I’ve tried to get through the book of Job a million times. The first part, with Satan approaching God, Job being tested, I have heard a thousand times. In the middle, Job’s friends criticize him, Job questions God, and then in the end he gets everything back doubled. That was the story of Job I had in my head…. which just goes to show that you should always read the full text and not the summaries, because there is a lot more to the story.

The Real Point of Job

The last few months I’ve finally been working my way through Job, and I’ve found that the main question Job asks is this- can we understand God’s reasoning? While Job is debating with his friends- Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad- they continue to accuse him of sin, and claim that God is punishing him for that sin.

Job’s argument back? That they cannot possibly understand God’s motivations and reasoning behind the situation.

I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. (Job 9:2-3, KJV)

The argument goes on, his friends claiming that he cannot judge them for he is a sinner, and Job lamenting that his friends have turned against him at his lowest point. 

Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad’s accusations against Job foreshadow the words of the Pharisee’s in the New Testament. They would say that those who were blind, or deaf, or lame- their disability was a direct punishment for their or their parents’ sin. This idea is an ancient belief, and one that God never has agreed with. Jesus clearly denies that in the New Testament, and it was no different with Job. A person’s sin is not the cause for their trials- rather God has a purpose for their trials. For the blind and deaf it was to display God’s healing power. For Job, I believe it was so God could pose this question: Can we understand His ways?

Job’s Claims

Job repeats over and over again that we cannot understand God’s motivations, and anyone who tries is a fool. 

For he (God) is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgement. (Job 9:32, KJV)

God is so far above us, how could we possibly begin to comprehend Him, let alone understand His motivations? Yet Job seems to contradict this when he begins to question God at the end of the book. 

God’s response seems to back up the idea that we cannot understand Him. He asks if Job was there when he made the clouds, or when he sends lightning, or when he divides the water. God has existed forever and will always exist- He is all powerful and is the Creator. Who are we to question Him- who are we to understand His motivations? 

Can We Understand God’s Reasoning?

An argument against Job’s claims could be the Bible itself. Why would we have the Bible if not to understand God’s reasoning? The Bible explains God’s motivations for creating mankind, for sending Jesus to earth, and for countless other things? So why the argument against this in Job?

Can we truly understand God? People certainly try- they write books and articles, they speculate on the reasons for current events. An example is the recent LA fires. The first I heard of it was from several people online, claiming that the fires were God’s judgement on the people of the city. Who are we as Christians to judge such a devastating event on someone’s supposed sin? It got me thinking on how we try to pretend we understand God, and that we are capable of such judgements.

The point is, that not only are we unable to understand God’s way, it is arrogant to suggest we could. Life would undoubtedly be easier if we could understand God’s motivations. But God did not design it to be that way.

 The Search for Understanding

In the middle of Job, there is this passage- 

But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder: Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out. And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. (Job 28: 12-15, 23-28, KJV)

The search for understanding is one that leads men all over the Earth. Solomon describes this in Ecclesiastes, claiming that nothing he experienced or bought could ever suffice. He searched everywhere for wisdom- in the end he could only find it in God.

Job echoes that statement here in the passage above. After everyone searches for wisdom all around the world, in the end it is found in the fear of the Lord. Understanding God is found through the fear of Him.

Later, when Job is questioning God, he slowly begins to understand what God is trying to teach him- not through his own mind, but from God revealing it to him.

That is the answer to the question. Can we understand God’s ways? We can only if He shows us, only if He thinks we should know. 

Wisdom and understanding come from God alone.

Advice from Job

Job had the best advice in this situation. To get wisdom from God you stand firm in your faith, and go to God. When betrayed by his wife and friends- he didn’t abandon God- rather he went to God and questioned Him. Many see Job’s questioning of God as sinful and defiant- I believe it was Job’s way of continuing his faith, instead of listening to his wife. Job was steady in his faith and convictions.

In the end, we cannot understand God out of our own power. Our job is to stand fast in our faith, and He will reveal what He wants us to know.