Job is a very sad story. Job is a man who loses everything. He loses all his wealth, he loses all his children, he loses his health, he loses his wife’s support and his friend’s encouragement…he loses it all. And worst of all it doesn’t seem like he did anything to deserve such a loss! This is why his wife said to him, “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9) What she meant was, “stop trusting God. Just give up. He has let you down so you just need to spit in His face and let Him finish you off.” Notice how Job replies, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”
Job knows that he is entirely at the disposal of God. God can do with him whatever He desires. We are made to serve him. It is never the other way around. To think otherwise is the heart of idolatry. God does as he pleases. “But wait a minute” you might say. “Job was wrong. It was Satan who afflicted him, not God. God is not responsible for the evil.” Notice what the next part of the verse says, “in all this (saying God gives good and evil) Job DID NOT SIN with his lips.”
Here is the very mystery of evil. Bad stuff does happen to just people. Satan does cause it, BUT God is always the one who permits it. So how does that help us in our suffering? Well, picture God holding Satan on a leash like a dog. Satan is foaming at the mouth and yelping just waiting to tear your to pieces. Here is the good news. He can only go as far as God allows him. God will never drop the leash. He is good and He is wise and we might not ever understand just why God let the leash out as far as He did. We can, however, trust Him because He is good. This is what the rest of the book of Job will point us towards.
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