The Testing of Faith

GOLDEN TEXT: “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee.” —Job 42:5

JOB 19:19-25; 42:1-6

JAMES wrote, “Ye have heard of the patience of Job.” (James 5:11) Job needed a great deal of patience, for God permitted him to be very severely tested. It was a test of his faith in God, a faith that enabled him to endure much mental and physical suffering without understanding why.

Insofar as individual experiences are concerned, there is often no explanation for suffering, thus the importance of trusting God even though his providences may not be understood. Through faith Job had attained to this high level of trust, and said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”—Job 13:15

However, Job did earnestly seek an understanding of his trying experiences. He had been a prosperous man, having a devoted wife and a loving family. By divine permission one after another of his blessings was taken away. After losing his health, even his wife lost confidence in him. On top of all this, three of his trusted friends, under a pretense of comforting Job, contended that his suffering was due to gross sin which he had committed, but was trying to keep secret.

Job knew that he had not willingly sinned against the Lord, but was unable to explain why such calamity had come upon him. However, he at no time lost faith in the wisdom and integrity of God; although he did become so weary of suffering that he asked God to let him die, praying, “O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, … until thy wrath be past.”—Job 14:13

The Hebrew word here translated “grave” is sheol, the only word in the Old Testament which is translated “hell.” It denotes the hell of the Bible, and it was to sheol that Job wanted to go to escape suffering. This is because the hell of the Bible is the state or condition of death, where there is no wisdom, knowledge, nor device. This is shown in Ecclesiastes 9:10 where sheol is translated “grave.”

Job’s faith extended beyond the present life. After asking God to let him die he raised the question, “If a man die, shall he live again?” He did not ask, “If a man die, is he really dead?” Job knew that if God answered his prayer, and let him die, he would be dead, that he would be in what David describes as the “sleep of death.” (Ps. 13:3) What Job wanted to know was if he would “live again,” or be raised in the resurrection.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Job finds and presents the answer to his question, saying, “All the days of my appointed time will I wait [in death], till my change [from death to life] come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.”—Job 14:14,15; John 5:28,29, Revised Version

Job’s restoration to life, as is true of the whole world of mankind, is provided for through the work of redemption centered in Christ Jesus. Job also spoke of this, saying, “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” (ch. 19:25) The “latter” or “last days” is the period the Bible indicates as the one during which the dead will be restored to life. See John 11:24. Job knew that that would be the time when he would be awakened from the sleep of death.

In verse 26 Job is quoted as saying, “Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Here Job may have been referring to the loathsome skin disease which was destroying his body and sapping his life away. Or he may have had in mind the disintegration of the body after death. In any case, he expected to be restored to life as a human on the earth; and he knew that then he would “see” God in the sense of understanding him.

This prophecy had a partial fulfillment even before Job died. After his faith had been sufficiently tested his health was restored; he was given another family and more riches than he enjoyed before. Thus his experiences as a whole parallel those of the entire adamic race, which, starting out in a beautiful garden home with perfect health, lost all, even life itself. But, like Job, the human race is to be restored during what Peter describes as “times of restitution of all things.”—Acts 3:19-21

As a result of Job’s experience with evil, he said to God, “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” (ch. 42:5) This also will be the result to mankind of the general experience with evil. When it is over, all who have faith to profit from it will know God in a manner which otherwise would be impossible.

QUESTIONS

Is it always possible to understand why we suffer?

Why did Job ask to go to sheol?

What is the only hope of life beyond the grave?

When will all mankind “see” God?

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