The Fog of Pain

“Job continued his discourse: ‘How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, when His lamp shone upon my head and by His light I walked through darkness!’”

Job 29:1-3 (NIV)

As the story of Job unfolds we discover the source of his personal vexation and discouragement. Ultimately, it was not the loss of possessions, wealth, or family that dispirited him; it was the sense that either God had abandoned him, or, worse still, determined to curse him. Either way, Job believed he was no longer in God’s favor or the Lord’s Company, which spiritually crushed him. Clearly, Job yearned for God’s wisdom and insight. He craved it. Without it, he felt like a boat adrift at sea, with no anchor and no heading. God was Job’s rock (a pillar of support) and resting place (a secure stronghold). Without God, there was no motivation to keep going. Jaded by loneliness and despair, Job eventually saw no need to continue on this earth.

Grief brings about a paralyzing darkness. Job felt as though he was undergoing a living death. He momentarily lost the satisfaction and the pleasure of being alive. At one point, he likened his existence to being sentenced to hard labor. He viewed himself as a worker biding time until the grueling workday was done. It brought about a spirit of restlessness and dejection in him. Pain, emotional or physical, has a way of becoming our singular focus. The more we dwell on it the more meaningless life seems. There are moments, typically in the midst of catastrophes, in which we call out to God only to hear silence. We bring our desperate pleas to God’s throne and obtain nothing immediately that inspires us to tarry on. But the hope-gaps that pain ushers in must be filled in with faith in the Almighty.

The fog of pain is a fierce tormentor and a misleading afflicter. We are never away from God’s benevolent hand and yet we assume we are all alone in agony, as Job temporarily did. Long-term sadness often produces negative thoughts and illogical conclusions. It shrouds everything in darkness and glosses over the goodness of God. There is no reason for optimism, or so a broken heart convinces us. When we descend to the depths of spiritual valleys many times we falsely believe there is no way of escape. No likelihood of returning to mountaintops. No possibility of peace. But none of the aforementioned musings are correct when you factor in the all-powerful, all-knowing God. The Lord has no weaknesses. He knows exactly what to do and when to do it. If we will but trust Him with today then we can be sure He will properly oversee tomorrow.

The primary lesson to glean from this passage in Job is that we must not be disillusioned by calamity. We must not surrender our confidence in God or our desire to worship Him in all seasons, even those beset by setbacks. We must not adopt a weak spirit or seek a hasty exit from this life. God is ready and willing to absorb our tears and transform us in tragedy, but it requires submitting to His authority and recognizing His lordship in all matters. There is a holy light that is ever shining. If we can take our eyes away from the haze of hardship and wait on the Lord we will see His abundant light and find the courage to journey on in obedience.

In God, there is cause to praise, even in adversity. In God, there is cause to persevere, especially in disasters. In God, there is cause to be patient, realizing that God is always in control. In God, there is cause to be at peace because God’s reign never wavers or diminishes. In God, the fog of pain cannot debilitate us; it can only draw us closer in fellowship to God, the great and holy One.

The State of Suffering

“At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship.”

Job 1:20 (NIV)

Why do bad things happen to good people? This perennial question is continually employed, usually to discredit God’s holy existence, or downplay the Lord’s unfailing love. Scripture does not deny that humanity will find itself, at times, in tragic circumstances. In fact, the book of Job acknowledges it and wholly focuses its attention on the state of suffering.

The book of Job is great comfort to the suffering heart for it reveals that God is at work and in total, complete control - always. The God who allowed hardships to befall Job is the same God who blessed him as well. This seemingly paradoxical treatment causes many to criticize God’s leadership and character. After all, Job was a man of integrity. He honored God in all endeavors. And yet he was made to undergo devastatingly hard times. Why is that? Why do the upright endure calamities alongside the unprincipled? As the book of Job unfolds, we find that the natural human tendency to press God for answers is much less important than praising God for His divine love and greatness. God owes us nothing. We, however, owe Him everything.

What believers come to understand when we excavate the quarries of God’s biblical treasure is that God’s intent and purposes are beyond our personal comprehension. The Lord gives in some instances and He takes in others. The temptation in the moments that we find ourselves with less is to protest or demand that God fully clarify His rationale for our perceived injustice or misfortune. Realize that God is not beholden to us; we are beholden to Him. Therefore, the Lord is not required to address all of our concerns or issues, even though in His love He routinely responds to our aches and difficulties.

Humanity is a lot that longs for a pain-free existence. But God confirmed that this aspiration would not be possible after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. There would be consequences for personal and corporate transgressions, both short-term and long-term. The struggle we often grapple with is to respond to the emotional storms of life by bitterly complaining about the rain those storms pour down on us. Incredibly, even in the seemingly negative situations God proves Himself faithful. Just as showers are needed to help grass grow and thrive, God can utilize the storms of life to nourish our spirit and replenish it with holy encouragement, thus allowing our spirit to develop and mature. But we must choose to trust God in every season, especially the strenuous ones, as Job did.

In a day, nearly all that Job cherished was gone. His family. His fortune. Practically all that was left was his faith in God, which, truth be told, was all he ever needed. Job’s initial response to the loss of his family and fortune indicates the kind of reverence he held for God. Broken and despondent, Job bowed down, worshipped, and gave glory to the Lord. Job did not jettison his admiration for the Creator or discontinue holding God’s name in great esteem. He held onto it. In fact, he clung to it, even as his world shattered around him. We can learn a lot about how to suffer in righteous fashion through Job’s conduct. The suffering servant was a pillar of perseverance. Job’s immense resolve was not the result of his own inner strength, but the strength he wisely placed in the God of eternity. The Lord is the Healer of today and the Hope for tomorrow.

God's Plan; God's Promotion

“Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one so discerning and wise as you. You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to submit to your orders. Only with respect to the throne will I be greater than you.’”

Genesis 41:39-40 (NIV)

Joseph’s life, as recorded in Genesis, is truly the stuff of legend. Born as the eleventh son to Jacob, but the first to Jacob’s true love Rachel, Joseph enjoyed a special affection from his father. This affection was especially transparent when Jacob adorned Joseph with an elaborate, fanciful coat, thus signifying Joseph’s elevated place of honor over his siblings. Jealousy is a fierce foe. Joseph’s brothers longed for their father’s approval and favor, which clearly rested on Joseph. When their envious thoughts overcame them, Joseph’s brothers unjustly abducted Joseph and sold him into slavery after narrowly avoiding the urge to murder him. This horrendous action sent Joseph to Egypt by way of some unsavory Ishmaelites who profited from human trafficking. If Joseph’s account in Genesis ended here we might deduce that he likely compromised his godly standards later or eventually became so upset with God that he abandoned a path of righteousness after his unexpected deportation to Egypt. But integrity longs to be practiced in all endeavors, even in unfair circumstances. Thus, Joseph never conceded in living out his noble principles or convictions.

Joseph kept his spiritual composure in the midst of disconcerting situations. He was a dignified man and possessed a strong, sound work ethic. His upstanding, solid character, as well as his appealing physique, drew the attention of his master’s wife. She asked Joseph to forsake her marital covenant and sleep with her. It takes a man of moral courage and fortitude to resist a woman’s sexual advances. And Joseph was such a man. Day after day he rejected the impulse to give in to sin’s momentary, fainting pleasures. But his uprightness cost him, as it so often does. Joseph’s refusal to shame his body or his spiritual commitment to God sent him to prison when his master’s wife claimed that he had tried to force himself upon her. God saw Joseph’s plight and cared for him every step of the dark, lonesome path.

Joseph had so many reasons to be bitter. He was hated by his brothers. He was stripped of the coat and the recognition that his father had given him. He was thrown in a well and left to die. He was sold into slavery. He was falsely accused of attempting to molest or rape his master’s wife. He was hastily tossed into jail. The prison sentence was perhaps the lowest of low points for Joseph. He spent several years in the custody of the Egyptian government. Those months had to have been grueling. Every day Joseph spent in the dungeon he was reminded how life had not gone as he had envisioned it. Daily, he must have wondered what God was doing and why He was doing it in this manner. But though he may have been discouraged, Joseph was not broken. He held out hope in the immortal God and did not surrender to the temptation to believe that God had forgotten him, even when the conditions he was engulfed in stated otherwise.   

God had a plan for Joseph. It was a plan no man could have conceived or been able to bring to fruition. The Lord gave Joseph the ability to interpret the dreams of some fellow prisoners. When one of those prisoners was released he recalled Joseph’s God-given gift after Pharaoh was stricken with some troubling dreams. Joseph was brought before the Pharaoh and, with God’s grace, was able to interpret the Pharaoh’s dreams. Pharaoh was so moved by Joseph’s words and supernatural abilities that he commuted Joseph’s prison sentence and made Joseph a civil leader. The boy who had been yanked from the pasture and forced into prison was now employed in the palace. Quite a turn of events. A turn of events only God could have ordained or orchestrated.

This passage, like so many others, should motivate believers to be hopeful, even when we find ourselves encountering obstacles and pitfalls. Our trust should be in the Lord, not the world. God’s work, though perplexing and baffling, is marvelous and splendid. Joseph’s advancement from a convict to second-in-command of Egypt speaks to this point. There is a great story of providence in this account. Joseph was hastily discarded by his own kinsmen, but behind the scenes God was preparing a way for Joseph to help save Israel from a severe famine. Clearly, God’s mysterious and majestic ways are beyond our full comprehension. How God can arrange such circumstances is truly inspiring and powerful. God’s plan; God’s promotion. To God be the praise.

Relational Restoration

“But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.”

Genesis 33:4 (NIV)

It is tragic to consider how the sin that was first embraced in the Garden of Eden would come to negatively affects relationships thereafter. When God confronted Adam about taking and eating forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil Adam immediately deflected personal fault to Eve. Adam should have been stirred to protect his wife and absorb some, or all, of the guilt in her place. Instead, Adam willingly put Eve in God’s holy scrutiny and sought to shield his life from the consequences of wrongdoing, all at the expense of his spouse. A generation later, Cain took offense with God’s approval of his brother’s sacrifice, as well as the Lord’s rejection of his offering. God warned Cain to guard his heart because wickedness was ready to overtake him and lead him to engage in ill-advised activity. But Cain ignored the Lord’s heeding and killed his kinsman (Abel). Sadly, in the first four chapters of Genesis we find:

·         A broken fellowship between man and God (signified by God’s removal of Adam and Eve from His presence in the Garden of Eden)

·         A damaged relationship with man and woman (signified by Adam’s selfish blame-casting towards Eve)

·         A fractured bond between man and man (signified by Cain’s willingness to slay his own brother)      

All of these upended affiliations were a direct consequence of sin, confirming that iniquity does not draw people together; it pushes them apart and upsets the harmony that God destined us to enjoy. And so it is with this train of thought that we contemplate the relational wedge that separated Esau and his twin brother Jacob (Genesis 25-28). It is hard not to sympathize with Esau in some respects. After all, the normal privileges conferred to a firstborn son in the ancient world were maliciously and deceitfully snatched from Esau by Jacob, the younger sibling. To make matters worse, Esau and Jacob’s mother (Rebekah) consented to the theft of Esau’s blessing. But realize there were some character-flaws present in Esau’s life. For example, Esau purposefully searched for and married a woman of Canaanite descent because he knew how displeasing Canaanite women were to his father (Genesis 28:6-9). Such malevolent behavior was not indicative of a son who sought to honor his father or his family. Instead, it revealed that Esau was someone who cared little for principles, values, or integrity, at least in his younger years.       

Needless-to-say, Jacob’s underhanded receiving of Esau’s blessing prompted a rift between the brothers, a rift that presumably would never be reconciled. Isaac, Esau and Jacob’s father, sent Jacob away shortly after Jacob took Esau’s blessing. Time passed and God blessed Jacob’s endeavors, which primarily consisted of shepherding for an uncle named Laban. Eventually, Jacob married two of Laban’s daughters, Leah and Rachel, and amassed a substantial net worth through livestock and servants. One day, God commanded Jacob to go back to his homeland. There was tension between Jacob and his uncle and it was becoming increasingly clear that their mutual business partnership had run its course. Jacob subsequently left with his family, animals, and workers in tow. But Jacob knew that there was one looming concern upon his arrival back home: Esau.   

Jacob had no clue as to the emotional state of Esau when he set out. Was Esau still steaming mad over Jacob’s past actions? Was Esau ready and willing to strike down his brother over egregious relational transgressions? Or had Esau forgiven Jacob of his hasty scheming? Jacob simply did not know. But he trusted God with his life and the lives of his family. Jacob’s compliance to God’s command to return home was an act of courageous trust in the Lord. And it produced one of the most incredible events recorded in Scripture. According to Genesis 33:4, Esau ran to Jacob, hugged him, kissed him, and wept with him. It was a moment for the ages. There were no terse exchanges; there was only a tender embrace. There were no words of admonishment; there was only a wave of affection. There was no criticism; there was only compassion. There was no retribution; there was only reconciliation. No longer was Jacob an enemy of Esau – he was a brother.

The benevolent reunion of Jacob and Esau highlights the tremendous power of relational restoration. In God, wrongs can be let go. In God, hurtful words and unkind actions can be forgiven. It only requires the spiritual valor to choose the Spirit of God over the spirit of man. Embrace the supernatural power of God and much is possible. In summary, time does not heal wounds; God does.