There is one question that runs through the whole Book of Job: If God loved Job, why did He allow Job to suffer?
And perhaps that is not only Job’s question. It is our question too.
A good person develops cancer.
A mother loses her child.
A faithful husband suddenly loses his wife.
A family loses everything in a disaster.
Someone who has prayed faithfully for years continues to suffer.
And we ask: “Lord, if You love me, why are You allowing this?”
Job was a good and faithful man. Yet he lost his possessions, his children, his health. His friends tried to explain his suffering. Some even suggested that perhaps Job had done something wrong. But that was not the answer.
And interestingly, when God finally spoke to Job, God did not give him a simple explanation for his suffering.
This teaches us something very important. Not every suffering has an explanation that we can understand.
God does not necessarily send sickness, tragedy, or death as punishment. We live in a fragile and wounded world where sickness happens, accidents happen, people make choices that hurt others, and death eventually comes to everyone.
So where is God? God is not standing far away, watching us suffer. The God we believe in entered human suffering Himself. Jesus wept. Jesus was rejected. Jesus experienced pain. And on the Cross, Jesus Himself cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Christian faith does not give us a God who explains suffering from a distance. It gives us a God who enters our suffering and carries the Cross with us.
That is why Job eventually says: “By hearsay I had heard of you, but now my eye has seen you.”
Job still did not understand everything. But now he knew God differently.
Perhaps, my dear friends, this is faith: Not having all the answers, but knowing Who stays with us when there are no answers.
At the end, Scripture tells us that Job was blessed again. This does not mean his earlier losses no longer mattered. New blessings do not erase old wounds. It means that suffering did not have the final word.
Hold my hand
There is a story of a little girl walking along the beach with her father after a terrible storm.
The shore was filled with broken branches and debris.
The little girl asked, “Papa, why did God allow the storm?”
Her father was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Anak, I don’t know.”
The girl held her father’s hand more tightly and continued walking.
After a while she said, “It’s okay, Papa. As long as you’re holding my hand.”
Final Words
Perhaps sometimes that is the only answer we can give. “Lord, I don’t understand. But please hold my hand.”
My dear brothers and sisters, if you are suffering today, you do not need to pretend that you understand. You can cry. You can ask questions. You can even say, “Lord, why?”
Job did.
But while you are asking your questions, keep holding on to God. Because sometimes God does not give us the answer to our “Why.” He gives us Himself.
And when we cannot understand the hand of God, let us continue to trust His heart.