Ortlund Suffering Wisely and Well

The Grief of Job and the Grace of God
1. Auflage 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4335-7651-5
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 192 Seiten

Why Suffering Exists: God's Purpose for Pain in the Life of Job and throughout Scripture Why does God allow suffering? The pain of suffering can be overwhelmingly mysterious, but the Bible does provide answers. Throughout Scripture, God allows trials in order to accomplish specific purposes in the lives of his people. When faced with suffering they experience spiritual growth; repentance from sin; or, as in the Old Testament story of Job, the chance to demonstrate devotion to God in the face of inexplicable agony. In Suffering Wisely and Well, Eric Ortlund explores different types of trials throughout Scripture, revealing the spiritual purpose for each and reassuring readers with God's promise of restoration. The majority of the book focuses on Job, one of the most well-known yet misunderstood stories of suffering. Ortlund thoughtfully analyzes the text chapter by chapter, including the doubt of Job's friends, God's response to Job's questions, and the meaning behind important imagery including references to Leviathan and Behemoth. Suffering Wisely and Well shows readers how to deepen their relationship with God during painful experiences in their own lives and how to comfort others who are hurting. - Explores Lament and Redemption in Scripture: Helps readers understand how to interpret suffering from a Christian perspective - Applicable: Each chapter ends with a 'What Have We Learned?' summary - Biblical Advice on Grief and Support: Teaches Christians how to avoid blame or legalism when addressing the suffering of others

Eric Ortlund (PhD, University of Edinburgh) teaches at Oak Hill College in London, England. He previously taught Old Testament at Briercrest College and Seminary in Saskatchewan, Canada, for ten years. He and his wife, Erin, have two children.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ortlund, Eric

Leseproben

2

The All-Surpassing Worth of Knowing the Lord

(Job 1–2)

The book of Job falls naturally into several sections: the prose introduction (chaps. 1–2), the debate between Job and his friends (chaps. 3–37), the Lord’s two speeches (chaps. 38–41), Job’s final response (42:1–6), and the prose ending (42:7–17). We’re going to look at each in turn, beginning with the deceptively simple first two chapters. These chapters can be finished in a few minutes, but they reveal depths in God’s ways with us that few other passages in all of Scripture do. They are both painful and poignant—and it is crucial we understand them if we are going to suffer wisely and well.

Job’s Integrity and the Principle of Retribution (1:1–5)

The book of Job begins quite innocuously, without much hint of the great questions it will explore. After his homeland and name, the first thing we learn about Job is his sterling spiritual qualities (1:1). When the narrator says that Job was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned from evil,” this is an Old Testament way of saying that Job has every virtue necessary for a wonderful relationship with God. In Old Testament Wisdom Literature especially, “fearing God” is shorthand for what we would call “Christian discipleship.” It is bound up with friendship with God (Ps. 25:4), obedience toward him (Eccles. 12:13), and personal integrity in every other relationship (Ps. 15:2–4). In Deuteronomy 10:12–16, fearing God is part of loving him, obeying him, and walking with him. In other words, “fearing God” is an Old Testament way to summarize a reverent, obedient relationship with God lived out in practical ways.

We next learn how Job is blessed with what is (from an old-covenant perspective) a picture-perfect life (1:2–5). Because the number seven (and, to a lesser extent, three and ten) imply perfection, Job’s seven sons and three daughters in verse 2 portray not just a large family but a deeply happy one. This is confirmed in verse 4, where we learn that family life consists of a series of family reunions, all at the children’s initiative. Additionally, Job is wealthy and a man of stature (v. 3)—whenever Job walked into a room, people stood up and let Job speak first (29:8–10).

Job’s sacrifice for his children is the final happy touch to this scene (1:5). Job understands that there is something twisted in the human heart that can curse God even in the midst of blessing,1 so he avails himself of the means God has provided to make sure his kids are in the right with God.

It might be easy for modern readers to miss, but the movement from Job’s spirituality in verse 1 to his blessed life in verses 2–5 is no accident. It reflects an idea that is deeply entrenched in the Old Testament: God runs the universe in such a way that we reap what we sow, with obedience and piety leading to blessing and fullness, and disobedience leading to the opposite. (The modern term for this is the retribution principle.) You can see this in the blessings and curses of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, where Israel’s faithfulness to the Lord is met with large families and abundant harvests and military safety, as well as in multiple places in Proverbs (e.g., 3:1–12) and the Psalms (e.g., 128). You can even see it in the New Testament: Paul himself unambiguously states that everyone reaps what they sow (Gal. 6:7). In light of this, we are supposed to see a causal relationship between Job 1:1 and 1:2–5. Just because Job is so steadfast in his obedience to God, God blesses him greatly.

At this early stage of the book, the reader knows about Job’s obedience only secondhand, from what the narrator tells us in 1:1. But as we read further in the book and see the costly and beautiful ways that Job lived out his faith, the reader has no doubt that the narrator is not overpraising Job. For instance, in 29:11–17 and 31:16–23, Job talks about the homeless people he fed and the foster kids he had in his home. He even says he went looking for people to help (29:16). Everyone had a place to eat at Job’s table! It is right for God to bless such people, and it is right for others to hold them in honor (29:8–10). Job makes no claim to perfection—he was the first to confess sin openly and fearlessly when he needed to (31:31–34). There is no self-righteousness in Job. But he gives ample evidence of that beautiful combination of faith and works about which James spoke (James 1:22, 26–27). It is appropriate for people who show such unstinting care for the widow and the orphan to be blessed by God. After all, doesn’t it make intuitive sense that people living in God’s world who are faithful to and in friendship with God and live their faith out in loving service to others would be happy as a result?

“Does Job Love God for Nothing?” (1:6–12)

As Job continues with his picture-perfect existence, we learn that he is the subject of a very unfortunate conversation in heaven—a conversation of which he is totally unaware. Before turning to this conversation, however, a few words of explanation need to be given, for just as with the retribution principle, the scene of the “sons of God” presenting themselves before the throne of their divine sovereign (1:6) is one that was probably more familiar to ancient Israelites than modern readers. If you read other passages such as 1 Kings 22 and Isaiah 6, however, you’ll notice a consistency to how God’s heavenly dwelling place is portrayed as a royal court, with the king on his throne, surrounded by supernatural ministers who carry out his will (you see the same in the New Testament as well, in Revelation 4–5). The heavenly throne room is the place where the sovereign of the universe decides on policy decisions that determine how his creation is governed, which are then enacted by his supernatural servants. This means that Job’s ordeal is a reflection of and connected to God’s policies for all creation. Job’s story has a significance far beyond himself as an individual. In fact, while Job will (mistakenly but understandably) assume God has put him on trial, it is truer to say that God and his policies toward all human beings are on trial, with Job as the unwitting key witness for God.2

One other point of explanation: when Job 1:6 talks about “sons of God,” this does not mean God has a wife and children. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, “son of” can mean “in the category of” (like the “son of rebellion” in Numbers 17:25 or the son of death in 1 Samuel 20:31). These divine ministers are thus metaphorically sons of God in the sense that they are supernatural beings. But “son of” also implies dependence and subservience: these beings are not competitors with God but derive their being from outside themselves.3 God is surrounded by powerful servants, but his own sovereignty is never in doubt. This is important in multiple ways. Consider how eye-opening it would have been for ancient Israelites, growing up in a pagan and polytheistic context, to see their God on his throne, peerless and entirely sovereign in his rule, without any need to negotiate with other deities. It is also important for how the book of Job formulates the problem of evil: chaos and disaster are not to be attributed to chaotic gods against which the hero-savior gods fight. Whatever existence and agency evil has in the world is only at God’s permission. In one way, this is more comforting than the theology of paganism. At the same time, this exalted view of God gives the problem of suffering an urgency and deepened difficulty that never obtains in paganism: while it is comforting to see such an effortlessly sovereign deity who cares for us, it becomes more difficult to understand why suffering happens in such extreme proportions when God is utterly sovereign and utterly good.

With all this in mind, we are to imagine in Job 1:6–7 that different angels are giving reports to God as they carry out his will in the earth (compare Zech. 1:7–11). The accuser is there as well and gives a report (if a vague one) to his superior, like the other divine servants.4 Since this servant’s role is to accuse, God points out Job to him (Job 1:8). The thought seems to be, “Here’s someone you can’t possibly accuse. If anyone can survive your tests, it’s Job!”

There are two things to notice in verse 8. The first is that it is the Lord who brings Job into the discussion, not the accuser. Is there a hint of God’s sovereign guidance of Job’s ordeal as he does so? That instead of responding to an attack from the devil, God is providentially directing Job’s agony for his own glory (1:21) and Job’s greater good (42:5)?

The second thing to notice in 1:8 is the sterling language God uses for Job. God repeats everything 1:1 says, which is high praise in itself. He also calls Job “my servant,” which puts him in the exalted company of Abraham (Gen. 26:24), Moses (Ex. 14:31), and David (2 Sam. 7:5).5 But most significant is the phrase “there is none like him on the earth.” This is an...