While the reader of the book of Job is presented with extraordinary hardships placed upon a blameless servant of God (Job 1:8), it becomes apparent that suffering can have a transcendent meaning and purpose that is not readily grasped. From a careful and thorough understanding of the Job text, we are presented with a poetic narrative that describes Job’s encounter with a spiritual adversary. From among the “sons of God” (benê’ hā’ ělō·hîm’) who appeared before Yahweh God, the satan figure in the narrative challenged the morally excellent state of Job in contradiction to how pleased God was with him. The formation of the presence and spectacle of imposed suffering upon the innocent outside of personal responsibility or external natural causes is an alarming theological possibility from a historical perspective.
What is suffering and what causes it?
Job’s antagonistic challengers Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, and Elihu, bring to mind the possibility of what causes for suffering arises from sin or lifestyles of disorder and unwise conduct. Even while Job was falsely charged as guilty of such causes, the underlying consistent premise among them indicates a more narrow validity of what the false accusations were. Throughout scripture, we observe numerous occurrences of suffering as an outcome of evil behaviors as a matter of course. In contrast to the absence of evil thoughts, words, or deeds of Job, Scripture is replete with mistakes, errors in judgment, and outright defiance that led to various levels of undue or unwanted misery. Consider the cause-and-effect relationships that exist between evil and suffering among the numerous stories of the Bible that serve as a source of wisdom for its readers.
From before the fall of mankind, the presence of evil in the universe exposed susceptible humanity to suffering. To eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was to disposition humanity toward perpetual suffering as a consequence of its defiance against Yahweh. When the “serpent” (hā nā·ḥāš) contradicted Yahweh at the garden of Eden to beguile Eve (Gen 3:4), prior to the fall of humanity, there existed a precedent form of disorder within creation that in turn set the environment for participative human suffering. Disorder and evil that entered creation was a betrayal of Yahweh as Creator and separation or alienation, was to propagate for thousands of years with its corresponding expression as human suffering and misery. With violations of the Edenic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants, through the New Covenant toward today among believers and unbelievers alike, people are subject to the effects of suffering that arise from spiritual conflict and natural causes, including corporate, generational, or personal sin.
To define human suffering is to understand the experience as pain or distress, both physical and emotional.1 As to the ultimate cause of sin, Genesis 3:14-19 explicitly details the historical root background that explains the fall of humanity. However, suffering doesn’t necessarily stem from particular sins (Job 1:1, Jn 9:1-3, Job 5:6-7, Rom 5:12-14). As demonstrated in the New Testament, Jesus’ healing of the man born blind casts into a clear understanding that it was not a particular sin of the person suffering (or his parents) who would be responsible for the hardship. Moreover, the author of Romans makes clear that the presence of sin was in the world before the Mosaic law was delivered and sin is not counted where there is no law. Specifically, while suffering certainly existed since the fall and as a consequence of sin, suffering wasn’t recognized as an outcome of a particular sin as prohibited and condemned by a corresponding law or covenant stipulation.
Aside from human wickedness, suffering also results from calamity, adversity, or mishap. Examples include accidents (2 Sam 4:4, 2 Kings, 1:2, Luke 13:4), sickness (Gen 48:1, Ps 42:10; Matt 8:6), hunger and want (Job 30:3, Isa 29:6, Matt 25:42-43), and disasters (Isa 29:6, Matt 24:7, Acts 27:18-20). There are numerous sources of suffering that originate from the fallen nature of creation, too. Such as aging (2 Sam 19:34-35, Ps 17:9, Ecc 12:1), bereavement (Gen 23:1-2, Job 1:18-19, Jas 1:27), anxiety (Prov 12:25, Deut 28:65-67, Lk 21:26), foolishness (Ps 107:17, Prov 10:1, Jdg 11:34-36), satanic activity (Job 2:6-7, 1 Jn 5:19, Rev 2:10), demonic possession/oppression (Matt 8:28, Matt 12:22, Matt 15:22), and God’s will (Jn 9:3, Eph 1:11) all to serve as scriptural examples to contemplate, mitigate, or ease the gravity of suffering.
Why is suffering a pervasive condition throughout humanity?
The German philosopher Leibniz (1646-1716) originated the term “theodicy”2 in 1710 to form an understanding of evil in the world that is not in conflict with the goodness of God. Leibniz asserted that the presence of evil in the world with the goodness of God is “the best of all possible worlds.”3 The inference of the theodicy about the best of all possible worlds, with suffering, brings attention to the sovereignty of God as a way to recognize Him as Creator with trust and confidence from His created beings about His purposes and intentions.
With the abundance and growth of evil and sin as a function of increased populations, moral decay, and the presence of spiritual darkness over societies and nations (Eph 6:12), there exists an increased and widespread effect of suffering notwithstanding the various other causes outlined above.
Where does suffering come from and where does it go?
In the discourse between Job and his accusers, it is evident there is a common cause that gives reason to those who suffer. The consistent premise among those who call Job to repent includes the presence of wickedness to explain why there is misery, loss, pain, and agony. As an assumption universally applied to those who undergo unexplained suffering, there must be a reason for its existence among the guilty. Notwithstanding natural or supernatural causes, the presence of suffering correlates to the presence of sin where the unwise can falsely conclude adverse judgment through natural, social, or unwanted personal outcomes. The voices of false accusations against Job from among his friends add to the suffering and contribute to the pressure that he would prove out the satan’s assail against God and curse Him to His face (Job 1:11).
Justice dispensed from wrongdoing often appears in the form of consequences that bear upon people in the form of adversity, hardship, or suffering. Intuitively, through life experiences, the notion of “what goes around comes around” makes for a type of resolution to injustice, wickedness, and evil that cannot stand. Even after Job’s confession and repentance (Job 42), Yahweh rebuked Job’s friends and informed them that His servant Job would pray for them to dismiss their folly (Job 42:8). Moreover, to dissipate the anger of Yahweh (Job 42:7), they were directly instructed to offer up burnt offerings of seven bulls and seven rams. Justice served in the form of sacrifices for sinful and unwise words against Job provided an escape from suffering, but there was still a loss of life and the cost of assets as a type of restitution.
Who does suffering affect? Who endures suffering and who causes it?
As Christ suffered, believers are expected to suffer too (Mk 13:13, Mt 10:17, Lk 12:16-17). It is the cost of godliness (Heb 12:11, Isa 38:17, Jn 15:2), and it is a condition of service to the body of Christ (Col 1:24, 2 Cor 4:10, Acts 9:16). The innocent are prepared for heaven through suffering (2 Cor 4:16-5:4) as they trust God for endurance as He sustains them (Ps 55:22-23, Ps 56:3-4, Ps 59:16). There are numerous references to God’s response to suffering, including deliverance of the afflicted (Job 42:10-12, Ps 34:19, Rev 7:16).
As Jesus spoke of the provisional grace of God upon the good and evil alike (Matt 5:45), His anger remains present upon the wicked who are among the suffering and afflicted (Ps 11:5, Ps 59:8, Ezek 36:6-7, Hab 2:9-12). Moreover, historically, and eschatologically, the judgment of God rests upon the wicked (Mal 3:5, Ex 3:19-20, Ps 73:16-18, Amos 1:3, Jas 2:13, 1 Pet 4:18, Rev 18:6-7).
How does suffering have a bearing on people, and our relationship with God?
As suffering implies physical and emotional distress, it at times accompanies initial or continuing pain, discomfort, anguish, anxiety, and other bodily or mental disorders that affect the well-being of individuals. In such a way, the person undergoing suffering is affected to include those in an immediate or more far-reaching sphere of influence. The weight of suffering affects the person and his surroundings to cascade to friends, family, coworkers, the community, and even further. There are wrong answers along the course of suffering (Job 4:7, Jn 9:2-3, Ezek 18:25). Adverse reactions include resentment (Job 2:9-10), terror (Job 23:13-15), strife (Job 40:2), envy (Ps 73:3), or disillusionment (Ps 73:13) as compared to a proper frame of mind or disposition. For example, submission to the interests and will of God can bring peace (Job 1:21, 2:9-10) and reverence (Matt 10:28).
How to respond in wisdom to the presence of suffering
As a conscious decision in response to personal suffering, numerous scriptural answers bear out the wisdom of God as given by examples in His word.
- Share the burden of those who are subjected to medical hardships, poverty, incarceration, grieving, and insurmountable loss that brings despair. Galatians 6:2 advises us to bear the burden of others, and 1 Peter 4:12-19 leads us to enjoin our sufferings with Christ.
- Live in empathy and of shared mind as we are urged to persevere and weep with those who weep (Rom 12:12-16).
- Refrain from following the examples of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar (Job’s friends). They were in error about assumptions and the causes or conditions of those subjected to suffering due to no immediate fault of their own.
- Recognize that sovereign causes, the presence of evil, and personal consequences can involve mercy and grace as we are instructed to pray for those in affliction.
- Draw close to God in humility (Jas 4:8) and let the adversity bring you and those you love to close unity with God and His intentions for your work, life, and spiritual well-being.
Citations
1 Martin H. Manser, Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies (London: Martin Manser, 2009).
2 G. W. F. Leibniz, Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l’homme et l’origine du mal (Paris: Garnier-Flammarion, 1969).
3 Craig G. Bartholomew and Ryan P. O’Dowd, Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction (Downers Grove, IL; Nottingham: IVP Academic; Apollos, 2011), 158.
