If God is Loving, Why Do the Innocent Suffer?

The book of Job is about the innocent suffering. Chuck Missler says, in his series of sermons on the book of Job, that people say they like the book of Job because it explains why the innocent suffer but it doesn't answer that question. Oswald Chambers points out that it is much more an expression of suffering. This is useful to some people. We don't have to understand why something happened. The book of Job doesn't tell us why the innocent suffer, it just tells us how much the innocent suffer. That is very useful. Oswald Chambers was a chaplain during the First World War. His wife wrote a book based on his sermons on the book of Job. All war is terrifying but there seems to be something particularly terrifying about the scale of the loss of life and injury in the First World War.

Most people would take the book of Job as being historical and accurate and the places it describes can be seen on a map. It is the oldest book in the Bible, probably from the time of Abraham. Job and Abraham were two of the first farmers. Both were wealthy farmers and Job had a large family and a large number of flocks and herds of animals. Job was a godly man. He would rise early in the morning and offer sacrifices for his children in case they had sinned. Job 1:1-5. The sons of God come to present themselves before the Almighty God. God considers Job to be like no one else on Earth. He is a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. Job 1:8. The devil tells God that Job is godly because God has blessed him with such a great amount of wealth. "No wonder he loves you when you have given him everything. Take away that wealth and he will curse you to your face." God gives the devil permission to attack Job's property but not the man himself. Job 1:6-12. Job's servants and animals are killed by enemy soldiers, his sheep and his servants are burned up by fire and the house where his children are feasting is destroyed by a strong wind. Job 1:13-19. Job's reaction is not to be angry with God. He tears his robe, falls to the ground, and prays. "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Job 1:20-22.

If there is a God of love, why does he seem to cause so much death and destruction? Most of this death and destruction is not caused by God directly. It is caused by the gods of the nations to whom he has now delegated his authority. Michael Heiser, in his book The Unseen Realm, explains how the hierarchy of spiritual forces that control this dark world came about. At Babel people built a huge tower to see if they could reach God. They all spoke one language. In order to deter them from conspiring to evil, God confused their language and scattered them over the face of the earth. Genesis 11:1-9. After the tower of Babel the Lord set the boundaries of the nations according to the sons of God. Deuteronomy 32:7,8. The Bible uses the term sons of God to describe the gods of the nations. The gods of the nations act unjustly and favour the wicked. One day God will judge them and they will die like men. Psalm 82. Jesus is sovereign over all but he isn't necessarily in charge. The Bible describes the devil as the Prince of this world. John 16:11. He has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they can't see the light of the gospel. 2Corinthians 4:4. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil, the rulers and powers of this dark world, in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12.

The devil comes to God again. God informs him that Job is still like no one else on Earth, blameless and upright in spite of everything that has happened to him. The devil says, "Skin for skin! A man will give anything for his life. Stretch forth your hand and touch his flesh and bone and he will curse you to his face." God gives the devil permission to strike Job with illness as long as he spares his life. Job has a painful outbreak of boils from his head to his foot and sits in the ashes, scraping himself with a piece of pottery. His wife tells him to curse God and die. Job 2:1-10. Why does she say this? Does she believe that he would be stoned to death? Cursing God was a serious thing to do in those days and Moses had a man stoned to death for cursing God. Leviticus 24:10-16. The book of Job was before the time of Moses. He tells his wife, "You stupid woman. Should we accept good things from God and not trouble?" So Job does not sin by blaspheming God in spite of all that has happened. Job's three friends come to visit him. Hugh Ross points out in his commentary on the book of Job that these three men come from three cities at some distance from where Job lives in the land of Uz. These are not mythical places and he shows them all on a map. Eliphaz came from Teman which was well known for its wisdom. It's as if something really bad has happened today and three university professors have travelled across the world from Oxford, Cambridge and Princeton University (the American university several great physicists including Albert Einstein attended.) They must have been known to Job, as they were his friends, and must have taken a long time to get there. Job is still ill and his illness has lasted for a long time. They see the terrible state Job is in, tear their clothes, cry out loudly to the sky, put dust on their heads and sit with him for seven days in silence. Saying as these men spend so much of their time insulting and accusing Job, it's important to understand how much they care about him. Job 2:11-13.

Job curses the day that he was born. "Let the day perish on which I was born and the night on which they said, 'A boy is conceived.' Let God not bless that day and may there be no light in it because it did not shut my mother's womb or hide disaster from my eyes. Why did I not die at birth? Why is life given to those who are bitter of soul and long to die?" Job 3. Eliphaz advises Job that he must have been guilty of something to deserve this. You can't perish if you are innocent. Those who sow iniquity reap God's anger. The upright can't be destroyed. Can any man be righteous before God? He even accuses his angels of error. Job 4. Bildad tells Job that his children must have sinned and that's why they were killed. Job is wrong to pour out his heart and complain to God. He is accusing God of being unjust. He should repent of his sins and God will restore him. Job 8:1-7. Oswald Chambers describes Job's friends as having a creed that prevents them from understanding what has happened to Job. The Nicene Creed is a prayer that is said in church. Each line begins with the words, "We believe." A creed is a set of beliefs about God that are non-negotiable. Christians should not assume that they know everything. They must allow God elbow room to act unexpectedly. Oswald Chambers says that many people who had lost their faith during the First World War had not lost their faith in God so much as lost their faith in the creed they had of non-negotiable beliefs about God. We have recreated God in our own image. We will only find God when that image crumbles.

It's important to realise that we don't know everything. Chuck Missler talks about the voice of the seven thunders which spoke in the book of Revelation. An angel comes down from Heaven, puts one foot on the land and one foot on the sea, and speaks with a loud shout. Then the seven thunders sound. The Apostle John is about to write down what the seven thunders have said but is forbidden to do so. Revelation 10:1-4. There are some things that we are not permitted to know. Larry Ollison points out that when the Apostle Paul is caught up into the third heaven he hears things that a man is not permitted to speak, that are too difficult even to put into words. 2Corinthians 12:1-4. We must not assume that we can have a rule book that God must follow. Even if the Bible contains promises of God that he will not break, our understanding of the Bible is limited and our knowledge of the Bible is incomplete. Even if our understanding of the Bible was perfect there would be much, like Paul's visit to the third heaven, that can't be expressed in human language and much, like the words of the seven thunders, that was deliberately withheld from us. Oswald Chambers says that Adam and Eve were meant to learn right from wrong a little bit at a time, in humble step by step obedience to God. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This would have given them total knowledge. Genesis 3:1-7. We need to be humble and to admit that we don't know everything. St Augustine says, "Heal me of this lust of mine to be always vindicating myself." Why do we always have to be right? Why do we always have to prove everything we believe? Alexander Whyte says, "Let the truth of God suffer. It is better than letting love suffer. When Jesus suffered he didn't open his mouth." Better to lose an argument than to destroy a friendship.

It is possible to have faith in God even in a situation that seems absolutely hopeless and when nobody understands. The righteous can still hold on to their righteousness. Job 17:9. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Life can't. Death can't. Famine, persecution and war can't. Nothing in the whole universe ever can. Romans 8:35-39. There is a river that makes glad the city of God. Therefore we will not fear, even if the mountains give way and fall into the sea. Psalm 46:1-5. Nicole Valery was a political prisoner in communist Romania. She became excited and told the other prisoners, "The soup trolley is almost here." A nun told her not to look forward to the soup trolley but to try and find the presence of God in the present moment. 
Job says that even though his body wastes away, he will see God with his own eyes. Even if a Christian died of a terrible illness, they would see God in Heaven. Job 19:25-27. We can't really pray until we are at our wit's end. Some go out on the sea in ships and are merchants on the mighty waters. God speaks and stirs up a terrible storm. Then they cry out to God and he delivers them from their distress. Psalm 107:23-32. Some of us need something terrible to happen to us before we find God. Job doesn't need this, he is godly already.

Towards the end of the story God vindicates Job. God speaks to Job and his friends out of the whirlwind. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth, when the morning stars sang for joy?" Who are you, little men, to imagine for a moment that you can actually understand God? There now follow some of the most beautiful descriptions of creation in the Bible. Job 38-41. God sets the sea behind its doors and sets strict limits for its boundaries. He commands the dawn. He individually sends out bolts of lightning. He watches over the lions as they hunt, the goats and the deer as they give birth, the wild donkeys as they wander the mountains looking for food and the ostrich as she lays her eggs. God created the strength of the horse and the majesty of the soaring eagle. God asks Job if he still wants to argue with him, if he still wants to question his judgement or his wisdom, knowing all of this. Job says he is speechless. Job 40:1-5. There now follows a description of the great beasts, the behemoth, who is probably a hippopotamus, and the leviathan, who is probably a crocodile. God is angry with Job's friends for having treated him so harshly. They are to make a burnt offering of seven bulls and seven rams and will ask Job to pray for them. Job 42:7-9. God restores Job's fortunes after he prays for his friends. He lives another 140 years. God gives him twice as much as he had before and blesses the latter part of his life more than he blessedthe first. Job 42:10-17.

Everything works for the good of those who trust in God who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28. God has used all the accidents, tragedies and coincidences of my life to make me the person I am today. I was mercilessly bullied at school. I started a new school where the bullying seemed even worse. I had one friend who I thought cared about me, a girl called Cheryl. One day she introduced me to somebody else in the school playground and said, "Malcolm, this is my boyfriend." In other words, Malcolm, this is my boyfriend, we won't see each other anymore, and goodbye. I was heart broken. The next morning the school assembly was taken by a pop gospel group who were singing a song about a woman who had killed herself because she was lonely and didn't know that Jesus loved her. That song spoke to me. That was when I found God. I didn't want to stay on to the school sixth form because my academic ability wasn't good enough. The school headteacher persuaded me. At the end of two years, I sat one A' level and failed it. The bullying continued. I was badly beaten up a few times over those two years. The English teacher let me sit the English A' level again and I passed it. I was lucky. Many teachers wouldn't let you resit an exam if you were the only one who wanted to do it. I now write short stories on this website. I am helped very much by the knowledge that I gained by taking that exam for the second time

I applied to 30 health authorities to do nurse training and eventually was accepted by Hastings. This was 300 miles from where I had grown up. I had a bad episode of depression in Hastings and was off work for 6 months. My doctor warned me that I should never work in the medical profession again. I became unemployed. One of my friends gave me a Bible verse. The Lord would repay me for the years the locusts had eaten, the other locusts and the great locust storm, my great army that I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat until you are full, and will praise the name of the Lord your God who has worked wonders for you. Joel 2:25,26. I have found that the second half of my life has been better than the first. One of my friends thought that it was a terrible sin for me to be unemployed. He persuaded me that I should fast and pray to get a job. I fasted for one day and took a walk through the park. While I was there, I sensed God speaking to me. There would be a time of great learning and the time of great learning would come to an end. I spent my unemployed days doing college courses in computer programming and did a degree in Electronics. I still couldn't get a job. I remember one letter I received from an employer that said they had found somebody with fewer qualifications and more experience. That sums up what they all thinking. I suffered another episode of depression because I was unemployed. My psychotherapist introduced me to one of his patients who wanted to learn about electronics. We became friends and built radios together for many years.

I had done some temporary part-time work before but now I would have a permanent full time job. The story of how I got it is quite bizarre. I had personally known a man called Scot when he was a young Christian who was now leading a Jesus Army meeting in Newcastle. I had wanted to go there but it was a very rough part of Newcastle and my friend's car had been set on fire just around the corner. Paul lived in Leeds in a shared house with a few other Christians from the Jesus Army. Someone had set fire to the bin. Paul said that there was a spirit of fire and the fear of fire was keeping people away from the church. They prayed against the spirit of fire. A short time later I met someone else who attended the meeting in Newcastle. I mentioned my worries about the car. He said that I could lock the car in the paddock. We began attending the meeting together. I locked the car behind the metal fence where there was only room for two cars, Scot's car and mine. Eventually I decided to live with the Jesus Army in their new community house in Leeds. Paul gave me a part-time job as an administrator in his office. He was an architect. He mentioned that one thing that people in his profession really needed was more people to do SAP energy assessments. Did I want to do that? I became a SAP Energy Assessor and still am today. I do energy calculations and Energy Performance Certificates for new buildings. This was 20 years ago. All the long years I spent doing college courses in IT and Computer Programming and my degree in Electronics had given me knowledge that was extremely useful in this role. The time of great learning God had told me about that had come to an end.

Suffering is a part of the refining process. Job says, "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." Job 23:10. Isaiah says of the people of Israel, "I have refined you, although not as silver, I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10. Gold has to be refined in a furnace so that it will become pure. James says we should be glad when we face trials of many kinds because the testing of our faith produces perseverance. Then we will be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:1-4. God will put us through the painful and terrible experiences until we have been purified and until we are fully mature.