Hey, God, I Have a Question: Why is there so much suffering in this world?

We have been asking God a series of questions over the last several weeks, and we continue in our series today on what might be one of the more profound questions of all regards the goodness of God and suffering in our lives.

The video started saying something to the extent of if you haven't dealt with struggles in your life, you will.

There's really three seasons of life.

There are those seasons in which we are in a trial, seasons in which we are coming out of a trial, or seasons in which we are going into a trial.

Suffering is a part of life.

And when we suffer as a Christian, we often go to read a story of a man who also is suffering.

And the hope that is found in the book of Job, I trust, will be an encouragement to our hearts this morning.

So I invite you to stand with me.

If you're physically able, we're going to read the inverse the first chapter together.

So if you can stand with us, you may, and then if you cannot do that, you can please remain seated.

There's something very interesting about the book of Job.

It is the first Bible book that was written.

That's interesting.

The first inspired penman of Holy Scripture is this man named Job.

And this story is all about a man's suffering and the goodness of God.

When our bills are paid and our health is well, God is good.

But when we go through trials in our lives, what is God doing?

I think we have some faulty spiritual arithmetic, don't we?

Or we could say that the whole equation of life is summed up in those simple words.

God is good.

God is not only good, God is the reason we can know what goodness actually is.

He is a good God.

In other words, he ran from it.

There were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.

His substance also was seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels and five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred sheasses and a very great multitude, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

And his sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day, and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

And it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all.

For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.

So did Job continually.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.

Then Satan answered the Lord and said, That doth Job fear God for naught?

Hast thou not made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side, thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

But put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that is in thy power only upon himself, put not forth thine hand.

So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

And there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house.

And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sibyans fell among them and upon them and took them away.

Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I only I am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I even I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and daughters were eating and drinking in their eldest brother's house.

And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead, and I only am alone escaped to tell thee.

Then Job arose and rent his mantle, shaved his head, fell down upon the ground and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

We bless the reading of your words today, Lord God.

This a lamp.

This a light.

Guide us as we survey this passage today.

May the truth of Scripture fill our hearts.

And may we know that we have met with thee today.

You've told us in your word that if we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more would you give the Holy Spirit to them that ask?

And as a preacher today, I ask you, Lord, to fill me with your Holy Spirit.

And I ask that you would fill each hearer with the Holy Spirit.

That we might hear and receive your message today.

We pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you.

Be seated, please.

If God is good, why is there suffering in the world?

I hope you're following along in our notes today, and I want to talk about the absence of good, which is evil.

Clearly, here in Job chapter 1, there are evils on display.

Job 1 · chapter mention

First of all, we notice there is natural evil.

Natural evil.

It's impersonal, it's external, it's temporal.

Things like disasters and catastrophes, bacteria, hurricanes, flooding are all signs of natural evil.

I could preach on hurricanes until I moved to Inglewood, and now it's just a sore spot.

No aspect of life has been left untouched by the malevolent influence of natural evil.

I've lived in Tennessee and Florida and lived in California, and I've discovered that there is enough natural evil to go around.

You say, I'm leaving Florida to avoid hurricanes.

Well, you can move to Tornado Alley.

Or the harshness of a desert storm.

Natural evil.

Number two, there is moral evil.

It is personal, not external, but internal.

It is spiritual.

James said, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

Then when lust, desire, has conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Paul goes on to say in Romans 3, verse 10, as it is written, There is none righteous, no not one.

Romans 3:10

Sin affects every human relationship and every dimension of life.

This world is not only under the curse of natural evil, it is under the spell of moral evil.

It is not just that which happens around us and in our environment, it is that which happens in our soul.

Sin.

But not only is there natural evil and moral evil, notice there is supernatural evil.

What we call demonic or ancient or delegated evil.

It was the Lord Jesus speaking of Satan in John 8.44 when he said, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do.

He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth.

Because there is no truth in him, when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of himself, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John said in 1 John 5, 19, and ye know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.

Have you come to understand today that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God, because we wrestle not against flesh and blood.

We wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the spiritual rulers of the darkness of this world.

There is supernatural evil.

Paul said to the church of Thessalonica, I would have come unto you time and again, but Satan hindered us.

It is impossible, may I just say, it is impossible to press on for God without pressing up against the devil.

Supernatural evil.

And these malevolent forces work to oppose God through seduction and deception and corruption and manipulation.

They exploit corruption that is already within us to further exacerbate the problem of evil.

Man blames his environment, God blames lust within.

Man sins and blames the devil, and though the devil may tempt us, we willingly often enter into our sins because of the nature of corruption inside of us.

So we've seen that evil comes to us in different forms.

Natural evil reminds us that we live in a world broken by the fall.

Moral evil reminds us that sin is not merely something around us, it is something within us.

And supernatural evil reminds us that behind the scenes of every human story there is real spiritual enmity that opposes God and seeks to destroy what God has made.

But this morning we're going to take that information out of a seminary classroom, almost said cemetery, a seminary classroom, and apply it to Pine Street today?

What happens in a person's life when all these forms of evil collide in the life of one person in one period of time?

What happens when a faithful man loses his possessions, his livelihood, his children, and eventually his health?

What happens when disaster comes from the natural world, when human beings become instruments of destruction, and when Satan himself is involved behind the scenes of our lives?

So for a few moments this morning, I want us to consider who caused Job's suffering.

What is the cause behind all of this struggle in the background of Job's life?

It might help us understand what's going on around us the next time we endure great trials in our lives.

So for a few moments, I want us to walk through this first chapter of Job asking this question: who caused Job's suffering?

Do you think you have an idea who caused it?

Raise your hand if you think you know the answer.

Okay.

Some of you are not going to take the test.

That's okay.

Number one, human agents might have been the cause of Job's suffering.

We might say moral evil was the cause of Job's suffering.

For example, notice, if you will, as Job's sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine, verse 13, in their eldest brother's house, there came a messenger unto Job and said, The oxen were ploughing and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabaeans fell upon them and took them away.

And then it says in verse 17, while he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The Chaldeans made of three bands came and fell upon the camels and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword.

Maybe it was the Sabaeans, this nomadic tribe of Yemen, wealthy tribesmen who came for to steal things that they might trade.

Maybe we would say that Job's sufferings came at the hands of the Sabaeans.

Maybe that would be the answer.

Or maybe it is that Job's suffering came at the hands of the Chaldeans.

Verse 18.

They were a group from Mesopotamia.

The Bible says here there were three bands of marauders that came like tidal waves of destruction.

And they had come and stolen and robbed and destroyed and killed.

And maybe we would say it's not just the Sabaeans, it's the Chaldeans that would be the explanation for all of Job's suffering.

Or maybe we would say that part of the cause of Job's suffering was, shall I say it?

Maybe it came from his children.

It says here, it paints a picture for us in verses four and five, and then in verse number 13, that Job's children had become very successful in life.

And it seems as if Job has become very concerned with their spiritual well-being.

And I'll paint this for you very quickly.

This drinking of wine and frivolity, the Bible says day by day they are getting together and feasting.

And Job has this fear for his children, and maybe you'll share it with me this morning, that then in a moment of feasting and frivolity and success, Job's children will come to the place that through feasting they will forget God.

That they become, Pastor Sexton used to say, the greatest failures in life are successes outside of the will of God.

Maybe he fears that they will be so worldly successful that they will forget God in their lives.

So much so, notice, if you will, in verse number five, it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and he sanctified his children.

He got up in the morning like the high priest of his home, offered a sacrifice, and he prayed a hands of spiritual protection around his children's lives.

Oh, God, he prayed.

Will you work in their hearts today?

Will you speak to them today?

Lord, I know that they're all grown and have lost some level of influence in their hearts, and they are where I'm not, and they're no longer under my constant supervision and discipleship.

But God, have you helped me put something in their hearts that will minister to them in my absence, that will propel them forward to make wise decisions?

So much so He He offers the sacrifice.

He prays a prayer of sanctification over them.

He rises up early in the morning, verse 5.

He offers a burnt offering.

It's the word Holocaust.

He offers a whole sacrifice for them.

For Job said, It may be, watch, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.

Can I just say to our parents this morning, ought not we be concerned what's going on in our children's hearts?

For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Who caused Job's suffering?

Maybe it was the Sibans, maybe it was the Chaldeans, maybe there was pain in his heart because of his children.

Maybe it was his own sin.

Did moral evil cause Job's sufferings?

Or we might ask it this way: is all of our suffering in life equal to the sin in our lives?

In other words, if we're going through struggles and difficulties in our lives, could we say that we're going through a trial because there is sin in our lives?

The answer is maybe, maybe not.

I hear young people make two terms equivalent, and I just want to address them very quickly, okay?

I hear teenagers talking today about karma.

Karma is an Eastern philosophy.

There is a biblical philosophy found in Galatians 6.7 that says, be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap.

Can I just go on record today and say Galatians 6.7 is not karma?

Karma is an impersonal principle of cosmic cause and effect.

But Galatians 6.7 describes a moral principle established and governed by God.

Job is not suffering because of his own sin.

And if something bad happens to you, it doesn't occur necessarily because you've committed sin.

Sometimes suffering in the harvest comes through what we have sown.

Sometimes suffering comes because we live in a fallen world.

And sometimes suffering has a spiritual dimension that we cannot see.

Human agents, did they cause Job's suffering?

Maybe, number two, it was natural evil that brought about his suffering.

The Bible describes in verse 16 the Sabaeans fell upon them and took them away.

Yea, they have slain with the edge of the sword, verse 16.

While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The fire of God has fallen from heaven.

The fire of God from heaven.

A human perspective deemed as if this fire was from God or from heaven, quite possibly a strike of fierce lightning.

Could we say that it was fire that brought all of Job's suffering?

Verse 19 says it could have been the great wind that brought Job's suffering.

Behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead.

A land hurricane, a natural explanation for Job's trials.

Did natural evil produce all this suffering in Job's life?

There's one commentator who said that God put the natural world under a curse so that the physical horrors of that curse, of that futility, of that corruption, of that disease and death would become a vivid picture, a parable of the horrors of moral evil.

In other words, here's the line: natural evil exists in the world as a signpost of the horrors of moral evil.

Every time you see a tragedy in the natural world, think to yourself, it was not always so.

Natural evil was a result of moral evil found in the hearts of our forefathers and is true of us even today.

Number three, could we say that Job's suffering came by way of supernatural evil?

Maybe we should blame the devil.

That's a good schoolboy's excuse, isn't it?

Why did you do that?

The devil made me do it.

Verse 6.

There was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them, and the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?

And Satan answered and said, From going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it.

The scene described in these verses is difficult to understand and would take much more time than we have in this moment.

Bible scholars have raised several questions here.

Who is has the definite article?

Who is the Satan?

Where did he come from?

Is the devil found elsewhere in the Bible?

Why does the definite article precede the name?

Does that mean it is a common noun and not a name?

Can we have such easy and direct access to the Lord as he has here?

When did Satan fall from heaven?

Who are the other angels that fell?

Why does the Lord stoop to answer the Satan?

Can Satan still access and challenge God like he does for Job concerning us?

Satan here represents an evil group of angels who oppose the work of God.

It says in verses 12 and in chapter 2, verse number 6 that Satan only wields the authority granted to him.

MacArthur says God, Satan can't move in one direction, one spiritual millimeter, unless God allows it.

One author said Satan himself is the absolute subject to God's control.

Satan is the servant of God, not the other way around.

He's the Lord's devil.

He's God's devil.

He does only what he does within the boundaries that God establishes.

God has given him those boundaries.

And within the framework of what God allows Satan to do is to rule this world to some degree.

God overrules Satan at all times.

Satan has freedom but not sovereignty.

Power, but not authority.

He has purpose, but not ultimate and final authority.

May I just say very quickly, Satan may have been involved, and human beings may have been involved, and fallen creatures may have been involved, but in this whole story, God remains sovereign.

Look, if you will, in chapter 1, verse 21, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Look, if you will in chapter 2 and verse 10, Job is having a conversation with his dear wife.

For 3,500 years there have been Bible students that have cast a lot of shade at Job's wife.

She says, curse God and die.

Oh, but have we ever felt what she felt?

Is she speaking in that moment, or is her pain speaking?

She's lost ten children, she's lost her possession, she's lost her castle, she's lost her husband's health, she's lost everything around her, and in her pain, she says things about God she may not say outside of pain.

How many of us would admit our pain has often said some rather aggressive things about God?

Hello?

Verse 10 of chapter 2.

And he said to her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.

By the way, guys, that's not a good one-liner to take home with you today, okay?

Shall we receive good at the hand of God?

And shall we not receive evil?

Who caused Job's suffering?

Are you ready?

God allowed Job's suffering.

Go to the last chapter.

Let me show this to you.

Chapter forty-two.

Job had three friends who came, seven days, seven nights.

They said nothing.

They comforted him.

And all their comfort ended when they began to speak to him.

And all of them had their turn to diagnose what Job was going through in his life.

Hear this.

And then God spoke.

God always gets the last word.

Chapter 42, verse 11.

Then came there unto him all his brethren and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house, and they bemoaned him and comforted him.

Notice his phrase, over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him.

Now the word evil to allay your fear does not refer to moral evil.

It refers to distress and despair and calamity.

God did.

Who allowed these sorrows like sea billows to roll over Job?

God did.

So I have one last question.

Why would God allow sufferings in our lives?

There's some TV preachers that don't ask questions like this.

Say it's bad for business.

All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Man is but few days and full of trouble.

It doesn't take us long to live, to learn, and understand.

We are going to go through trials in our lives.

Why would God allow suffering in our lives?

May I just give you three quick truths.

Number one, to perfect our faith.

Go to Job 23, if you have your Bible there.

To perfect our faith.

Peter says, Ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

God is working to perfect our faith.

May I say this morning that a faith that is not tried is not a precious faith?

A gold that is not purified is not a valuable gold.

God allows trials into our lives to test the metal of our faith.

If you're in today and out tomorrow, because trouble came in your life, you have revealed a weak faith.

But Job says in Job 23, verse 10, he knoweth the way that I take, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Job 23:10

Paul, the apostle, says later, he had a thorn in the flesh.

Does anyone know the next thing?

He says, a thorn in the flesh, the the minister of, somebody tell me, the minister of Satan.

The minister of Satan.

I had a particular season in my life that the minister of Satan buffeted me.

And I prayed three particular seasons in my life that God would remove that thorn from my life.

The minister of Satan.

Oh God, take this away, take this pain away, take this trial away, take this storm away, take this obstacle away.

And I prayed that he might remove it from me.

And God said to Paul, wait.

My grace is sufficient for thee.

My strength is made perfect in weakness.

And what does Paul say?

Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Listen, beloved, it is in that season of testing and trial that we get weak and God gets strong in our lives.

I say our struggle in our lives is typically not strength.

We think we're not successful because we're not strong enough.

This is not God's way.

We haven't accomplished everything God has for us because God wants us to get weak, because in our weakness, he proves to us just how strong and mighty and omnipotent and powerful he can be in our experience.

God wants to strengthen our faith.

To perfect our faith.

Number two, did you ever think that God allows trials into our lives to awaken our future?

Perhaps Job could have developed the same heart as his children had.

Too much here to desire to be there.

Not a lot of American Christians praying every morning.

Even so come, Lord Jesus, come.

I'm sure there's a lot of Christians in Iran and China and Africa who pray because of persecution every day.

Even so come, Lord Jesus, come.

To awaken his future.

The Bible says, I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Go to Job 19 very quickly here.

Job 19.

Job is in the middle of his story.

He does not know.

He can't see his story, past or future.

He does not know that God has set him up as an example of faithfulness.

All your children love you because of what you do for them.

That's what Satan says.

All your children follow you because you give them heads of cattle and lots of children and houses and lands.

But if you took those things away, they would curse you.

And God says they don't all feel that way.

Let me show you one that will endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Don't you want to be that man?

I'm not asking God to touch my life, but God will touch my life in ways that I need him to.

And in the moment of that fire, I want to go on record and say, I want to be that man.

I want this to be that type of church.

I want you to be those types of people.

He says later, though he slays me, yet will I trust him.

There were things going on in Job's story he didn't know about.

But God knew.

And in the midst of this struggle, he prays.

It's one of my favorite expressions in Scripture, verse 23.

Oh, that my words were now written.

Oh, that they were printed in a book.

I wish someone would write a biography about this situation.

Well, aren't you glad someone did?

Verse 24, that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever.

Verse 25, for I know that my Redeemer liveth.

And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.

God is using sufferings as a way of awakening Job to his future.

Listen, we go through difficulties in our lives, but this is not the end.

This is just the beginning.

This is preparation for all that we receive in Jesus Christ.

We used to sing a little song, This world is not my home.

I'm just passing through.

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

God will use struggles in our lives to awaken us to the realities of eternal life in the presence of God.

He wants to perfect his faith.

He wants to awaken his future.

And lastly, may I say, he wants to announce a far greater message.

What is that message?

C.S.

Lewis remarked that God shouts in our suffering.

And if God shouts in our suffering with a voice that is most clear, he whispers in our success, he shouts in our pain.

We would do well to remember that the loudest voice in all of creation was spoken on an old rugged cross.

I want you to think for a moment as we close about the cross upon which the Prince of Glory died.

I think too few of us as Christians have a sanctified imagination placing yourself in the Bible story.

Take it from black and white, put it in living color in your own mind.

Go to the cross.

Can you do that?

Go to the cross of Jesus.

And on the cross, we see natural evil.

Earthquakes and darkness.

Matthew says, Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land.

Then he says in verse 51, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.

Paul remarks in Romans 8 that the creation groans under the weight of the fall.

When the Prince of Glory died, the ground heaved, the rocks broke open wide.

There was moral evil at the cross.

The Romans and Jews alike rejected, cursed, and mocked the Lord Jesus.

Paul, excuse me, Peter remarks in Acts chapter 4, for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, were gathered together.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Later it says, the Jews were culpable morally for the crime of Jesus' execution.

Then answered all the people, said, His blood be on us and on our children.

Then released T Barabbas unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, he, being Pilate, delivered him to be crucified.

The crowds present at the cross were culpable for their moral sin.

They passed by, reviled him, wagging their heads, saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, he was spit upon, rejected, struck.

His beard was plucked out by the crowds.

There was moral evil at the cross.

There was natural evil at the cross.

May I say there was supernatural evil at the cross.

Luke 22, then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

Jesus said before the cross, John 14, verse 30, hereafter I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me.

John 14:30

Natural evil, supernatural evil, moral evil at the cross.

But guess what?

God was sovereign over all these foes when Jesus Christ died.

At the cross, the ground groaned, the creation cursed, demons decried, the Son of God, but superimposing and superintending and superexceeding all man's need was the marvelous love of God on display on an old rugged cross.

He shouted.

He made a show of them openly triumphing even in them.

So what's the message?

The message is that Jesus saves.

He is always present, always powerful, always perfectly good, and we know.

And we know.

Can we say it together?

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.

To them who are the called according to his purpose.

I'm saying to you today that God allows suffering in our lives, to allow his goodness and grace and glory to be revealed to us in a way that pleasure and satisfaction never can.

And aren't you glad to know that we live our lives in the palms of an infinitely loving, gracious, and wise God that we can trust Him.