Morning Devotional

April 5, 2005
"But Why" (Part 2) 
    by Don Emmitte

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Honest words are painful, but what do your criticisms amount to? Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation? (Job 6:25-26 NLT).

I’m really not sure what has brought me to these passages in Job this week. Perhaps it’s a sense of the frustration that so many people have expressed to me over the past few weeks. Many have echoed the words of Job. It is normal to ask why? Job asks the same question!

Job had done nothing wrong, yet his friends continued to accuse him of sin, saying that his suffering was the result of wrong doings. We know they were incorrect in their assessment. However, one place where Job’s friends were correct was that Job was going to have to wait on God for a solution.

Not long ago someone asked me why a loving God would allow such suffering to exist. Our conversation began over the issues raised with Terri Schiavo’s death. There are many different aspects to consider and many opinions being proffered in this case. However, the one thing I have found missing in most of what I have read and heard discussed is the understanding that some issues simply cannot be easily understood or resolved. We want easy answers. We want quick fixes to our problems. We want the pain to end sooner rather than later. We don’t always understand God’s ways. We have a hard time waiting for God’s will to work it’s way in our lives and in the lives of those we love. That’s what Job wanted when he cried out for an “honest answer.”

The truth is that there is not an easy answer to this issue, or dozens of others involving our suffering in this world. However, I have learned this: intellectually I know that waiting on God’s resolution has a far greater chance of survival than taking matters into my own hands. God is far better equipped to meet the needs of my family than I am. I will do best to wait on Him. That is not an easy path, but it is the best path.

We need not, nor should not ignore the issue of pain and suffering. However, the truth that bad things happen to good people is reality. We live in a fallen world. Because of that, God’s plan has not been realized in its fullness yet. Until then, we would do well to trust in God for his best to be developed in our lives. AND, we who are not suffering at this moment should be “God with skin on” in the lives of those who are suffering. Job’s pain could have been more easily borne had his friends been consoling instead of accusing. Had they come along beside him to help ease the weight of his burden, he would have been much the better. That’s a great lesson for all of us in the suffering of this present world. What kind of friend are you?