“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” – Job 13:15
Whenever we experience significant suffering it’s tempting to start looking for someone or something to blame. We want to know the cause so we can try to protect ourselves in the future. We can even get tempted to blame God for our difficulty. This is what we start to see happen in Job’s life once suffering strikes.
Job’s wife thinks God is to blame. She tells him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). His friend Bildad thinks Job’s kids are to blame, “Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved. (Job 8:4). His friend Eliphaz thinks Job is to blame, “Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you? No, it’s because of your wickedness!” (Job 22:4-5).
But Job understands that the real question in suffering is not “Who’s to blame?” but “Whom can I trust?” Notice that Job isn’t trusting that everything will work out. In fact he goes so far as to say, “Even if He slays me…” Job’s trust in God goes beyond the outcomes and rests in the nature and character of God.
It’s freeing to know that we don’t have to figure out the cause of our suffering. Instead, we can turn to God in the midst of our suffering and trust Him to bring us through it.
Whenever we experience significant suffering it’s tempting to start looking for someone or something to blame. We want to know the cause so we can try to protect ourselves in the future. We can even get tempted to blame God for our difficulty. This is what we start to see happen in Job’s life once suffering strikes.
Job’s wife thinks God is to blame. She tells him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). His friend Bildad thinks Job’s kids are to blame, “Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved. (Job 8:4). His friend Eliphaz thinks Job is to blame, “Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you and brings judgment against you? No, it’s because of your wickedness!” (Job 22:4-5).
But Job understands that the real question in suffering is not “Who’s to blame?” but “Whom can I trust?” Notice that Job isn’t trusting that everything will work out. In fact he goes so far as to say, “Even if He slays me…” Job’s trust in God goes beyond the outcomes and rests in the nature and character of God.
It’s freeing to know that we don’t have to figure out the cause of our suffering. Instead, we can turn to God in the midst of our suffering and trust Him to bring us through it.
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