What is the good news?

The essence of the gospel is God's love, acceptance, and embrace of us are secured solely by Christ's efforts, not ours. 

Because Christ was and is perfect in every way - and credits or assigns his perfect "track record" or status and union with the Father to us - God's love and embrace of us is perfect in every way. He loves us in the same way He loves the Son of His eternal affection; as if we were faithful to him exactly the same way Christ was, when we are (and were) not. 

This indeed is good news because we are not required to achieve this status through our efforts and can not mess it up by the lack of effort either! Hard to believe, but true. 

If we truly believe this good news (gospel) - i.e. that God is now totally for us and no longer against us, (even in our current imperfect state) - the more it will galvanize us in the face of adversity and empower us to become unstoppable for God. The more we grasp this the more unstoppable we become.

If we are not unstoppable for God we have not yet fully grasped the good news that his relentless and boundless love is immovably fixed upon us. 

This gospel isn't simply about entering the Kingdom of God but living and walking in it, i.e. being empowered by God's love to live for Him today and every day!! This is fully and freely extended to us because of Christ's efforts alone.

The 2 key elements needed for this to occur...

1. The good news (gospel) itself - God's part, i.e. he has already fully and perfectly taken care of our sinful status. We don't need to and indeed, can not.

 and

2. The extent to which we believe (fully grasp) this good news - which is our part. Our understand is ongoing and always increasing if we are truly His child.

The first element - the good news - is accomplished only by God in and through Christ and is complete. Nothing can be added to it or be taken away from it. It is what God did - and does - (Rom 8:34b) through Christ and has nothing to do with our efforts, good behavior (or bad for that matter). It is 100% legally ours but ours practically (i.e. experientially) on a day-to-day basis, to the extent we receive and believe it.

The second element - our faith (trust) in this good news - is our "work" or our part in our relationship with God. 

It is work in the sense it requires us to humble ourselves and take up our cross daily. This is not easy and is ongoing until we go to be with Him eternally. This is the key to the maturing process, i.e. our spiritual formation (sometimes referred to as sanctification). 

As our trust in God and His perfect and infinite love (extended to us freely by grace) increases, our living for God's honor increases, i.e. the good news increasingly manifests itself in greater degrees through our words and actions as our trust in Him grows.

The effect this good news has on our day-to-day actions and conduct is small if our grasp (belief) of it is small and great if it is great.

So how do we increase our faith or remedy our unbelief? 

God must first reveal to us the desperateness of our condition without Christ, i.e. how short we come in recognizing the goodness and love of God and how desperately broken we are without Him. 

Until we see our need for this good news (that there is no hope of being received by God without Christ) we will not desire or seek it. The more we see our desperation, the greater the impact this good news has on us and the more it changes us. 

God must also reveal himself to us in all his beauty and glory. The more of his beauty we see the greater our desire for him grows. The greater our desire, the greater our pursuit. 

As God reveals to us both our desperate need and His glorious beauty, our faith ¹grows. Our faith in God is only as good as our view of God (and ourselves) is clear and accurate.

And what is the condition or state we must enter into for God to reveal Himself to us most?

Humility, i.e. recognizing our desperate need of God. 

*Humility is key to seeing God.

*Seeing God is key to great faith.

*Great faith is key to great pursuit of God.

God's strength manifests itself in us most the more we acknowledge our weakness. The essence of the gospel practically is strength in and through weakness  - 'when I am weak, than I am strong."

This is bad news before it is good news.

How do we not change?

If we change ("obey") because we  we think we must, to be accepted by God - i.e. because of external pressure or reasons - it never lasts. True and lasting change only occurs because we want to change, i.e. it comes from self-imposed internal "pressure" i.e. motivation. A genuine desire to change. And this is only by the Spirit, not human willpower.

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." - Phil 2:12-13.

Change that comes about from external pressure is not true change, but merely external conformity, which results in self-righteousness, not humility. This is the essence of legalism which unfortunately is common within the Christian community. 

For a discussion on: 

How we are inclined to try and earn God's love click here.

The difference between "Cultural Christians" and grace-driven followers of Christ, click here.

The essence of God's Kingdom click here.

How God's love is conditional and unconditional click here.

Should our focus be on morality or Jesus? click here.

 

What is righteousness click here

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¹to the extent our trust in ourselves diminishes and our trust in him increases, we change.

Seeing God's love in our pain

"that I may know him (Christ) and the fellowship of his suffering's…" - Phil 3:10

What is the "fellowship" of Christ's sufferings that Paul desires to take part in - and we, by his example, are also invited to partake in? 

Whatever it is, we must participate in (experience) the "fellowship of his sufferings" to have a deeper understanding of Christ, i.e., who he is, what he did, and why he did it. This is directly connected to knowing him better, as indicated by the above opening comment "...that I may know him..."

What about our suffering? Does our suffering help us to see and know Christ better? How?

Stated simply, if we are to know and appreciate Christ more fully and the depth of His love, we must see and enter into Christ's suffering through our own, i.e. we share in (fellowship with) His pain through ours. The more we suffer the greater opportunity we have to understand and appreciate Christ's suffering.

But how are our pain and experiencing Christ's love connected?

Our pain helps us to more fully understand, appreciate, and sympathize with Christ's pain. The greater our pain, the greater our potential understanding of Christ's, i.e. we can relate to Christ's pain better because of our own. 

Whenever we are in pain, we should reflect on Christ's ³struggles and all the spiritual, emotional, and physical pain he went through for us. The more pain we experience the more deeply we can "enter into" and partake of His - if we choose to and let it.

The more we see and enter into His pain through our own, the more we can also see the depth of his love that moved Christ to suffer on our behalf. 

Seeing the depths of his love in turn causes us to love him more.  

If you wish to love him more, be grateful for your pain, if only because of how it can reveal to you Christ and the immense depth of His love for you more fully. How? By his embracing the pain you and I deserved - that He did not deserve - so we might see and experience His immense love even more.

To expand this further, the more we see His pain, (ultimately caused by us choosing to be our own "god" when we are not) the more fully and deeply we see the ¹greatness of His love that moved Him to embrace our pain (and the consequences of the pain we cause others) so He might free us from condemnation rightfully due us for the harm/pain we cause others. 

Grasping the depth of Christ's pain rarely happens without us first going through our own pain. The greater ²our pain, the more fully - and the greater the opportunity for us to appreciate ²His i.e. we are better able to understand and "fellowship" with Him in His sufferings through our own suffering, and thereby also more fully enter His love. 

Pain is a two-way street for both Christ and us

We are also reminded that because of his pain, he understands and appreciates ours better as well. He can better fellowship with us in our pain because of His own i.e. We are united with Christ in and through our mutual suffering. 

Amazingly, Christ chose to identify with us in this way! We will have this in common with Him throughout eternity and will be reminded of this - of His immense love for us - every time we look upon Him and behold the scars He carries and experienced for us.

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb 4:15-16

Pain can help produce two overriding positive outcomes if we let it. 

1. It can humble us by revealing the depths of our need and inability to cope with the pain alone, i.e., without God.

2. It can cause us to more fully appreciate the sufferings of Christ and the greatness of his love that moved him to suffer on our behalf.

These are two vital reasons we should never shrink back from pain and suffering, but instead be thankful for it. In doing so, this enables us to more fully see and take part in his great love.

If you want to know your level of trust in Christ and the strength of your love for Him, ask yourself how much pain are you willing to go through for His sake? 

This is a question Christ asked of himself while suffering for us, and he answered with a resounding "whatever it takes." His willingly going to the cross for you and me was the result of His saying yes to pain. 

How much pain am I willing to go through for His sake?... is a question we may wish to ask ourselves. One I ask myself often.     

Christ asked that question and answered by giving up his life, and allowing this to disrupt His eternal union with the Father. 

"“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.."

"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here. 

The greater the evil, the greater the opportunity for healing/ grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job click here.

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¹When people question the goodness and love of God because of all the pain in the world (including their own) they miss the bigger picture and cannot see that Christ took on the pain of the world and let it kill him so he might ultimately free the world and us from it. Pain is not the final word regarding evil. Christ is!

 

The big question isn't why there is suffering and why God allows good people to suffer, but why God allowed Christ - the best and only perfect person - to suffer. 

And maybe a more important question... what is the Father saying to us and about us by allowing it? Hint...He loves us that much.

Until we answer these questions, we can never fully understand, accept, and willingly (gratefully) embrace our own pain and the world's pain. 

We are so jaded towards God that we forget that God so loved the world that he gave. The greatness of love is measured by the greatness of the gift and the sacrifice one is willing to make to give it, i.e. the more the gift costs, the greater the evidence of the givers love.

And what did God give? His very own Son (think of Abraham being asked and willing to sacrifice his son Isaac). The Son of his infinite and eternal affections. 

Christ's death was not barbaric; it was an expression of extreme love and a willingness to take on our suffering so we might be forever free from it... but only if we will accept His offer.

If we do not, there is no other solution!

The whole notion that the infinite and all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of everything would take on human form and even consider going through undeserved pain for our benefit is mind-boggling when we stop and reflect deeply on this. 

After reading this, I encourage you to do just that. Think deeply about these things often. Ask God to give you a fuller vision and understanding of His love for you through His and your pain. Let them seep deeply into your very being and transform you and your love for God. 

The Father and Son fully understand pain because they fully embraced and experienced it themselves. The Father embraced the pain of giving up the Son of His eternal affections and the Son embraced His greatest pain by allowing it to separate him from the eternal affection of His Father for a time. This "severing" of their relationship was a far greater pain than any physical suffering.

The only reason that people continue in pain after this life is that they refuse to see and receive God's remedy, which is Christ and all He suffered (willingly) at the hands of ungrateful and wicked men for our sake.

²Particularly for condemnation, persecution, and rejection.

³Has someone closest to you ever betrayed you? Have you ever had anyone twist your words, misrepresent you, speak ill of you, or not come through on their commitments or promises to you? Have you ever been unappreciated for sacrificial service to others? Have you ever had anybody forsake you in your greatest hour of need? Christ experienced these and far more with one big difference. He never complained and did nothing to deserve it. And He did all this for us so we wouldn't have to. And to also honor His Father. 

Evil helps us to more appreciate good

Though evil directly is bad, indirectly it is good. To say it more precisely, evil is a means by which God brings about our good because it ¹can be the means by which we discover more of God, who is our ultimate good. 

But it does so indirectly, by being contrasted with good, i.e. our appreciation for good is enhanced by experiencing evil - the absence of good. Experiencing bad enables us to better appreciate its opposite. 

To illustrate, we often cannot fully ³appreciate a gift until we experience its absence. Someone who has their sight restored after going blind appreciates it more than the one who never lost it - or had it. Losing their sight was bad, but it became the means by which they experienced the greater good and a greater appreciation for it.

The appreciation of the goodness of God in eternity will no longer require the ¹presence of evil because we will experience the goodness of God unabated. At that time, that which evil is intended to help us see more fully will be fully seen and experienced - i.e. God in all his infinite goodness. We will no longer need help to see it (Him) because we will be in God's immediate presence and seeing it - He who is perfect love and goodness - fully. 

Pain is ²only experienced and needed now because we are still broken and in a broken world, in need of restoration. We therefore presently see through a glass darkly. But when we are in eternity, we will see Him face to face. At that time evil will no longer be present.

But we will have a reminder of the destructiveness of evil throughout eternity in the scars of Christ's hands, feet, and side.

For a further discussion of how God uses evil for our good click here...and here.

The greater the evil the greater the opportunity for healing/

grace click here.

For a discussion on the key lesson from the book of Job, click here.

For a discussion on the value of paradox, click here.

For a discussion of how big is God click here

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¹However, pain will continue to exist for those who experience total separation from God and His creation. Though it will not be the personal experience of those who trust God's provision to restore us - i.e. Christ - it may be a continual reminder throughout eternity - to those who trust Him - of what we avoided.

Allowing the possibility of evil to occur meant there was a chance that some would not benefit from it. This was obviously a *"chance" God was willing to take because it also allowed those who turned from it to appreciate good all the more, i.e. What was gained by allowing evil was greater than what was lost. 

*Technically there are no chances with God. He knows everything that will happen before it does and all contingencies and outcomes. There are no surprises for God.

²Actually there is another reason. It is experienced simply as the natural consequence of pulling away from the source of life and love i.e. Our creator God.

³ Paramahansa Yogananda  (born Mukunda Lal Ghosh; January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was an Indian Hindu monk.  I used his quote not because I subscribe to Hinduism, but because it shows the wisdom of observing life as it is even if one's worldview is not rooted in scripture. I believe all truth is God's truth and from Him, whether it is in scripture or from the wisdom gained by observing and experiencing life. To say it another way, all scripture is true but truth is not only found in scripture. 

I am not certain we can say evil was created as the quote says. I'm inclined to believe Scripture teaches that evil was allowed not created - unless you wish to say that evil was "created" by the absence of good, i.e. that the absence of good brought to our awareness and experience the existence of evil, in a similar way that the absence of light makes us aware of the existence of darkness. In that sense, I would agree. But I'm willing to consider any "pushback" by those who disagree. Feel free to leave a comment at the end of this post. 

For a discussion on what happened at the rebellion of mankind in the Garden of Eden click here.

I would add this blog is titled "Thoughts about God" vs Thoughts from God. I do believe the thoughts I share on this blog are rooted in Scripture (which rightly understood are His thoughts i.e. His words) and in various degrees also stirred by His Spirit (at least that is my hope, desire, and intention) but I am merely a finite human trying to grasp and communicate the Infinite and in my attempt, no doubt I will fall very short.

Our God is to small

Many think total dependence on God is a sign of weakness when actually it's more an acknowledgment of God's greatness.

In ourselves, we may be great and of great importance but compared to God - who is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, and everywhere present - we are like a single drop of water in a vast infinite ocean. This does not mean we are invaluable, or insignificant but in contrast to him we are.

Seeing God truly and clearly both humbles and dignifies us; it shrinks and expands us at the same time.

How?

By helping us see that God is our eternal foundation and the infinite, overflowing fountain of love, glory, and joy; not us. 

If we are to ever partake of and experience God in all His fullness, we are - and must willingly be - totally dependent recipients of and participants in God's glory, not pursuers of our own. It is only in pursuing His glory that we truly experience ours.

How does pursuing God expand and dignify us?

Since we are like God - created in His image by His design - we can enter a union and communion with the most high God in the same way (not necessarily to the same extent) as His eternally begotten Son. So in this way, we are like the Son and the Father's love is fully ours, in the same way it is the Son's! What could be a higher and more significant (dignified) status?!!

Yet we are still not God. We can only partake of God because we are like Him. Though before him, we are (and must be) humbled.

We may be small compared to God, but, as His image bearers, the more we see God's "bigness" the bigger we become. The smaller God is - in our eyes - the smaller we become. Our increased awareness and participation in God's "bigness" increases us - makes us "bigger." 

The more we see His glory the more we experience our own. 2 Cor 3:18

Two vital truths in pursuing God

Knowing the following truths is essential for our spiritual advancement.

1. Our utter inability and failure to consistently live according to God's perfect design and will.

2. God's perfect love, acceptance, and embrace of us because of Christ, regardless of our failures to do the above.

To see the importance of pursuing God, we must understand the following:

1. The ²negative impact on us and others of not pursuing God.

while also fully understanding

2. God's perfect and total acceptance and embrace of us (if we are in Christ), regardless of our failures, circumstances, or indifference.

The first does not cancel out the second.

The first is about understanding our design as creatures in our Creator's image and the significance of not living according to His design. It is understanding 

*why we are here 

*what our purpose is and

*respecting (fearing) God's commitment to conform us to His purpose and design - for our greatest good and His highest glory 

*the consequences if we refuse to conform. 

The second

Is the good news of God's perfect acceptance and embrace of us and His perfect commitment of unrelenting love toward us 

- because of Christ's efforts and performance to perfectly honor God 

- regardless of our failure to conform to His designs and our lack of honoring Him i.e. God's acceptance of us is not based on our efforts but Christ's.

These 2 realities of God's perfect standard and perfect acceptance are always in tension (and appear to be at odds). Yet knowing both are absolutely and equally vital to truly knowing and fully experiencing God and all ³the good He desires for us as bearers of His image. 

We must constantly and deliberately seek to keep both of these in view and in balance.

If we are struggling with guilt and shame over our failures and shortcomings, we must contemplate God's infinite love and perfect acceptance of us in Christ and that He uses even our failures to bring about His ultimate purpose and perfect design for us.

If we are indifferent to faithfully pursuing God, we must contemplate God's relentless commitment to conforming us to His image (design) for our highest good and His greatest glory. We must remind ourselves of the positive results of our conformity and the negative consequences if we don't conform i.e. we reap what we sow, both good and bad.

Both are vital in our pursuit of God and equally true as if the other were not true.

For a further discussion on the consequences of not conforming to God's design click here

For a further discussion on being perfectly freed from our internal and external struggles click here.

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²this is because God designed us to be in alignment with him, with who He is and what He desires (wills). If and when we are not, we are not all we are meant (designed) to be i.e. we do not bring God his rightfully due honor or function to the maximum of our potential but break down or short circuit.

³good but not necessarily easy.

Praising God is for our benefit not His.

God, who is worthy of all praise, is still fully God whether we praise him or not. He is not ¹diminished by our lack of praise nor in need of it. 

He does not need us or our praise to be complete or fill up something missing. He is the same God with or without us or our praise.

So why is our praise important? It is for our benefit and the benefit of others, not His. Though He fully enjoys our praise, he doesn't ¹need it.

God is not on an ego trip when he calls us to praise, worship, and glorify him. Instead he is calling us to partake of him and his love to the fullest extent possible. He is seeking to love us and bring us into a ²fuller experience of His love. 

God knows we are most fulfilled and whole when we are ²honoring him most. This is why He always calls us to do so. He knows this is essential to our well-being and maximum flourishing.

For a fuller discussion on why God delights in us but doesn't need us click here. 

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¹God is not diminished in who is but He can be diminished in the eyes of others because of our attitude or actions. Others can be drawn to God more when they see our trust, praise and love for Him. When they are drawn to Him because of our actions and thankful disposition, He is delighted for their sake and ours.  

For a further discussion on how God delights in our delight click here.

God is diminished in the eyes of others by our lack of praise and thanks to Him.

He is not diminished in the essence of his being. God is fully God with or without our praise. And this is because he's the God of all glory, honor, beauty, and praise within the dynamic, overflowing community of love among Father, Son, and Spirit from all eternity past.

²God calling us to honor him isn't out of His need for us but our need for Him. We listen best to those we honor most. Our honoring Him is the necessary posture we must have in order to hear Him clearly. 

If God is the all-wise, loving, and powerful being He claims to be it is in our best interest we honor and heed His instructions to us and directions for us.

We listen least to those we respect least. Respecting those who care for us is vital. An illustration of this is our kids. If your kids stop listening to you while under your direct care and provision, it is because they no longer respect you and trust your love for them. 

For a more in-depth discussion on why kids rebel click here. 

Or if you have no kids but are still under the care of parents your attitude towards them reflects this as well. If you no longer listen to them while under their direct care, it is because you no longer respect them and trust their love for you. What can you do if you're in this situation? Recognize God is bigger than your parents and trust He is still working for your good in all things if you love Him, even through imperfect parents. 

The greatest lesson from Job?

Why is the book of Job in the Bible? After all, it appears God never answers Jobs' most pressing question of why he ⁵suffered. At least not directly. So what is the point of the book?

Could it be that Job encountered and wrestled with all his pain so his story could be told ¹primarily for the benefit of others? Is God, through Job's example, seeking to reveal to the rest of us (as well as to Job) how deeply our distrust of God runs when things are hard; how distrust is our most basic problem and trust is our greatest need and not deliverance from pain and suffering? This is where the book of Job eventually takes us through Job's example i.e. that God is God. He knows all things and what is best, we do not. That He is worthy of our total trust and ultimately calls the shots, not us.

Not exactly what we want to hear when we are in the throws of great anguish, is it? 

When we think we're wise we realize we still know very little. At least this is what Job finally recognized. It is a humbling process to realize that God is God and we aren't. That he knows what is best for us and we don't. This is the reversal of the lie Adam bought into. That we can be our own god and don't need God for life - when in fact we are dependent on God for our very breath as well as everything else. This is a hard pill to swallow for most. 

Revealing to us our deeply buried distrust may be the greatest lesson and key takeaway God seeks to reveal through Job to anyone willing to listen. 

Job is us and we are Job. When we are in our deepest pain and wrestling with our greatest doubts, we are all the same. When pressed beyond our limits we discover we don't trust God's wisdom, power, or goodness. 

Do we see any indication elsewhere in scripture that distrust - not pain - might be our biggest issue?

Paul cites Job

We get a hint of this when Paul cites Job at the end of Romans 11 in verses 34-36. 

By Paul using key excerpts from Job we may be getting further indication of a primary purpose of why Job went through all his suffering - maybe the main purpose.

Paul had just spent 3 entire chapters (Rom 9-11) addressing the thorny issue of ²Israel's national turning away from and rejection of their promised Messiah. What an absolute tragedy and apparent failure this must have seemed to many within and outside of Israel. Had God failed His promise to ⁷deliver Israel from their Roman oppressors? 

Interestingly, Paul ends these 3 chapters (chapters 9-11) in Romans, citing the same key truths ²Job came to realize in order to address what was a significant area of doubt for national Israel at that time.

The seeming failure of God to deliver Israel from their physical and political slavery was a major stumbling block to Israel's embracing Christ (even after His resurrection, his disciples still wondered when Christ would set up his earthly kingdom to ⁶free Israel from Rome's oppressive rule. They wanted physical deliverance, more than spiritual deliverance. But God had a better and more necessary plan. 

Paul uses the same truths revealed to Job to address national Israel's distrust and why God can and should be trusted. In doing so, Paul seeks to show how God - through Jobs' suffering and doubt then and in Israel's doubt and rejection of Christ at the time of his letter - is in total control and knows exactly what he was doing when it appears otherwise, i.e. we all are called to trust God when circumstances seem to say just the opposite i.e. that God cares about us, knows what He's doing even when there is *no relief from our pain. Our pain may actually be an indication that God is working most on our behalf.

If not for Job's suffering being recorded along with the key lessons Job learned, Paul would not have Job's example to point to when we (or Israel) wrestle with our own suffering and doubts about God. Observing Job's suffering (and ultimately his turning back to God in deeper trust) is for all our benefit, not just Job's. 

What are the key takeaways from Job that Paul summarizes at the end of Rom 11?

“For

* who (Job 15:8) has known the mind of the Lord, or

* who (Job 36:22-23) has been his counselor?” “Or

* who (Job 35:7; 41:11) has given a gift to God that he might be repaid?”

For from him, through him, and to him are all things (even the hard things). To him be glory forever. Amen. - Rom 11:34‭-‬36

The following are the passages from Job that Paul appears to be pointing back to by asking these 3 questions at the end of Romans 11 regarding God:

* "Have you listened in (on) the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?" - Job 15:8 i.e. is your wisdom true and the only wisdom there is? Who might have greater wisdom than you, only a mere creature? How about the all-wise, all-powerful, everywhere present Creator!?

* "Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?"  - Job 36:22‭-‬23. God alone rightly determines what is good and evil because He alone created all things, knows all things, and sustains all things, including your very breath and existence. 

* "If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? " - Job 35:7.‭ "Who has first given to me (God), that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine." - Job 41:11 ESV i.e. you can't give to me what I already have and rightfully own.

The answer to each rhetorical "who" Paul asks is no one except God, i.e., God is God and knows what is best, i.e., only He is all-wise. By definition, this is foundational to what it means to be God. He also doesn't owe Job - or you and I - anything, including an explanation of why He does what he does the way he does it (hence God never directly answers Job's most pressing questions). 

Through Job, God is telling us (and Paul is reminding Israel via Job) that only He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly just (righteous) in all He does. It was Job's, Israel's, and our own arrogance that demanded God tell him (us) more. 

To ask God why we suffer is completely legitimate. He invites us to pour out our cares to Him. But to demand an explanation is not. He does not hear our demands any more than he heard Job's or Israel's (give us a sign i.e. proof you are the Messiah) at the time of Christ. God tells us what we need to hear, not what we demand to hear - or think we should. Mere creatures can certainly ask God questions, but can not legitimately demand anything from the Creator. 

This is not the answer we want or ³like. It grates on us and exposes our deep-seated distrust of God and arrogant trust in our own understanding - wisdom - logic. It exposes how our primary objective is relief, not truth. 

For us to acknowledge the full extent of our distrust requires humility... not only for Job but for us as well. Job is simply a primary example and illustration of this fundamental problem we ⁴all have - a deep-seated,  ongoing, and arrogant distrust of the only true, infinite, and all-wise God. 

We think we know better than the all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving God regarding what is best for us. When we consider all it takes and means to be God, it exposes how absurd this notion is and how arrogant and rebellious we truly are.

This is a central issue - and truth - addressed not only in Job but throughout scripture. Job happens to be the most dramatic recorded example of this. 

We see this distrust at the very outset of humanity's existence with the first lie we bought into in Eden. The lie that we can be our own god - i.e. all-wise and no longer in need of the one true God. That we can determine what is right and wrong without God's input or direction. Exposing this arrogant distrust and calling us to turn from it is the key takeaway from the book of Job.

What about our suffering? How should we handle it?

Not only is it true that Job and all he suffered isn't just about Job. The lessons he learned aren't only for his benefit, but for all of ours. In Job, we observe our own struggles and doubts in suffering and the overall issue we all wrestle with...distrust.

What else can we learn from Job's example? 

As Job is an example to us of how to trust God in suffering, we are reminded that we too can be an example of humility and trust in God for others who observe us in our suffering, the same way we observed Job in his.

By observing how God addressed Job and how Job ultimately responded, we are given an example of humility and trust that we too, can be for others in the face of our own suffering. This may also be a primary reason any of us suffer i.e. for others to see how we trust God in spite of it. 

Those closest to us may tell us to curse God and die, as Job's wife did. But our trust in God says to others that God is life itself and more important than relief from suffering. 

Our trust and submission to God in our suffering says to them He is also worthy of their trust. It is a call to those who observe our trust in God during our greatest pain that they also can trust Him in their own suffering.

Do we whine and complain in our suffering or do we submit to God, thereby displaying to others God is worthy of our trust and therefore also worthy of theirs?   

God doesn't candy coat or hide Jobs' anguish and struggle but lays it out for everyone willing to see. In the end, after all of Job's complaining and questioning of God's fairness and justice, he shows how Job, to his credit, ultimately 

humbled himself before God and put his full trust in Him again. 

Job's trust in God made a major leap forward through his suffering, and because it was recorded, we were allowed to observe it and all Job went through to get there. 

Usually, we only see how our immediate, temporary, and personal suffering affects us (as I suspect Job did also), not how our faithful handling of suffering can be an example and potentially have a positive eternal effect on others. In our suffering, we have an opportunity to show how, ultimately, the best, wisest, and most perfect perspective belongs to God, not us. Therefore, He is worthy of our trust and worthy of yours also.

Through our suffering, we too can be an example for others (as Job is for us) on why they should also trust God. 

Our acting accordingly in our suffering can be a key example of trust for others to consider in the same way we do Jobs' example. Our suffering is an opportunity to show others that God is life Himself and trustworthy. Our trust is an encouragement and invitation for them to trust Him also. 

And Job illustrates this even more than any human (outside of Christ). Was this not also what Christ did? Is Job actually a picture of Christ in a most significant way?

Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate example of faithfulness in the face of the greatest suffering. 

Christ trusted the Father perfectly (even though he wrestled with the prospect of impending pain while in Gethsemane - "if possible take this cup from me" - and also on the cross - "why have you forsaken me"). And he did so as an example for us of perfect trust in the face of ultimate suffering far greater than anything Job, you, or I will ever go through. He did this to restore us to God, not just as an example of faith.

Christ is the ultimate ⁴example of trust in the face of overwhelming pain and suffering. In so doing, He invites us to trust His Father as He did, demonstrating the Father's trustworthiness.

Two potential effects Christ's suffering has on us.

*Humility - as we too come to trust God, as exemplified by Job and ultimately by Christ.

Or

*Anger, fear, anxiety - because Christ's example of complete trust rebukes us and exposes our distrust when we face our own suffering. When slapped in the face, Christ turned the other cheek, prayed for his enemies, and even asked the Father to forgive them for killing him in the most painful way. Christ trusted the Father when and where we do not. 

To realize all this can either be upsetting or humbling. It all comes down to what we believe and who we trust to best "have our backs," God or ourselves.

In addition to all this, Christ offers to legally assign His trust of the Father to us and gives us credit for it as if it was our own. If we accept His offer we are fully received and embraced by God and can now be treated by the Father as if we are perfectly trusting when we are still deeply distrusting.

For a discussion on why God allows evil and suffering to continue, click here.

For a discussion on how our suffering can aid us in seeing God's love better click here.
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¹At least our immediate pain. Christ took on the painful consequences of our rebellious distrust so that we ultimately will be delivered from it for all eternity. 

⁴Starting with Adam.

¹That's not to say Job didn't benefit from his suffering, but he was (and we are) never given a direct answer or explanation for why God allowed him to go through all he did (this article is an attempt to explain why). God exposes Job's distrust and how Job turned from it and back to God in the end. This is why addressing distrust appears to be the main point of the book. 

² Isn't the primary purpose of Job to illustrate the importance of faith when faced with the most difficult questions of life and possibly this very specific and difficult question of national Israel's falling away from their messiah? This would certainly explain why God never directly answers Jobs' questions. From the conclusion of the book, we get a clear indication God had other reasons for including it as part of His divinely inspired writ.

³No more than Israel liked hearing that Christ came to deliver them spiritually and not circumstantially i.e. physically or politically.

⁴and because of His trust in the face of the greatest suffering of any man, we are invited to come to him without hesitation when faced with our own suffering. 

⁵and why Job went through all he did i.e. the loss of everything of greatest earthly importance except his wife. And ironically the one person that we hope would be a support in our time of greatest need was just the opposite. She encouraged him to abandon God.

⁶The irony is that Christ did deliver Israel but from spiritual oppression, not circumstantial oppression. Because Israel was looking for the wrong kind of deliverance, they missed the most important kind of deliverance - i.e. the spiritual and eternal kind. A need they never recognized or acknowledged.   

⁷The primary point Paul was making in Romans 9 through 11 was God had not failed but in fact did bring deliverance not only to them but all nations through Israel by Christ their Messiah. Paul was explaining how the promised deliverance was spiritual. Which ultimately would result in His physical reign and deliverance for all who place their trust in Him - but not until eternity. Paul cites Job at the end of these three chapters to drive this home. 

The bottom line? God knows exactly what He's doing and always has. For us individually, for Israel, and for the world as a whole. His ways are higher (greater and wiser) than ours! He calls us through Job to trust Him in the same way Job finally did!