Analyzing Job's Suffering

We will not be able to understand the real reasons why Suffering occurs unless God reveals them to us and that’s why Job was not a victim of time and chance, but a part of God’s orchestrated purpose for challenging the devil with Job’s obedience and faith. Therefore, I strongly believe that Job’s suffering of many tragedies is acceptable since its intent was to prove that he would still love God in spite of all what could happen in his life. Job passed this test successfully proving that suffering as result of trials will strengthen the spiritual relationship between us and God. He has remained faithful to God and proved that humans are able to love God unconditionally.

It is a stance that recognizes the unavoidability of certain suffering

The moral coherency of the world is threatened. Thus, the hero is a suffering hero whose virtue is proved through the way he deals with conflict.

Therefore, the assumption is that we will experience "good" things and "bad" things, but "all" of these things can be made to be "good" as God works them out. So even the attacks of Satan can be considered "good" as God uses them in our lives to conform us to Christ, His Son.

However, we should not mistake Job’s terrible discouragement, his lashing out at God, for disbelief. God’s existence is not in question. Job knows that somewhere in the universe God must be alive and he cries out in despairing belief “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him,” while still trusting in God as his advocate, Job insists, “I know that my Redeemer lives” . Job now had a deeper, clearer perception of his Creator. But this new awareness was only a by-product of the real purpose of Job’s suffering — the testing of his faith and love. In this case, God needed to know something about Job, and Job needed to know something about himself and about

His suffering is not punishment. It is not a sign of God's anger. Job's pain is not the pain of the executioner's whip but the pain of the surgeon's scalpel. The removal of the disease of pride is the most loving thing God could do, no matter what the cost.

In his speech which precedes Job’s chapter 12 response, Zophar has spoken of God’s possession of “the secrets of wisdom” (11:6a), which, if God would only divulge them to Job, would convince him of the justness of his suffering.

So when Christians suffer, it doesn’t matter whether the suffering is the consequence of their personal sins or not. All that matters is that all suffering be accepted and carried as one’s cross—as one’s personal sacrifice in the service of love. Let it be a testament to God’s glory and a penance for all the sins that nailed Christ to the cross. Christ endured all suffering for our redemption, so, as we bear our suffering gracefully, we share the burden of the cross with Christ. Let all suffering cause us to be attentive to the presence of God. Let all suffering lead us to deep sorrow for sin. Let all suffering end in