Dear friends, about two decades ago I recall seeing a movie entitled, "Better Off Dead."  It was a comedy in which a teenager named Lane had to deal with all sorts of teenage crises: his fickle girlfriend dumps him, his strange little brother embarrasses him, a homicidal paper boy harrasses him over a $2 payment, and two nasty brothers try to run over him in their car.  As life gets worse and worse, Lane gives up and tries finding ways to kill himself, but fortunately he can't go through with it.  Lane's life gets better when he befriends a cute foreign exchange student who helps him rebuild a vintage car together and gain back some self-respect.  After realizing he will never get his old girlfriend back, he admits he is not the "loser" he thinks he is, and that he is not better off dead without her, but better off alive.

          The kinds of troubles this young man goes through seem huge to a person his age.  But they amount to little, compared to the genuine struggles of life.  Job of the Old Testament - now there's a man with real problems!  Job's story is real life, a drama of loss and suffering, of questioning God and life, and of finding an answer to the question of suffering.

          Job was a patriarch who was blessed with children, livestock, lands and prestige.  As a Jew, he believed God blessed the faithful and withheld blessings from the unfaithful.  Job wanted to pass his inheritance along to his children, so when he lost it all, family and livestock, his holdings and even his health - all in one day! - he wanted to know what he'd done wrong.  He'd kept his part of the covenant, but God had not.  What Job really wanted to know was, "Why, God?"  Or more specifically, "Why me, God?"

          "Why me, God?"  Job didn't ask this question out of self-pity.  He asked it because his situation challenged everything he believed about God.  He had followed God's Law, so why wouldn't God reward him?  By all he believed, this should not be happening to him.  Where was God's faithfulness?  And if God wasn't faithful, what's left?  At best, life is futile and empty and meaningless.  Of course, it didn't help that his wife started blaming him for their plight.  Job was the lonesomest man on earth, and he hurt something awful.

          Life on this earth is filled with troubles, and we can't always see God's plan in them.  Our faith in God is often tested, sometimes beyond human endurance.  The book of Job was written to show us that God really is faithful, but in His own time and in His own way.

          Few of us have had a day like Job.  In one day he lost everything and all his seven children died.  To make matters worse, Job was afflicted with a loathsome disease that left him covered with boils from head to foot.  Job was just plain repulsive to be around.  But despite all this, Job doesn't blame God.  Rather, he trusts God's mercy.  In the face of death, he will not turn his back on the one who gave him life.  In the midst of his misery, he says those remarkable words, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." (Job 15:13)

          The book of Job is a rebuke to those of us who have had far fewer problems, but have still blamed God.  When things go wrong, people are quick take Him to task, to resent what He is doing, or start calling Him unjust and uncaring.  And unlike Job, few of us have to go through the trials having so-called friends give us advice.  Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar arrive with all the answers.  With friends like those, Job did not need enemies.

          As they arrived, Job had been asking himself questions:  "Why was I ever born?"  "Why didn't I die at birth?"  And, "Why can't I die right now?"  Incredible questions!  It's bad enough to question one's birth, and worse to ask why one is allowed to live.  But now to want to die, and not be able to - what more could go wrong?  Job was at the end of his rope.  He was worn out, despairing and he hated life.  Life couldn't get any worse!  What good is a life filled with misery like this?  And into that scene came his three buddies who are going to "help" him answer all his questions.  For the sake of description, let's call them, "Eliphaz the Elegant," "Bildad the Brutal," and "Zophar the Zealous."

          Eliphaz, the eldest, is a smooth talker, like a politician who has learned to say unpleasant things in gracious ways.  Bildad is brutal and plainspoken.  He lays his cards on the table.  His words smack Job in the face and he doesn't care what their effect is.  Zophar is the opposite, a compassionate and emotional man, and he tries to move Job to action by appealing to his emotions.

          The argument of all three men is this:  "The righteous are never punished; only the unrighteous suffer.  So what have you done, Job?  What are you hiding?  There's something wrong here, and if you'll just admit it, you'll get better.  So fess up, Job!"

          Recently a Christian man who should have known better declared publicly that the Prime Minister of Israel had a stroke because he did something wrong.  Some of us sat around waiting to see if he himself would have a stroke.  Years ago, a Christian magazine editor wrote that Dr. Billy Graham had a serious illness as a judgment from God because he associated with the wrong people.  But then in the next issue the editor of that magazine announced that he had fallen down a stairs and broken his leg.  His accident, he said, was Satan attacking him, trying to stop his God-given ministry!  How characteristic of the self-righteous!  They see the speck of sawdust in their brother's eye, but never the log in their own eye.  Most of us believe the suffering of others is caused by their sin, while our own suffering is always caused by someone or something else.

          Many years ago, Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, wrote about "preachers who go around with a theological revolver in their ecclesiastical pants," ready to blast anybody who gets things wrong.  Like Eliphaz, they shoot their mouths off with words like, "You can't hide from God - He'll uncover your sin.  You might as well admit it!  Just give up your sins and maybe then God will bless you."

          But it doesn't always work that way.  Not every person who experiences great troubles is a dreadful sinner, and not everyone who confesses his sin is immediately cured.  Some of life is God's mystery that we'll never understand.  It will confuse us till we get to heaven.

          But Job believes he has a right to complain.  "It also helps me to bear my troubles," he says.  Many people believe that.  Psychologists tell us if we just get it off our chests, our troubles will go away.  But that doesn't always work, either.

          Job's dilemma is that he knows God is in charge of all things, so why should this be happening?  He knows his life in is God's hands.  He's not claiming to be holy.  He's tried confession, so what else can he do?  Have you ever felt that way? "Lord, what more do you want from me?"  Some take it farther and ask, "Why are you so intent on making my life miserable?  What's going on here?"

          You and I are wise to look for purpose in sufferings.  We may not see it until later, but there is a purpose, and it is a good one.  Only time helps us get the full perspective.  In every trial there are two purposes to deal with: Satan's purpose, and God's.

          Satan's purpose is to break us, to use pain and suffering to irritate us, drain us of energy and even kill us.  Satan wants to destroy us, and he often does.  I've buried far too many suicides that Satan had a hand in.  He is a killer, and we're always in his sights.

          But God's purpose is to save us, and he starts by teaching us truths we'd never know.  Through the Psalmist He says, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor Me." (Psalm 50:15)   God wants us to trust Him for everything, in life and in death.  This current trend of assisted suicide is more aptly called "encouraged suicide."  I think it's all an attempt to stop population growth.  I believe the current push towards acceptance of abortion and homosexuality are part of it.  There are some out there who see people as the greatest evil on earth, and will do anything to stop more people from being born.

          Despite our poor record, people still think we're smart enough to choose the right thing, including our time and way to die.  But one thing is for sure: we do not know what happens to those who willfully take their own lives.  Why risk it all when we don't know what's awaiting us?  Why not let God choose the time and means?  His record is far better than ours.

          In the end, Job got back all he lost.  If he had ended his life, he'd never have known the joy of the new family and fortune God gave Him.  His suffering was worth it, and so is ours.  Suffering viewed without God makes no sense.  But seeing it as part of God's plan does help.

          Jesus Christ came to seek and save the lost.  He gave His life that we might have eternal life.  Satan and the world want to kill us, but God gives us life.  Always remember: "God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son; That whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might have life through Him." (John 3:16-17)

          Our life is God's gift to us; what we do with our life is our gift to Him.  May we all rejoice in the life God has given us, and may all those who are suffering find relief.  Amen

Copyright © 2006 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.