Misfortune 101

Job 12-15; Psalm 39; Proverbs 21:30-31

 

Job had quickly moved up from junior high to high school in studies on Misfortune, but his friends hadn’t moved past elementary school. While Job was trying to get to the other side of pain and persuade God that he wasn’t worth the trouble, his friends were taking pot shots at him from the side. They thought, despite the fact that he had always been known for his faith and integrity before God, that Job was being punished for his sins.

 

For instance, Zophar said:

Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin. – Job 11:6b

 

But Job knew their perspective was incomplete. It was childish. It was inexperienced. And it put God in a very small box. He correctly diagnosed their problem:

 

Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping. – Job 12:5

 

Their lives were easy. They were resting in their Lazy-Boys, looking over at Job as he sat in the mud and telling him how to clean himself up. They were inexperienced in misfortune, while Job was clearly not. But from their inexperienced vantage point, the notion that God could have anything to do with harmful circumstances seemed just too much to accept. They wouldn’t listen to Job. They thought they understood everything

Misfortune is certainly the end for those whose feet have slipped. It is their destination.

 

But misfortune is not only a destination. It is also a path. And God leads many people along the path of misfortune, whether they have sinned against Him or not. Today, His Son Jesus Christ is evidence of that. Job understood this, though he had not yet come to see clearly what other reasons God might have for allowing His people to hurt. He had gone beyond elementary thinking to high school. It was still true that misfortune was for the ungodly. But Job understood from his experience that God was sovereign over all misfortune, and that He could be trusted even when the righteous suffered. Zophar and Job’s other friends were still stuck in elementary school, unable yet to trust or conceive of a good God who allowed good people to suffer.

 

Father, thank You for using Job’s story to teach us that You are good, even when You allow good people to suffer. You have a plan, and it is working out exactly as it ought to . Thank You for helping us to see that You are in control, even when it seems from our perspective that evil has the upper hand. Thank You for being so big and powerful a God that Satan must ask Your permission to wreak havoc, and thank You for limiting what he is allowed to do on this earth. You are good, and I ask that You help me and other believers to deepen and strengthen our faith in You so that when we face misfortune, we can rest because we know that it’s all in Your hands—that we’re in Your hands. Or perhaps, if like Job we have a hard time resting, at least we have the foundation of knowing that You are in control. Be in control. I’ll stop trying to be in control, and I’ll trust that You still have the reins in Your hands even when I can’t even see them through my tears.