God has never promised his redeemed people that they will be immune from suffering, but He has declared that the splendor of heaven will overshadow all of our earthly suffering.
One of the main themes in the book of Job has to do with learning how to worship God in the midst of suffering. The book of Job is about God being so great and so worthy that he deserves to be worshipped no matter what happens to you or to your possessions, or to your family. So in these series of messages on Job, Dr. David Eby shows us how we can learn from Job to worship God in the midst of your suffering
A theology of something means you look at that thing in its big perspective. To get a proper understanding of the theology of suffering, for example, you ask questions like: what is the purpose of suffering? Where does suffering come from? What does it accomplish? How is God related to suffering? What is God doing in suffering? That is what we mean by a theology of suffering.
If you derive your understanding of suffering on the basis of Job chapters 1-31, you will end up with a theology of suffering that recognizes the following basic facts:
(1) God rule,
(2) God is just and wise;
(3) God's ways are hard to understand but
(4) In the age to come, all wrongs will be righted and justice will be established.
(5) God has loved us and saved us in Christ.
(6) Trust God in your suffering.
This theology is not bad, but it is a narrow, partial and inadequate theology of suffering.
In this message, Dr. David Eby brings to our attention a complete and adequate theology of suffering that he expounds to us in the context of the Speech of Elihu in Job 32-37 and the rest of the Bible. Let us listen to him as he teaches us the word of God.
Although Job got resounding victories over Satan both in test number one and in test number two, Job's faith and worship and his obedience were not exactly rewarded.
Job's misery dragged on for months. It dragged on for a long time. And the question we have is "Why did Job's pain continue for months? Since God got the victory at the moment of calamity and Job triumphed by grace throughout this time of testing, why wasn't he restored and healed immediately? Why didn't God just heal Job right away in Job chapter 2 and thereafter take us immediately to the happy ending of Job chapter 42? The reason can be found in the following two questions:
- Is God worthy of worship even in prolonged suffering?
- Is God powerful enough to create a heart that worships and delights and treasures God even in long-term suffering?
These are the two main questions that Job chapters 2-31 and this message are intended to answer. These two main questions were not answered in Job chapters 1 and 2. God, therefore, wanted to use Job chapters 2-31 to answer these two questions.
Let us join Dr. Eby and learn more from him.
Why is it that the wicked often escape suffering? And why is it that the righteous suffer? The book of Job is a timeless book because it deals with these two important questions that many people of God have been asking themselves throughout human history.
The book of Job has been written as part of God's word to help us understand the issue of suffering. This book is designed both to encourage us and to instruct us on how to deal with suffering.
In this message, we will continue on from where we stopped in Job chapter 2 to explore this aspect.
Please visit Teaching the Treasures website for more messages in this series by Dr. David Eby and for more inspirational messages from the word of God.