After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. – Job 42:7

Today's Scripture Reading (September 21, 2024): Job 42

The story of Job teaches us a few things. One is that suffering comes to us all. Sometimes, we suffer because of the things that we have done. And we know that. But sometimes suffering comes, and there is no reason. It just comes. And that is precisely the situation in which Job finds himself. The reader understands the background of Job's suffering, which is taking place in heaven, but Job doesn't know that. He just knows that he is in anguish.

Eliphaz and his friends think that they know God and, therefore, know why Job is suffering, but they don't. One of the things about God that Job's friends missed was that, sometimes, stuff happens. Everyone suffers, and as much as we don't like the answer, sometimes there is no reason for our suffering. It just happens, and it happens to all of us.

But there is another secret to Job's story. Suffering is suffering. However, your suffering is the worst because it is yours. Here is a secret that you probably don't want me to tell you. I don't know the secret to suffering. I don't know why you suffer or why I do; just that we do. And we have all suffered too much loss and pain in our lives. However, God is with us in our suffering, just as he was with Job. He knows and still cares for us even when we doubt it is possible.

Maybe I can explain suffering a little with an old Depression-era story. During the years of the Great Depression, there was a man who was going through much suffering. He, like Job, had lost everything. He didn't have a job, money, or a future. One day, while the man was searching for a job, he walked through the city's downtown area and came upon a work site. He watched as a worker stood, shaping a piece of stone. The man finally called over to the worker to ask him exactly why he was shaping the stone. The worker walked over to him and showed him the stone. And then he pointed at a spire on the building that was being constructed. The worker told the man that he was shaping the stone because there was a spot where the stone was supposed to be placed on the spire. "I am shaping the stone down here so that it will fit up there."

Tears came to the man's eyes. He felt like God had sent him a message. Maybe everything that was happening to him was just as simple as that. Maybe God was shaping him down here so that he would fit up there.  

It's as good an explanation as I can figure out concerning why we suffer. God is still shaping us down here so that we will fit up there with him.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Genesis 11