There are forty-two chapters in Job. Do you wonder why God gave so much space to this story in the Bible? If I were the Bible’s editor, I might have cut this content in half because the plot develops so slowly and the scenes seem so repetitive.

Perhaps God left in every word because Job’s story is almost universally relatable. Like Job, people who suffer often feel like their situation takes ages to play out. They think the same thoughts over and over and ask the same questions repeatedly. Their well-meaning friends make mistakes and hurt them.

It’s so hard to find comfort that the suffering person just wishes it would end, even in death if necessary.

No one wants to engage with suffering, but when God put the book of Job in the Bible he reminded us that suffering is one difficult topic we can’t avoid.

Points of View

There is more than one way to look at a tragic event. Witnesses who see it happen each have a different story to tell based on what they saw. In the book of Job we get views of suffering from Job and his friends, but their vision was limited. They were stuck in their own points of view.

God had not spoken into this situation yet, so Job and his friends didn’t know God’s point of view. They ended up talking in circles as they tried to make sense of what had happened to Job. They began and ended in the same places over and over because that’s all they could see from where they were.

Job’s Brutal Honesty

Job seems to have been a healthy, prosperous man before he was traumatized by loss and disease. He was respected in his community, he was devoted to God, and he had a big, joyful family. How did losing everything affect him?

Job became brutally honest with his friends and with God. Not all of his conclusions were accurate because he was still missing so much information, but Job was compelled to talk things through. He was not ashamed of his feelings and he was fearless in asking questions. He didn’t care how he appeared to others; he set aside all pretense.

This is a good example for us to follow. It’s better to tell the truth about our deepest feelings than to pretend they don’t exist. The only way to understand our hearts is to fearlessly bring what is inside them out into the open. Then we can begin to heal and be restored.

Ideally, when we open our hearts we will be surrounded by understanding people who listen well, don’t give unwanted advice, and don’t shame us. Job didn’t have those friends around him, but he opened his heart anyway and stood up for himself.

Job’s wisdom and integrity didn’t allow him to believe lies about himself, and that’s another great example to follow.

As we will see in several days, Job did eventually get healed and restored. It was a long journey for Job, but he took the first step when he decided to be honest.

Drawing From Experience

In the midst of his complaints, Job remembered some awesome things he had learned about God. He had a lot of questions about what God was doing in his current situation, but he also had a deep well of previous experiences with the Lord to draw from.

There was no Bible for Job to read yet, but he had the book of nature and the evidence of God’s activity among people. Job observed the earth, the animals and the skies above and saw his Creator.

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” Job 12:7-8

He discovered God’s wisdom, power and righteousness as he watched him deal with people.

“To him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his. He leads rulers away stripped and makes fools of judges. He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth around their waist. He leads priests away stripped and overthrows officials long established. He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders. He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.” Job 12:16-21

The Frustration of Waiting

All of that knowledge made Job frustrated about why he was in this situation. His friends tried to instruct him but Job replied, “I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?” Job 12:3

It wasn’t what Job knew about God that frustrated him, it was what he didn’t know. He was desperate to have God speak to him, face to face.

“Only grant me these two things, God, and then I will not hide from you: Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me.” Job 13:20-22

God remained silent throughout all of this. The impatience of Job and his friends did not move him. God wasn’t ignoring them, but he was biding his time. The perfect moment for God to speak still lay ahead; no demands or complaints from Job would make God adjust his schedule.

God Always Gets It Right

Once my husband and I were in a difficult financial situation and everyday I prayed that God would make things better. I got so frustrated while I waited that I told God I was never going to thank him for making us go through that, even if it all turned out well in the end. I said, “I will never let this be part of my testimony. I won’t ever let anyone else think it was OK that we had to go through this.”

Of course, I was wrong about that. I was so grateful when our financial situation got better that I couldn’t stop talking about what we learned and how God answered our prayers.

God wins in the end because he is always right. We may hate our circumstances and question God . . . and we are not wrong to be uncomfortable with suffering, because God made us able to react to pain for good reasons . . . but, like Job, we should never let our frustration make us stop calling on God and waiting for his answer.