Introduction to the Book of Job

The book of Job deals with one of the hardest subjects in the Christian life: suffering.

I heard a sermon on Job when I was in my early teens. The preacher said that God allowed Job to suffer because there were certain things Job could learn only through painful trials.

I remember thinking, “Well, I’m going to learn everything I can about God so I don’t have to go through all that!”  That was an immature response. But a bit of a shadow lodged in my mind against God because of the idea suffering. That became part of a decades-long struggle with the problem of evil—even while I cared deeply about God.

In a way, Job is a dangerous book. Suffering has caused some people to turn away from the faith altogether.

But Job shows us what to look for.

First, there is the pressure to curse God. The adversary’s claim is that suffering will eventually cause Job to reinterpret God and turn against Him.

Second, there is the danger of surface explanations. Job’s friends offer simplistic, tidy answers because those kinds of answers feel safer than mystery does. But reality is much deeper than their explanations.

And third, there is hope amid unanswered questions.

Near the end of the book, Job says, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5). That is the great movement of the whole book: Job perceived God and his demand for answers died.

He went from wanting an explanation from God to being confronted with His reality.

And ultimately, the book of Job points to Christ—the truly innocent sufferer, who entered suffering and opened the way to redemption.