I’ve been reading parts of the book of Job this past month and the study from First5.org. which is provided by Proverbs 31 ministry. The thing that I have been reminded of is that Job was an upright and godly man and yet he suffered.

In the midst of suffering it would seem that those closest to you would be your biggest help and cheerleaders. Not in Job’s case. I’m not going to lie. As I listen to Job’s friends in the midst of his suffering I don’t find them to be very encouraging. In fact, I find them to be awful, horrible, rotten friends whom I would never want near me in my hurts. Why? Because they were too easy to give up on Job and blame his suffering on something he had done. Sometimes bad things happen to good, God-fearing people. It just does. And sometimes bad things happen to ungodly-fearing people. It just does.

This week I’ve been watching news footage of Hurricane Harvey. My heart breaks as I see people suffering, crying, and losing everything. I was struck, especially by the picture I saw of the older people in the nursing home just sitting there waist deep in water. How could God allow such hurt, such tragedy? These are same questions that have been asked for centuries whenever there is suffering. So where was God when Job suffered? Where is God as the people suffer through Harvey? God hasn’t left. God was with Job and is with the people suffering through Hurricane Harvey-- through the pain, suffering, doubt, fear and anguish.

I want to share with you some things that I have learned from the scriptures and studies of First5. Click on the scriptures and read them. They will also take you to the study from First5.org

1. You can’t try to guess or speculate why people suffer. You don’t have to try to add words of wisdom or the first thing that comes to your mind or try to explain the situation. Just comfort people in their hurt. Galatians 6:2

2. When you find yourself in trials, tribulations and turmoil, do you know God’s character enough to be able to trust in Him? As we look at Job, we see from his own words that he was in tumult. Job 6:2-3. Glynnis Witwer says that the truth that settled Job was not discovered in the dark. Instead, Job was sustained through the dark, by the truth he learned in the light. There is no way we can fully prepare our hearts for what is to come, but we can ground them in the truth before trouble arrives. We can soak our minds in the truth of God’s character, His promises throughout Scripture and remember our testimonies of His faithfulness.

3. Know that you can express your feelings to God and he will hear your cries (Psalm 34:4) and that when you seek him you will find him. (Jeremiah 29:13). Throughout scripture we find people crying out to God and then finding his precious comfort.

4. In the midst of Jobs suffering Job he realizes that God has ordered his life just the way that it is—hurt and all. His suffering allowed him to realize new aspects of God’s character. Job 9:5-7. We have little understanding in our minds to understand God (Romans 11:34) and the big picture that he sees that we don’t. Here is a scripture that I refer to often when I just don’t understand why things happened the way that they do.

Isaiah 55:8-9 ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

5. Job also realized, and you can too, that God was/is in control even when other’s around him try to convince him that God was not. He understood the amazingness of God’s character. (Romans 11:33, Psalm 139:6, Psalm 113:4-7)

6. The Process is part of the point shares Whitney Capps from the First5 study in Day 13. In the midst of Job’s confusion, he clings to God’s character. As we read through Job’s replies, look for what he says about God.

Throughout his rebuttals in Job 6, Job 9, Job 10 and Job 12, Job extols the attributes and character of God. Here are a few of the things Job says:

God is worthy of loyalty and faith.

God is the righteous judge.

God is the answer-giver.

God alone has wisdom, might, counsel and understanding.

7. Your hope is in God alone. This is a tough one to grasp even when we aren’t in the midst of suffering and tragedy. I’ve often heard people say that it was when they hit rock bottom, when everything seems to be stripped away that that is when they realized that they couldn’t find their hope in anything or anyone else. It was God alone. Job realizes this in Job 19:25-26. He couldn’t find hope in his friends, his wife, or even himself…. just God. He doesn’t understand why he has suffered so much, but he trusts God for the outcome.

I want to leave you again with a story from Whitney Capps.

She says,

“One of my favorite memories as a little girl was watching my grandmother cross-stitch. I remember the first time I watched her nimble fingers stitch a mess of x’s into a masterpiece. I usually sat on the floor at her feet looking at the underside of her work-in-progress. We had a little game where I would try to guess what she was making. But the underside was such a mess! From my perspective it was an indistinguishable mishmash of string and knots. But what was utter confusion to me was perfectly known to her. She was looking at her work of art from the front. I was only looking at the back. Don’t judge the brilliance of His artistry from the wrong side of the fabric.

Whatever your hurt or struggle is today, you can cling to the fact that God, the brilliant artist sees things from the right side. Oh, and the folks in the nursing home up to their waists in water? The next day I saw a picture of them rescued, dry, clean and happy. God’s got us folks, don’t let people or circumstances tell you differently.

Thanks to First5 for reminder of many of the scriptures and insights shared here on today’s blog. Download the app First5 and work through some of these studies yourself.