It is human misery and not pleasure which contains the secret of the divine wisdom.  All pleasure-seeking is the search for an artificial paradise, an intoxication, an enlargement.  But it gives us nothing except the experience that is vain.  Only the contemplation of our limitations and our misery puts us on a higher plane.
- Simone Weil”

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:14

I’ve still been contemplating the 4-part series on Job–more than a month later.  In part 2 of the series, it was briefly mentioned that in the midst of pain and suffering, exists the opportunity to explore the “secret of…divine wisdom.”  Reading the book, Gravity and Grace by Simone Weil has only extended this thought process.

Simone Weil was a woman of extreme intelligence and brilliance.  She was born in 1909 and in her 34 short years, Weil’s mystical contemplations well grounded in philosophy and theology, were explored in humble service, hard labor, painful suffering, and social activism.  Admittedly, my brief words here cannot fully capture the mystery and depth of what I’ve come to learn of her life through her writing with the beauty of her writing truly containing insight and glimpses into The Divine.

As much as I’d like to avoid pain and suffering, and as much as I would wish that pain and suffering might not be experienced by any living being, I can’t help but come to the realization that it is the very suffering I strive to avoid which moves me beyond my own self-imposed limitations to something greater–something outside myself.

Now, I readily admit that others suffer more than I.  The question I must ask myself is, when I’m in the midst of a bad situation, am I emerging on the other side with a greater awareness of reality beyond myself? Or do I find myself focused on the hurt, pain, or guilt that I have been or am experiencing?  Is my focus outward or inward? If it is outward, then my awareness of others, the world, and matters of the Spirit can only increase–without limitation.  If my focus is in inward, then I am undoubtedly limited by my self–I have created my own impenetrable boundaries. While the Spirit resides in me, how can I reach the Spirit’s source if my self has put up a wall around it?  It cannot be reached.

What about pleasure?  Is it an artificial paradise as proposed by Weil?  I would not be so quick to pursue pleasure as I would be to pursue and experience of joy.  True joy can only be appreciated when compared to sorrow or pain.  And then when I yearn to experience true joy, where is that joy found?  Where do I look for joy?  Joy cannot be found where one looks for pleasure.  If I look for joy in material things, or even in the acceptance and affirmations from others, my joy is dependent on those things.  But if I search for joy in the midst of sorrow and pain, then the Spirit intervenes to reveal the “secrets of divine wisdom.”

Jesus’ obedience maintained precedence over his suffering and was affirmed by God. What characterizes Jesus’ suffering is his absolute obedience to accept it. When dying on the cross, Jesus cries out “’Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” Did Jesus say this because he lost his faith and questioned his own obedience to God?

Most scholars admit that there is a mystery found in these words. Some have surmised however, that this cry was out of the totality of the experience of suffering for humanity’s sin while not having ever known sin. If sin is understood as separation from God, then how painfully unbearable and incomprehensible would it have been for Jesus, as the Son of God, to be separated from God? Jesus’ commitment to the Father, being obedient unto death as the one who carried the sins of the world with him, suffered on a scale that is beyond human understanding. (Barclay, 364)

Job shows humanity what human suffering looks like, how it can be experienced, that it cannot be explained, and that faith is the key to perseverance. Jesus undoubtedly takes the issue of pain and suffering to levels that stretch humanity beyond comprehension. He takes suffering to the most extreme in how it is experienced, even to the cross. Jesus continually challenged his disciples to understand the events that would unfold, but it was beyond their understanding, they would doubt even after the resurrection; they thought that all hope was lost, Jesus showed them that hope had been regained by conquering death. His suffering was endured and conquered not only by faith, but most importantly with absolute obedience and humility to bridge the gap between life, death, and eternal life.

The book of Job shows the reader how a blameless servant of God might suffer for his faith. It is a very human portrayal. Those around Job asked, if he is innocent, then why is he suffering? In the middle of pain and suffering, one might as in the example of Job, think deeply about innocence and guilt with eyes fixed on the acts of God as the Creator, Sovereign Judge, and the Omniscient One.

It is in the suffering of Jesus Christ, as the Son of God on the cross, that all of creation can witness divine victory over pain, suffering and death, through the glory of the resurrection. Jesus Christ as the Sinless Innocent suffers for the sake of humanity.

William Barclay. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Mark. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975).

Job, as well as other narratives in the Old Testament, enable the biblical reader to examine horrendous pain and suffering, but Christ followers are called to take this examination one step further into the New Testament. One can easily take the step from Job as God’s servant to Jesus as God’s Son to see suffering in light of God’s divine purposes in both the Old and New Testaments. Along this vein, it might be helpful compare the suffering of both Job and Jesus.

An overview of Job’s suffering discloses that his suffering was extreme. Job’s suffering effected his livelihood and ability to support his family–he lost all of his possessions. His suffering also effected those around him including his family, servants, community and friends. The suffering that Job endured was not only external to him, but also a effected him physically.

Jesus’ suffering was also in the extreme although his suffering may be considered at an extreme beyond comprehension. The suffering that Jesus experienced began with his birth, existed through his entire life, work and ministry, continued through his suffering, death on the cross, and burial. It is in the light of the resurrection that one can barely attempt to postulate the magnitude of suffering that might have occurred for Jesus in those three days between his last breath on the cross and the victory over death after he left the tomb.

Job’s suffering was not a product of God’s retribution. He was blameless, but still suffered. God did not exact punishment for deeds done. Instead, Job suffered without guilt. Throughout his laments, he maintained his innocence contending that he had done nothing against God. This was true, he had done nothing to deserve such suffering, but he suffered nonetheless.

Jesus’ suffering paved the way for a final dismissal of the doctrine of retribution for all. This is possible because in contrast to Job, Jesus’ suffering was not only blameless, but sinless. Author Thomas C. Oden describes,

Throughout his suffering he identified with sinners. ‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ 2 Cor. 5:21)”

In contrast to Job, Jesus suffered for the sake of humanity so that all might be right with God.

Thomas C Oden. Systematic Theology: The Word of Life. (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2006) 320.

A question that surfaces then is, why is wisdom discussed in a narrative describing the extreme pain and hardship of Job? With the prevalence of wisdom throughout the narrative, it seems that in the midst of pain and suffering, humanity contemplates the wisdom and omniscience of God. Is pain and suffering perhaps a necessary element when contemplating the wisdom of God? Would Job, or his friends for that matter, dwell on or argue about the wisdom of God outside of Job’s suffering? The idea that pain and suffering leads humanity to higher levels of development is explored by John Hick where he has written that

“in removing all occasions of pain and suffering, and hence all challenge and all need for mutual care, we should have converted the world from a person-making into a static environment, which could not elicit moral growth.” (351)

If it is acknowledged that pain and suffering can be a catalyst for Job to contemplate the finite wisdom of mortal beings in contrast to the eternal wisdom of God, then apart from the discussion of wisdom, what is the purpose of the book of Job? In the midst of a dialogue on wisdom, and on the backdrop of pain, the reader is exposed to the often heated discussion between Job and his friends revolving around the “doctrine of retribution.” (Dillard, 209)

Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and even Elihu beginning in Job 32, contend that Job’s suffering must be attributed to something that he has done, thought, or said that has offended God, whether Job realizes it or not. Beginning with Eliphaz,

Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger
they are consumed.  (Job 4:7-9)

Bildad’s early words include,

If you will seek God
and make supplication to the Almighty,
if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore to you your rightful place.  (Job 8:5-6)

And then later on, Zophar expresses

The heavens will reveal their iniquity,
and the earth will rise up against them.
The possessions of their house will be carried away,
dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.
This is the portion of the wicked from God,
the heritage decreed for them by God. (Job 20:27-29)

Throughout three rounds of discussions, Job’s friends maintain that God would not cause the righteous to suffer with Job maintaining that he has done nothing to warrant God’s retribution. To emphasize his case, Job expresses his desire to seek an audience with God–he believes that God’s judgement will show that Job is innocent. While the reader of the book understands Satan as the antagonist for Job’s pain and suffering, Job himself remains unaware of this throughout. N.T. Wright in his book, “Evil and The Justice of God” explains that

the word satan is a title, an office: he is “the accuser.” … “it is a contest between Satan and Job. Satan is trying to get Job in his power, to demonstrate that humans are not worth God’s trouble, while Job for his part continues to insist both that God ought to be just and that he himself is in the right.” (69)

If it is accepted that the contest is between Satan and Job, the prize, so to speak, is the power of faith in God’s goodness over the prevalent belief, especially of that time, in the doctrine of retribution. Job through all of his suffering and laments, holds steadfast to his faith in God as the Creator, Knower of All, and Sovereign Judge. Along these lines, Marilyn McChord Adams observes in her article, “Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God”

The story of Job suggests something similar is true with human participation in horrendous suffering: God does not give Job His reasons-why, and implies that Job isn’t smart enough to grasp them; rather Job is lectured on the extent of divine power, and sees God’s goodness face to face!…to exhibit the logical compossibility of both dimensions of divine goodness with horrendous suffering, it is not necessary to find logically possible reasons why God might permit them. It is enough to show how God can be good enough to, created persons despite their participation in horrors–by defeating them within the context of the individual’s life and by giving that individual a life that is a great good to him/her on the whole.” (371)

The purposes of the book of Job are then revealed. In the context of Job’s suffering, his faith is not only tested, but strengthened possibly beyond what he might have fathomed. Job’s suffering, as well as all of humanity’s suffering, is present in God’s creation but does not take away from the creation being good. Pain and suffering are products of evil, but is not always a product of retribution. God’s ways are beyond human understanding and while a full understanding of suffering is not possible, it does not contradict the goodness of God, but instead points to God’s sovereign goodness and wisdom over all.

Raymond B. Dillard, Tremper Longman III. An Introduction to the Old Testament. (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1994).

John Hick. “Soul-Making Theodicy.” Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. ed. Peterson, M., et al. 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

Marlyn McChord Adams. “Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God.” Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. Peterson, M., et al. 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

N.T. Wright. Evil and the Justice of God. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).

The book of Job begins with a picture of the man, Job from Uz, who “ was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” Although the Job narrative begins with a description of a man who was good, wealthy, conscientious, and ‘the greatest man among all the people of the East,” Job experiences some of the most horrendous pain and suffering in the Biblical narrative. But, why? It seems natural for the reader to wonder if Job had to experience such extreme pain and suffering, what purpose the Job narrative served to those who heard it first, and what can be learned from the book of Job in light of the Gospel.

To begin considering any of the above questions, it would be advantageous to examine what is known about the book of Job. First and foremost, Job is considered to be an “anonymous work” because the author of Job is not mentioned in any of the text. Dating the book is also a challenge and has experienced a fair amount of scholarly debate. Through biblical scholarship, it is generally understood that the book is set outside of Israel before the time of Abraham, but when Job was actually written is unknown. (Dillard, 201)

The structure of Job begins with a prologue that leads into a poetic dialogue between Job and his friends, followed by a monologue given by Job, then a young man Elihu shares his ‘wisdom’, and finally God’s own spoken words are shared with some brief words by Job. The book is then rounded out with an epilogue that in some ways reflects the opening words of the book.

As stated in the introductory paragraph, the book of Job begins with a look at Job’s character, his family, and his wealth. He is seen as a man of integrity who has enjoyed a fair amount of prosperity. Job sacrifices burnt offerings to God as a just man should, but then takes his sacrificial offerings one step further by sacrificing on behalf of all of his children. In the eyes of the Lord, Job is worthy of his favor and points this out to Satan who claims that Job is righteous because of God’s favor. God allows Satan to take all that his servant Job possesses to demonstrate to Satan that Job’s righteousness is not dependent on his prosperity. As a consequence, Job completely unaware of what is happening in the heavenly realms, loses his family and all of his wealth. Job laments, but remains God’s faithful servant. Satan then attacks Job’s person physically while barely sparing his life which leads to the poetic dialogues on the backdrop of Job’s suffering.

From chapter 3 through 26 in the context of Job’s pain and suffering, there is a cyclical poetic dialogue between Job, and three of his friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Job’s three friends seem to take turns as accusers by contending that Job’s suffering must be due to some offense committed against God. If he is innocent, then why is Job suffering? (Job Chs. 3-26)

What is interesting in the poetic dialogues is that while the setting for the conversations is Job’s pain and suffering, it is this setting that leads all of the characters to view the pain and suffering in terms of wisdom with two types of wisdom emerging: the wisdom of men and the wisdom of God. For example the wisdom within the realm of man is described as elusive, crafty, and “will die with you”. In contrast, God’s wisdom is all pervasive, “wise in heart” and beyond mortal human understanding. (Job 4:21, 5:13, 12:2, 12:13-25, 9:4, 28:13)

“Job,” The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version (HarperCollins: New York, 1989) Ch. 1:1

Raymond B. Dillard, Tremper Longman III. An Introduction to the Old Testament. (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1994).