. Job could not.
3. God controls the constellations in 38:31-33. Job could not.
4. God controls the weather in 38:34-38. Job could not. To embittered Job, God was saying, "If I can control the machinery of the universe who are you to question my wisdom in controlling your life?"
C. God questions Job about His animal kingdom for which He cares (38: 39-39:30). God chooses a wide variety of animals that He cares for. God does not destroy His creation as Job had accused (10:8), but rather He cares for it.
D. Job repented of sinfully responding to his suffering.
Job repented of wrongfully responding to his suffering. Job used the exact words God used in 38:2 to confess his sin. Job repented when he had no possessions, children, health, or friends (42:1-6). Job proved Satan wrong. Job served God for “nought” (1:9).
When I was a freshman at Piedmont Bible College Dr. Harold Sightler preached in chapel and related that he was preaching in NC. His wife in Greenville SC drove to the store with their daughter in the back seat. She pulled into the middle lane to make a left turn when a speeding drunk driver crashed into the rear of her car and killed the daughter and almost killed Mrs. Sightler. Dr. Sightler was called to return home immediately that there had been a terrible accident. That night Dr. Sightler drove home from the hospital exhausted not knowing if his wife would live or not. He tossed his Bible onto the dresser and said to God, “If this is the way you take care of your servant’s family while he is preaching all over the country for You, then I am going to stay home and take care of my own family if You are not.” Dr. Sightler fell off to sleep. The next morning his doorbell rang and a well-dressed man was at the door. “Are you Dr. Sightler?” the man asked. “I am.” “I drove all night in order to see a man the Lord could turn the Devil loose on.” Dr. Sightler went back to his bedroom, got on his knees and repented.
Conclusion:
Let’s go from the ash heap to the cross and think about the problem of evil and personal suffering. Like Job, Christ suffered physically. Like Job, Christ suffered socially. Unlike Job, Jesus was totally innocent and sinless. Unlike Job, Christ willingly suffered the penal substitutionary death for our sins, not His.