The Distorting of Suffering

The distortion of suffering
Job 8-10
“Please inquire of past generations, and consider the things searched out by their fathers.” (8:8).
While Eliphaz applies his personal experience to formulate his perspective on suffering, Bildad takes it a step further and appeals to the past and its traditions. In our search for truth and meaning, especially in a broken and confused world that confronts us with the pain of suffering, we often turn to the “traditions of the past.”  We look to previous generations and the wisdom they gleaned to gain understanding of our present. Thus, the saying, “those who ignore the past are bound to repeat it.” The way to determine truth is to look for the corporate wisdom of history. Answers and perspective come when we listen the corporate voice of humanity. However, this too can distort our perspective. In the case of Bildad, it led to several false assumptions. First, Bildad concluded that when we face adversity, it’s always because of sin (8:1-4). The undercurrent of all the friends of Job was the belief that only the wicked suffer. Sin ultimate brings suffering. While this is undoubtedly true in many situations, it is not true in every circumstance and individual. The second misconception is that if we are righteous, God will bring immediate relief to our pain ( 5-6). While acknowledging that the righteous will suffer, in Bildad’s theology, it will be but a moment, for God will surely respond when we pray to him (vs 5). However, this does not take into account the extended suffering that the righteous may experience. To support his argument, Bildad points to tradition as the basis for truth. He has the history of the previous generations. History tells us that right prevails and sin ultimate brings suffering. Bildad fails to recognize that while we can learn from history, the corporate wisdom of man revealed in the past is still marred and distorted by sin. It still clouds our view of God and his design. In Bildad’s theology, God’s blessing is not an unmerited favor, but based on our righteousness (20-22). In his appeal to the wisdom of the past, Bildad overlooks the fact that the past can also distort what is right.
In response, Job objects by pointing out that if the blessing of God and his deliverance are dependent upon our righteousness, then no one has hope (9:1-2), for we are all sinners. Instead of God being present, He will remain distant, unconcerned, and uninvolved in our lives (9:13). If God only blesses the righteous and brings suffering upon the wicked, it leads us to begin to doubt that God listens to our prayers (vs. 16). As a result, we doubt God’s goodness and his justice (vs 17-20). Instead of looking to God in our adversity for His mercy, we begin to feel that He only mocks us in our despair (9:23). In his frustration, Job desires that there be a mediator between humanity and God. In his statement in verse 33, Job points us to a central truth of all of scripture, that the only way sinful man can approach a holy God is through a mediator, for only then can we approach God. This moves us beyond tradition. Ultimately, the history and tradition of humanity highlight the crisis, but fail to provide a solution. Perspective does not come from man’s wisdom; it only leads us to the inevitable conclusion that we stand hopeless before God. If God’s blessing depends upon our righteousness, then there is no point, for God will still judge us in the end. Instead of rejoicing in God’s activity in our lives, we can only stand in despair, for we are but clay and hopeless in the face of a fallen world (chapter 10).
What both Bildad and Job failed to grasp is that God has done something. He has done more than just relieve us from our suffering; he has overcome the ultimate cause of our suffering, and that is sin. God did send a mediator in the person of Christ to destroy the very reason we face suffering in the world. As a result, God’s blessing does not prevent suffering, but transforms suffering so that he accomplishes what is good as a result (see 2 Cor 4:7-18; 12:7-10). Job, in his struggle, still failed to comprehend the whole nature and wisdom of God, but that will come at the end of the book. When we go through trials, the suffering we face serves to strip away our false assumptions and beliefs, pointing us to a deeper understanding of God. The dilemma is not the presence of suffering, nor is it the impossibility of earning God’s blessing.  The obstacle is our failure to accept his solution.