Have you been part of this conversation before?
Atheist:
If more Christians actually read the Bible, we’d have a lot more atheists.Christian:
Really? Which part of the Bible is supposed to shatter my faith?Atheist:
Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t actually read the Bible.Christian:
…Atheist:
Okay, how about how the Bible says I’m allowed to own slaves?Christian:
It doesn’t.Atheist:
Oh, really…? Uh… Job! The Book of Job! Job is a great guy and God torments him, killing his family, just to win a bet with Satan. If that doesn’t make you question your faith, then I don’t know what will.
Ah, yes, the infamous Book of Job. The story of God permitting evil just to stroke his own ego or something.
Right…?
Well, no, not so much. That’s not the moral or the story, nor is it to celebrate suffering – yours or anyone else’s.
The Book of Job is a lot more nuanced than that. If you’re willing to look for it, you’ll find plenty of wisdom in it.
Now, I’m no theologian. This is my interpretation, made in good faith. It’s not complete, you might disagree, but no good-faith interpretation of the Bible can be too far from the truth.
What folks think the Book of Job is
Job was a rich, happy man who was faithful to God. God bragged about him to Satan. Satan said Job is only faithful because he’s rich and happy. God was all like, “Nuh uh and I’ll prove it!”, so he let Satan torture and torment him. Even after losing his health, family and possessions, he still praised God.
The moral is to love God no matter how bad your life gets. Even if God is abusive and manipulative.
That’s not a bad moral – except for that last part – but it doesn’t flow from the Book of Job. That summary misses most of the Book and it misses the point.
Let’s go through it, noting that I’m not going line-by-line. That means I’ll miss a lot of the wisdom. With this, I’m looking at the big picture.
The beginning of the Book of Job
When I first read, the Book of Job, it felt like I was missing something. I had the common reaction – that it felt like God was being pointlessly cruel, valuing a contest with pure evil over His most faithful servant.
So I asked myself what I was missing.
And the answer that popped into my mind – whether from my unconscious or divine inspiration – was that this was a battle between God and Satan, and God won.
I know I said I’d talk about the beginning here. Like any good story, though, you can’t understand how the Book of Job begins without understanding how it ends.
Right before God undoes the damage Satan did to Job – and then some – He challenges Job. Job has complained about his circumstances and God slams him for it. Job is wallowing in anger and self-pity, asking why me? God won’t stand for it. “Did you create the world? Did you create the animals? Could you pull the Leviathan out of the ocean? No? Then maybe you should trust that I know best.”
Taken the wrong way, God is being a jerk here. If a human said that to you, you’d run, not walk.
But human’s aren’t God. God’s the only one who can accurately claim that.
If you interpret it in good faith – as you should, since it’s the Word of God – then He’s telling Job (and you) to show some respect. If you don’t like His plan, then you’re wrong, not Him. His plan is Good. If you don’t like it, you’re not seeing it clearly.
Now, back to the beginning to see why I interpret it this way:
The Lord said to Satan, “Whence have you come?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nought? Hast thou not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand.” So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
Job 1:7-12, RSV
People tend to focus on the dramatic part of that – God and Satan making a bet, with Job as their pawn. But that overlooks a seemingly small detail. Read verse 6 again:
The Lord said to Satan, “Whence have you come?” Satan answered the Lord, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
There are no small details in the Bible. This happens immediately before God mentions Job, so it must be why he mentioned Job.
Satan says he’s been walking over the Earth. Think about that for a moment. Consider what that implies. Pure evil incarnate was moving freely – what was he doing? How much harm did he cause? What misery did he sew?
God brags about Job. Satan – a being of pure ego – can’t resist the bait. He says Job would lose his faith if he weren’t so materially successful.
So God “lets” Satan do whatever he wants to Job.
Again, think of what that means. Satan used to wander the Earth, corrupting entire nations. Now, to spite God, he’s focusing on one family.
The events of the Book of Job maybe saved millions of souls from damnation.
It’s a trap, Job is the bait and Satan’s ego gets him stuck. God distracts him from the world with a target he can’t resist.
But… that’s still bad for Job, right?
Oh, sure, Job’s right to be unhappy. He’s a pawn in God’s battle against evil. Pawns don’t have much fun.
Wait, did I say pawn? I meant soldier.
Every night, I pray for – among other things – God to use me however He wishes for His will to be done on Earth. That’s what faith means. If you don’t trust God to use you as a general uses a solider, then in what sense do you believe in Him?
I wouldn’t be happy if God destroyed my life for the greater good. I might even be resentful. But I’d be honoured. Wouldn’t you?
If I suffer for no reason, that’s bad. If I suffer to advance evil – like I’m enslaved to build a monument to Ba’al – that’s bad.
But if I suffer for the greater good?
That’s glorious.
That’s what every man craves. And every man of faith knows there’s no greater good than God’s will.
If Job was a faithful man – and it says he was the most faithful – then he would have prayed for this too. Of course, he doesn’t know that’s why he’s suffering. As far as he knows, his life was great until he had a really bad month for no reason. It must have felt like God was condemning him.
But it was all for the greater good and he should have taken that on faith. I’m not saying that would be easy for him, but he should have anyway.
No wonder God chastised him so harshly for his complaining.
And maybe there’s a lesson there for the rest of us. We don’t see the big picture. It’s not likely God will speak to us out of a tornado – and even if He does, He won’t necessarily explain it to you.
You just have to trust your suffering serves a greater purpose.
It’s all part of God’s plan. Do the best you can with what you have, but don’t complain about your woes. You’re a soldier fighting the Enemy, whether you understand how or not. Maybe God will improve your lot in the end, maybe not, but either way you serve Him with honour.
Also, don’t be like Job’s friends here. They come to comfort him after he loses everything, which includes telling him to repent. Repent what? Well, whatever he did wrong. God wouldn’t punish Job unless he was a sinner.
They’re right – God wouldn’t punish an innocent, faithful man. But God isn’t punishing Job. Job’s suffering isn’t about justice, it’s about victory over Satan.
You see this same mistake in some communities of faith: your bad luck reveals your sinful heart. If you were truly righteous, then God would bless you! I don’t know how any Christian could believe that – the Bible sure never claims it.
If you see someone suffering, then maybe they’re reaping what they’d sown.
Or maybe they’re suffering because they’re the only ones righteous enough to endure being the bait.
Don’t infer someone’s character from their circumstances. The two don’t always line up.
Satan never learns
Like all the Old Testament, you can see the story of Christ in the Book of Job.
You can’t be mad at God for using Job as bait like this. God took on human form and became the bait in his biggest trap for Satan. Like a good leader, God asks nothing of you He wouldn’t do himself.
Satan probably expected Christ to appear as a blazing conqueror-king – instead, He appeared as a healer and a teacher.
And Satan probably thought he could defeat Jesus by killing Him. Instead, he secured his greatest defeat.
It’s the same trick, just with a different disguise. God presents something He knows Satan can’t resist. Satan lashes out, as predicted, driven by his own arrogance and rage. He keeps failing because he never learns.
Take heart, solider of Christ, for the Enemy is stupid. He’s only a threat because he’s powerful and occasionally cunning. But he’s weaker than God and dumber than Him, too. His only strategy is to try to corrupt God’s greatest creation.
If you don’t let him, then he’s out of moves.
~
Now, a useful weapon in the fight against evil is unity.
The Bible teaches us we’re all one people, brothers and sisters through Christ and under God.
No one is so far fallen that they’re beyond salvation. Every human carries a divine soul, a precious reflection of perfection inside of them.
Maybe it’s time you remembered how to see it.
When you sign up to my daily email list, you receive Your Story Isn’t About You. Job’s story wasn’t about him – it was about you, just as your story is about the people of this world.
And generations still to come.
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