He is Patient with Our Pain

His story starts out like any, with a description of whom he was and where he lived. Job could have been anyone of us, and anyone of us could have been Job. His kind of person would be extremely rare in the modern world: an upright man who feared God, and hated evil. And he was rich. This combination is really hard to find, but the story goes even further to tell us how he prayed on behalf of his children, in case any of them had sinned against God during their numerous parties. He took out time from his wealthy schedule to do all that! No wonder God could brag about him.

However, not unlike many of us, he was faced with unmerciful disaster and he lost everything he possessed, including his children. Even his wife left him at a point, and all he had was his life and the rags on his back. What sorrow didn’t he have to face?

It’s bad enough to lose a job, but to lose all your savings too? What about your family? If one of them dies you’d probably be devastated, but all? Losing all of them to unfortunate circumstances? 

And all this news was broken to him on the same day! I would have wondered why he didn’t hang himself or jump off a cliff, but we’ve been told already that he hated evil, and feared God.

Job consequently went through the grueling discussions with his friends, talking back and forth about God and life and sin and justice. Some suggested he deserved the ‘misfortune’ because of some hidden sin, and his wife suggested he abandon the God who allowed all these to befall him. In the discussions between Job and his friends we see the distorted perspectives people sometimes have of God because of prevailing circumstances: from ignorant talk to profanity, yet through all these God was silent, watching and listening.

When Job put on rags and sat on the ground in mourning, God could have quickly asked him to pick himself up and move on. God could have told Job to simply accept His will and stop being such a whiner.

But He didn’t.

God waited and watched while Job talked with his friends. When people said wrong things about Him he was patient. While Job grieved He was quiet, waiting and watching as healing took place. God knew that time was necessary for wounds to heal, and even though He could do the miracle in no time, there was a process that Job needed to go through for his own good. And in the end he was comforted.

God is good; He is patient with our pain and its process. And He comforts us.

“He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”¹

God Himself knows all about sorrow because He suffered and died thousands of years ago, and now He lives. He knows we need to grieve sometimes, so we can help others who are hurting, and through it all find comfort for our souls and theirs.

It’s okay to cry, but let us cry with hope knowing that our pains only last a while, and joy comes eventually.

¹ 2Co 1:4