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And God Cried
Chapter 2
Many Feel God
Is Unjust
Perhaps you feel like a modern-day Job
— God is
unjust, the tragedies of life are too harsh. Although the prophet
Job lived
nearly 3000
years ago,
he echoed
the cry
of every
generation since. Job was blessed with
a loving
family of seven
sons and three daughters, possessed immense wealth and enjoyed a
high rank. Job was considered "the greatest of all men in the
East" (Job 1:2, 3).
Then a series of disasters
struck. All his children were killed in a storm. His wealth was
lost, his possessions destroyed, his devoted employees and
servants killed. Physically he was afflicted with painful sores
from head to toe. There is an indication that he was suffering
from a form of leprosy. When his close friends saw him, they cried
aloud at his pitiful condition and excruciating pain. With the
heart piercing words, "curse God and die," his wife
deserted him. What else could happen? Job cursed the day he was
born (Job 3:1-3). Yet he maintained his faith and trust in God.
Even under the onslaught of his supposed comforters, Job asserted:
Though He slay me,
Yet will I trust Him. Job 13:15
But time and continued
opposition take its toll. Job's distress mounted with intensity as
his comforters continued to distress him with wild incriminations.
Now prostrated physically by total pain, mentally by opposition of
friends and emotionally by total bereavement over his children,
Job turned to God in passionate protest against God's unjust
dealing with him.
I cry to you and you do not
answer me;
I stand, and you merely look at me.
You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand
ou persecute me.
You lift me up on the wind,
you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the
roar of the storm.
I know that you will bring me to death.
Job 30:20-24 (NRSV)
He pleaded with God not to
ignore his cry for help.
Surely one does not turn against
the needy,
when in disaster they cry for help.
Job 30:24(NRSV)
Then he reminded God that he
(Job) did not ignore the needs of the poor and those in distress.
He spent much of his life caring for the poor and distraught.
Would God do less for him?
Did I not weep for those whose
day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
Verse 25
Although Job didn't ignore the
needs of others, he implied that God forsook him to evil and
darkness and then ignored his cries for help.
But when I looked for good, evil
came;
and when I waited for light, darkness came.
My inward parts are in turmoil,
and are never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
I go about in sunless gloom;
I stand up in the assembly
and cry for help.
Verses 26-28
Yes, Job stood up as an innocent
man pleading for justice in an assembly court, but his cries fell
on deaf ears.
My skin turns black and falls
from me,
and my bones burn with heat.
My lyre is turned to mourning,
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep. Verses 30, 31
Many feel the same anguish when
tragedies devastate them. Seemingly, God does not heed their
prayers for help. Like Job they cry—Oh God, where are you?
Job was not an atheist. He was
not an agnostic. He was a man of faith. In essence his plea was,
Why, oh why, God, do good people suffer? God didn't answer Job
directly. Rather, God raised questions about the mysteries of His
creation (Job 38-40). These questions were designed to remind Job
that he really knew very little about God. Job had limited
knowledge in all the diversified areas of God's works. He should
not be surprised at failing to comprehend fully why he was
permitted to suffer. God's questions revealed the wisdom, power
and concern of God demonstrated in all of His creative works.
God asked Job if he was present
when God laid the foundation of the earth, if he understood the
laws by which the tides of the sea were controlled. God asked him
about the instincts and habits of the various birds and animals,
and even of the great monsters of the sea. Then Job was asked if
he could explain the wisdom and power represented in these marvels
of creation.
As the questioning proceeds, Job
interrupted to say:
Behold, I am vile; what shall I
answer thee?
I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Once have I spoken; but I will not answer:
yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:4, 5 (KJV)
In Job's expression,
"Behold, I am vile," the meaning of the Hebrew word
translated "vile" is, according to Prof. Strong,3
literally, "swift, small, sharp." Apparently Job
acknowledged to the Lord that he had spoken too quickly; that his
viewpoint was too limited and voiced too sharply.
The Lord replied to Job:
Gird your loins like a man;
I will ask, and you will inform Me.
Would you impugn My justice?
Would you condemn Me
that you may be right?
Have you an arm like God's?
Verses 7-9 (JPS)
Then the Lord continued to raise
questions concerning the wonders of His creation. Three of these
questions found in Job 38:31, 32 illustrate the dynamic logic
conveyed in God's questions.
Canst thou bind the sweet
influences
of Pleiades,
or loose the bands of Orion?
Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?
Orion
"Canst thou…loose the
bands of Orion?" Garrett P. Serviss, the noted astronomer, in
his book CURIOSITIES OF THE SKY wrote about the bands of Orion:4
At the present time this band
consists of an almost perfect straight line, a row of
second-magnitude stars about equally spaced and of the most
striking beauty. In the course of time, however, the two
right-hand stars, Mintaka and Alnilam, will approach each other
and form a naked-eye double; but the third, Alnitak, will drift
away eastward so that the band will no longer exist.
In other words, one star is
traveling in a certain direction at a certain speed; a second one
is traveling in a different direction at a second speed; and the
third one is going in a third direction and at a still different
speed. Actually every star in Orion is traveling its own course,
independent of all the others. Thus these stars that we see
forming one of the bands of Orion are like three ships out on the
high seas that happen to be in line at the present moment, but in
the future will be separated by thousands of miles of ocean. In
fact, all the stars constituting the constellation of Orion are
bound for different ports, and all are journeying to different
corners of the universe, so that the bands are being dissolved.
The Pleiades
"Canst thou bind the sweet
influence of the Pleiades…?" Notice the amazing
astronomical contrast with the Pleiades. The seven stars of the
Pleiades are in reality a grouping of 250 suns. Photographs now
reveal that 250 blazing suns in this group are all traveling
together in one common direction. Concerning this cluster, Isabel
Lewis of the United States Naval Observatory tells us:5
Astronomers have identified 250
stars as actual members of this group, all sharing in a common
motion and drifting through space in the same direction.
Elsewhere Lewis speaks of them
as "journeying onward together through the immensity of
space."
From Lick Observatory came this
statement of Dr. Robert J. Trumpler:6
Over 25,000 individual measures
of the Pleiades stars are now available, and their study led to
the important discovery that the whole cluster is moving in a
southeasterly direction. The Pleiades stars may thus be compared
to a swarm of birds, flying together to a distant goal. This
leaves no doubt that the Pleiades are not a temporary or
accidental agglomeration of stars, but a system in which the stars
are bound together by a close kinship.
Dr. Trumpler said that all this
led to an important discovery. Without any reference whatsoever to
the Book of Job, he announced to the world that these discoveries
prove that the stars in the Pleiades are all bound together and
are flying together like a flock of birds as they journey to their
distant goal. That is exactly what God said. "Canst thou bind
the sweet influences of Pleiades?" In other words, Canst thou
keep them bound together so that they remain as a family of suns?
INCREDIBLE! God's laws of
cosmology are loosing or dissolving the constellation Orion.
Sometime in the far distant future, Orion will be no more.
Conversely, wonder of wonders, every last one of the 250 blazing
suns in the Pleiades are ordained of God to orbit together in
their symmetrical beauty throughout eternity.
Arcturus
"Canst thou guide Arcturus
with his sons?" Garrett P. Serviss wrote:7
Arcturus, one of the greatest
suns in the universe, is a runaway whose speed of flight is 257
miles per second. Arcturus, we have every reason to believe,
possesses thousands of times the mass of our sun. Think of it! Our
sun is traveling only 12˝ miles a second, but Arcturus is
traveling 257 miles a second. Think then of the prodigious
momentum this motion implies.
A further observation of
Arcturus by Serviss:8
It could be turned into a new
course by a close approach to a great sun, but it could only be
stopped by collision head on with a body of enormous mass. Barring
such accidents, it must, as far as we can see, keep on until it
has traversed our stellar system, whence it may escape and pass
out into space beyond to join perhaps one of those other island
universes of which we have spoken.
Charles Burckhalter, of the
Chabot Observatory, added an interesting note regarding this great
sun:9
This high velocity places
Arcturus in that very small class of stars that apparently are a
law unto themselves. He is an outsider, a visitor, a stranger
within the gates; to speak plainly, Arcturus is a runaway. Newton
gives the velocity of a star under control as not more than 25
miles a second, and Arcturus is going 257 miles a second.
Therefore, combined attraction of all the stars we know cannot
stop him or even turn him in his path.
When Mr. Burckhalter had his
attention called to this text in the book of Job, he studied it in
the light of modern discovery and made a statement that has
attracted worldwide attention:10
The study of the Book of Job and
its comparison with the latest scientific discoveries has brought
me to the matured conviction that the Bible is an inspired book
and was written by the One who made the stars.
The wonders of God's universe
never cease to amaze us. Arcturus and his sons are individual
runaway suns that seem to be out of orbit in our galaxy. Traveling
at such immense speeds, why don't they crash with other suns or
planets? Where are they headed? Only God knows. Indeed they are
not runaways. They will not crash. Why? God is guiding them.
The Lesson of the Pleiades, Orion, Arcturus
Few have suffered the multiple
tragedies of Job. How could God reach through the enormity of
Job's self-pity? (Job thought God just didn't care.) In these
three questions (Job 38:31, 32) God is in reality saying:
Job, you think I am not
concerned about your suffering. Well, let Me ask you these
questions. Can you loose the bands of Orion? No, you cannot. But
My Divine power will—some day Orion will no longer exist. Job,
can you bind the 250 stars of the Pleiades together in their
symmetry of beauty and not have a single one drift off? Only I
have this power and wisdom. Can you prevent the runaways—Arcturus
and his sons—from colliding as they go dashing out of the
Milky Way? No, only My Divine power and wisdom can.
Job, if I am caring for the details of the
universe, do you doubt that I not only care for the details of
your life but I have the ability to solve your problems? Trust
that there is a good reason I am permitting these tragedies.
Remember, Job, I work from the perspective of your eternal
welfare.
What an awesome way
God chose to tell Job that He was in full control of human
affairs, including Job's life! When God finished His series of
questions, Job exclaimed:
I know that thou canst do
everything,
and that no thought can be
withholden from thee.
Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge?
Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not;
things too wonderful for me,
which I knew not…
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear:
but now mine eye seeth thee.
Job 42:2-5
Job finally learned the meaning
of his severe trial. He learned that its loving purpose was to
give him a clearer understanding of God, that he might serve him
more faithfully and with greater appreciation. He speaks of this
clearer understanding as "seeing" the Lord, instead of
merely having heard about him. Since he had gained such deep
insights of God, Job's brief period of suffering was a most
valuable experience.
Besides restoring Job's health,
"the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his
beginning" (Job 42:12-15).
The Lesson of Job for Us
Perhaps like Job in utter
misery, you have cried out to God—even questioning his justice.
Some write off the history of Job as Old Testament folklore.
Whoever heard of God talking to a man! These are hand-me-down
tales! However, the account of Job cannot be gainsaid. Whatever
the method of communication used by God, the astonishing facts
cannot be refuted. These scientific facts recorded in the book of
Job concerning the Pleiades, Orion and Arcturus anticipated
scientific discovery by nearly 3000 years. Scientists only
discovered these startling facts in our 20th Century, yet they
were recorded in the book of Job nearly 3000 years ago. What an
awesome confirmation of the Bible! Who can doubt the Bible is the
inspired word of God? Yes, the book of Job has a powerful,
exclusive lesson for 20th Century man. Twentieth Century science
proves God's Word, the Bible, is true. The Bible does contain the
answer to why God permits evil.
Honest Doubt
Job 2:10 states: "In all of
this Job sinned not with his lips." How does this harmonize
with chapter 42 where Job accused God of being unjust? Where there
are facts, there can be no doubts. But our relationship with God
is by faith, not facts—"according to your faith be it unto
you" (Matt. 9:29). Where there is faith, there is room for
doubt. Through trials and adversities (1 Peter 1:7) the man of God
must develop a mature faith, "a full assurance of faith"
(Heb. 10:22). We watched the drama of Job's struggles to a mature
faith. An immature faith has doubts. Job had doubts, but they were
not sins because he didn't try to inflict his doubts upon others.
While doubting he lacked trust but still had belief in God. So he
took his doubts where a man of God must take his doubts—to his
God. And God dramatically answered Job's doubts and developed in
him a full assurance of faith.
We will have doubts in our
journey to maturity. At such times we must copy the example of
Job, Jeremiah, David and John the Baptist, and take our doubts to
the Lord in prayer. If our heart is sincere, God will answer our
doubts. He will speak to us. And He speaks to 20th Century man
through His Word, the Bible. In God's providence the book of Job
was especially written for 20th Century man. Much of the
scientific probing of chapters 38 through 41 can only be fully
understood in the light of modern scientific discovery. God in his
foreknowledge knew the cunning deceptions of human philosophy and
sophistry would reach their zenith as a challenge to faith in the
"last days" of the Christian Age (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). In
arrogance, modern man dares challenge the very existence of God.
As will be seen in the following chapter, this debate between
modern man and God is a part of the many vital lessons humankind
is learning during God's permission of evil.
How do we know there is a God?
Where do we find the answer to—Why does God permit evil and
suffering? In the book of Job God is telling us:
Just as I answered
Job's questions and doubts, I can answer your questions and
doubts. My answer is found in My Word, the Bible. How do you
know the Bible is My inspired Word? Many of the startling
scientific facts I caused to be recorded in the book of Job
nearly 3000 years ago were only discovered in the 20th Century.
This is My assurance to you that the Bible is inspired. Thus it
provides a logical faith and hope-inspiring answer to modern
man's question —
Why does God
permit evil?
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