THE PURPOSE OF SUFFERING
Chapters 25-31

It has been said that "there are two kinds of speakers - those who have something to say and
those who have to say something."   Job's friends were those "who have to say something."   Though
they still had to say something, it appears they had exhausted their arguments that sin was the
reason for Job's adversity.   In Chapter 25 Bildad gives the last and shortest speech from Job's three
friends.   He really does not answer anything neither does he present anything new.   Bildad simply
argues about the greatness of God and the insignificance of humans in contrast.   Job 25:1-3,6.

Beware of people who have an answer for everything and claim they can explain why God allows
bad things to happen.   Actually they are only revealing how little they really know Him.

  1. Job's Description Of God's Majesty (Chapters 26-28)

    1. Job rebukes his friends for being insensitive and for being a total failure in consoling
      him.   Job 26:1-4.
    2. The rest of Chapter 26 is an amazing scientifically accurate description of God's
      power in the universe.
    3. Job made an astounding scientific statement in Job 26:7.
      1. For thousands of years all ancient scientists believed that some kind of firm base
        held up the earth.
      2. The Egyptians said the earth was held up by giant pillars, one at each corner.
      3. The Greeks taught that the world was balanced on the back of a giant called
        Atlas.
      4. Copernicus and Galileo in the 16th and 17th centuries announced that the world
        was round and suspended in space.
      5. However the oldest book in the Bible, the book of Job, had contained these
        truths at least three thousand years earlier.
    4. In Chapter 27 Job affirms his integrity and innocence in verses 1-6.
    5. In the remainder of Chapter 27 Job talks about the fate of the hypocrite and sinner.
    6. In Chapter 28 he compares mining for precious metals with the search for wisdom.
      Note Job's question in Job 28:12 and his answer in Job 28:28.
    7. The fear of the Lord is not trembling horror nor a paralyzing dread but a loving awe
      and reverence for God.   It is not a fear that paralyzes but a faith that energizes.
    8. On the other hand, pride is the greatest barrier to wisdom.   It is pride that makes us
      think that God must explain His actions or answer our demands for understanding.
      Prov. 11:2

  2. Job's Desire For The Past (Chapters 29-31)

    1. Job reminisces and gives an account of days gone by when he had prosperity and
      children.   Job 29:2,7.
    2. Sometime or other, all yearn to return to "the good old days."   Living in the past
      often seems more desirable.
      1. However, usually our memory plays tricks on us and we forget the hard and
        difficult times of the past.

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      1. The children of Israel were like that and forgot a lot when they complained to
        Moses about the present.   Num. 11:5.
      2. The Israelites forgot they were slaves, did not remember making bricks without
        straw, the slaughter of their male babies and life under the Egyptian whip.
      3. Most people have a false, idealized memory of the past that conveniently forgets
        the bad.
      4. The mental and physical energy we burn up trying to turn back the pages of
        time, yearning for what used to be, is an exercise in futility.
      5. Don't make the present seem worse that it is by comparing it with a past,
        censored of suffering and adversity.
    1. Job describes his present pain and humiliation in Chapter 30.
      1. He was scorned by young men whose fathers were outcasts of society, unfit to
        help Job's dogs watch his flocks.   Job 30:1.
      2. Job describes his excruciating physical pain.   Job 30:17.
      3. In the midst of his humiliation and pain Job cries out to God.   Job 30:20,21.
    2. Job insists, in Chapter 31, that he has not been guilty of lusting after someone of the
      opposite sex.   Job 31:1-4.
      1. Job was not guilty of any deceit or unethical conduct.   Job 31:5-6
      2. Job was not guilty of adultery.   Job 31:9-12.
      3. Job carefully examines his business life, declaring that he is innocent of abusing
        his wealth or power.   Job 31:13-15.
      4. Job was good to the needy.   Job 31:16-23.
      5. Job had no bitterness or animosity toward his enemies.   Job 31:29,30.   (Matt.
        5:44)
      6. Job denies almost a dozen sins and recounts his unblemished life, and then rests
        his case.   Job 31:35.
        1. He now apparently felt that God would break His silence and explain all his
          suffering.
        2. However, God remained silent and Job still had no idea of what God was
          doing because he did not have a New Testament.

  1. God's Purpose For Allowing Us To Suffer.   Romans 8:28,29.

    1. This verse does not say God causes everything that happens nor is everything that
      happens necessarily good.
    2. However, God can cause good to come out of all things.
    3. All things is inclusive, and excludes everything - our childhood experiences, our
      parents, our brothers and sisters, our education, or lack of it, our employment or lack
      of it, and even our appearance.
    4. God can take the bad things that Satan tries to use to destroy our faith and use them
      for good.
    5. God takes life's distasteful experiences, puts them in the right context and
      perspective, and through this conforms us to the image of His Son.
    6. In the heat of adversity it is very important to remember that God is far more
      concerned with improving our character than in improving our circumstances.
    7. God's goal in this life is not to make us comfortable but to conform us to the image
      of His Son.   I Pet. 1:7.

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    1. God takes the bad that comes to us and transforms it into benefits that cannot be
      measured.   Gen. 50:20.
    2. The events of life may seemed tangled, meaningless, and sometimes even cruel.   They
      appear that way because of the side we see them from - the underside.   When we see
      life from God's side, His love and providence shine through.   Remember, it depends
      on your viewpoint as to what you see.

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