When I was living in Winnipeg, our Area Minister(that's the closest thing Baptists' have to a Bishop) was a wonderful man named Ralph - he was gentle and wise and full of faith.  He also struggled with bone cancer.  For the last 8 years of his life and ministry this disease progressed slowly but steadily through his body, making him ever weaker and more fragile.  Ralph never complained, never seemed to feel sorry for himself, but had a powerful aura of grace and peace about him.  One day I got a call from a fellow Pastor in town inviting me to come together with a few other Baptist Pastors who were praying for Ralph's healing.  I was happy to go, for I wanted nothing more then to see Ralph healthy and whole again.  But I was a little anxious, because a few of my colleagues, including the one who called were, shall we say, leaning farther to the charismatic end of the theological spectrum than me.  But I went anyway because I cared about Ralph.

Once we arrived, the Pastor who had called me took charge.  He told us all that his theology made no allowance for illness.  Any illness was a work of the enemy and we were there to do battle, for God's plan is for all to have perfect health, to enjoy perpetual blessing and to claim the prosperous lifestyle that was ours in Christ.  And so we prayed for healing: we prayed for a long time - our prayers were fervent - some more fervent than others.  After our prayer time was completed and it seemed nothing "miraculous" had taken place, 3 of the Pastors there began to interrogate Ralph, to determine which sins he had not confessed to God, since something had to be "blocking" our prayers.  I must say that Ralph was amazingly gracious with them.  He told them that he had wrestled with that very question, had prayed about it and felt a deep peace inside that God had forgiven him.  Apparently that wasn't good enough for these 3 who continued to press, trying to get him to admit to something!  I regret that at the time I was not courageous enough to take them on and challenge not only their theology, but more importantly their lack of compassion for Ralph. 

Their actions betrayed a deep discomfort with the whole issue of suffering.  Specifically, their actions reflected their need to discover a reason for it - an answer to the question of "why".  It is a question that has troubled people of faith since the beginning.  It was  the question that was sticking in the "craw"of a man named Job, who lived almost 2,000 years before the coming of Christ.

Job was a rich man and he was blameless and upright - he feared God and turned away from evil and enjoyed the Lord's favor.  One day, up in heaven, Satan was hanging around heaven having spent some time recently on earth, going to and fro, and God pointed out his faithful servant Job.  Satan told God that the only reason Job was faithful and obedient was because he was rich.  He suggested that if Job lost something of the "good life" and actually had to deal with some real suffering, he would abandon his faith and turn his back on God.  And so suffering was sent Job's way.  Through a series of events all of Job's children were killed.  I that was not enough, Job's health was then attacked.  He was infected with loathsome sores from his feet to his head.  Even those these sufferings were difficult, Job did not reject God.  His wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity?  Curse God and die" - a somewhat less than compassionate spousal response!  And while Job refuses to curse God and abandon his faith, he is significantly perplexed at what has happened to him.  He is perplexed because he was functioning out of the theology of that time which suggested that blessing was connected to goodness and suffering to sin and Job was unaware of what sin he had committed that would result in such calamity.

Then Job's 3 "friends" arrive.  At the beginning they acted like true friends: "they sat with him on the ground 7 days and 7 nights and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great."  That's good ministry!  But then they blew it - opened their mouths, offered a great deal of unsolicited advice and things went downhill quickly!  In quick order they suggest that if Job has been afflicted, it must be because he has sinned.  They remind Job that the upright are rewarded and the guilty are punished and since Job is suffering it must be a just punishment in response to sin committed.  Then they suggest that if Job's children have been killed them they must have done something to deserve it.  Next Job is told that he's lucky that this is all that has happened to him - that God is exacting a punishment less than Job's guilt deserves.  Don't you wish you had friends like that?  When I was praying with those folk in Winnipeg I thought that my 3 colleagues should be named Eliphaz, Bibdad and Zophar!

Job is suffering and his suffering is wearing him down and his friends aren't making it any better.  They are responding out of a predictable assumption that bad things only happen to bad people.  But Job does not understand what he has done to justify this kind of a punishment.  He cannot make sense of it and in despair he wishes he had not been born.  And he cries out to God to show him the error of his ways.  He says, "Make me know my transgression and my sin.  Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?"  And of course that kind of cry has been heard by God countless times over the centuries as people have felt abandoned by God.

And then Job makes complaint against God.  He wishes he could have a good talk with the Almighty.  He says, "Oh that I knew where I might find him...I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments...he would give heed to me."  And so Job challenges God to defend his actions.  Job feels that he has been mistreated and that God owes him an explanation.  Well, amazingly enough, Job gets his wish - God comes to him.  Chapter 38:1-11,  "______"

The text continues with God asking a series of rhetorical questions, all designed to impress upon Job that if he wants to understand God's actions, he must be on the same level as God, able to do the same things as God. Obviously, Job cannot, and so, unable to make adequate response, in the presence of God, Job is humbled.  Reading from chapter 42:1-6 "____________"

Now, on the one hand God's response is distressing.  It would have been much more helpful if God had given a better answer.  As we read the story and get to the part where God begins to speak out of the whirlwind, we are hopeful that finally we will get a satisfactory answer from the lips of God Almighty!  However, God doesn't actually answer Job's question or explain his actions.  Instead, what God really says is that Job is not in a position to comprehend God's activity.  If God were to explain the ins and outs of life and truth and suffering, Job would not be able to understand.  It's not that God's actions have no reason or logic or rationale.  It's just that we cannot comprehend it all - it's too complicated for us to fathom.  Now that may seem to be an inadequate answer.  But think about it for a minute.  We declare that God is above us and beyond us.  God's thoughts are not our thoughts, God ways are not our ways.  God's wisdom is unsearchable.  And it's important to recognize that we need that to be true.  We need God to be far beyond us - eternal, invisible, perfect, holy.  We need God to be very big and very powerful and very much beyond ourselves, so that we can have confidence that God can hear all our prayers and be active in all our lives and be keeping the universe from flying apart. In order to truly influence and guide our lives, God has to be totally other.

And yet we also want God to give us an accounting of why certain divine actions are taken.  When we are troubled or burdened we want answers from the Almighty - we require an explanation.  And isn't there a significant level of arrogance in that position?  Who do we really think we are, demanding God explain himself to us.  It reminds me of some prayer sessions I have been in, where people tell God what to do - reminding God of certain scripture passages he might have forgotten - thanking God ahead of time for answering our prayers - making sure we show no doubt or lack of faith, for if we do God won't answer our prayers.  That approach is arrogant and makes God out to be able to be manipulated by us.  I don't think so!

I find what Job says at the end quite informative.  He says, "I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.  I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have seen you..."  Job had a genuine encounter with God and his anger and questions melted away.  In the presence of God, Job was undone.  I have heard people say that when they get to heaven, they have a list of questions for God.  People say, "when I get there, I'm going to sit Jesus down and ask him a few things by golly!  And he'd better have some good answers!"  I have a hunch that when we get to heaven and see Jesus face to face, we will realize that our questions, that once seemed so crucial, are now completely irrelevant.  Irrelevant because we're seeing God face to face and what else could possibly matter?

At issue here, is trust.  Is God trustworthy?  And for many of us, when we encounter crisis or suffering our trust is shaken.  And that is partly because I believe that most of us function out of a belief that we should receive special treatment because we have given our lives to God. We expect that God should shelter us and keep us from harm.  We may not say it in so many words, but deep down I think many of us feel it.  It's easy to acknowledge intellectually that faith involves suffering and that God's grace is sufficient, when things are going well.  But when our apple carts are turned upside down, we often adopt a different perspective and we cry "foul" as if God has broken some rule by allowing pain to come our way.  Interestingly enough, Jesus was uncomfortably and consistently clear that following him would involve suffering, that the life of faith, while rewarding in eternal ways would not always be smooth. "Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction and there are many who take it.  For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it."

Many of us, when we have to endure suffering of whatever kind, whether it involves us directly or someone we love, are shaken.  And we cry out for answers - for reasons - for a purpose, assuming that if we had one, we'd be better able to cope.  I'm not convinced it would help all that much.  Whatever answer was provided, we'd probably argue that the reason wasn't adequate.  Job demanded an explanation.  And he didn't get the one he wanted.  What he got was a message from God to trust.  In effect, the book of Job reminds us that if we can trust that God has the capacity to create the world, to cast the stars in the sky, define the limits of the oceans, control the universe in which we live, then it need not be such a stretch to assume that God knows what God is doing when it come to our lives.  I believe that there may very well be explanations for the tragedies of life.  I believe that there may be legitimate reasons and specific purposes, but they are beyond our full understanding.  When something painful happens to us or to someone we love, our vision is often limited to the one who is affected.  God works on many levels - far beyond our capacity to see or comprehend.  And this is not an excuse, but a truth of who God is and how the world works.

Once Job encountered God face to face, he was humbled.  In the presence of God, he realized his presumption and his arrogance.  And he let go of his need for an accounting of God's actions.  We have been given the gift of God's love in Christ - who suffered and died so that we might know that love.  We have been given the gift of faith, which gives us access to the divine resources of courage and strength and grace.  We have been given the gift of eternal life and the promise of heaven.  Isn't that enough?  Doesn't that outweigh the troubles we face?  While there is part of us that would prefer that God would just deliver us from any and every uncomfortable situation, it isn't going to happen.  We can rail against that reality.  We can complain bitterly and cry "unfair."  We can wish there was another option.  We can even try to manipulate God to get our own way.  Or we can accept what is and move on and access the resources God provides to deal with the pain and suffering that are an unfortunate part of this world. 

The book of Job does not deny the reality of suffering or diminish its influence.  What it does is remind us that God is in charge and God can be trusted.  Whatever comes our way, the same God who flung the stars into space is by our side, ready to give us the grace and courage we need to manage.  Let's not waste precious energy complaining about our lot, or seeking answers to questions that in the final analysis remain elusive.  Instead, let us seek to know and experience God's gracious touch, placing in that God our steadfast trust.  Amen.