Shall we not accept adversity from God?

“So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” Job 2:7-10

Have you ever faced a trial so deep, so difficult, everything about your faith is tried? A trial that takes your breath away. There are times as believers where for a season, we walk a very dark and confusing road. This was the case of Job who faced a trial orchestrated by Satan with the intention of showing that given the right circumstances, Job would curse God to his face. 

Job was a man of which God said “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil”. Can you imagine for a second the God of the universe speaking of you that way? What a statement to be uttered by the lips of One who spoke all things into being. Yet here we see Him say this of Job. 

Job, however, had no idea of the exchange. All he knew was that he lost all he had, all his children and now physically he was riddled with boils over his whole body. This is where Job’s wife is used as Satan’s instrument. With the serpent’s tongue she steps in to tempt Job by telling him to “curse God and die”, the very thing Satan said Job would do to God’s face. Job replies with a powerful response, “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” This response right here is one of the most humbling responses in Scripture as it is spoken by someone in great anguish. Not only has he faced devastation to his property, but his children have been killed and he himself now is physically suffering and will continue to suffer for some time.  Job is not on the hilltop speaking here, he is very deep in the valley.

This response has challenged me in the last few months as I have been faced with a life-changing circumstance that has caused me great anguish. I thought I really understood anguish before, but I was wrong. The definition of Anguish is, ‘severe mental or physical pain or suffering.” In terms of Job, Satan pulled out all the stops with one intention- to cause him to face suffering so great, he would curse God to His very face. Satan even used the lips of Job’s own wife to draw him to do it. Often as believers, we don’t face the level of pain Job suffered yet the trials we do face we consider what we are willing to accept from God. We have to consider, as Job did

      Shall we accept only health?

       Shall we accept only fortune and prosperity?

       Shall we accept only happiness?

       Shall we accept only yes answers to prayers?

       Shall we accept only ease?

       Shall we accept only healing?

       Shall we accept only tolerable and understandable trials?

       Shall we accept only blessings?

       Shall we accept only things within our parameters?

       Shall we only accept a God that makes sense to our minds?

What do we do when God enters in to take all of these from us. What do we do when we have our Job moment? What happens when chaos enters our life that takes our breath away and causes us to question everything we know to be true about God…shall we curse God as Satan tempts? Shall we utter His name with contempt or question His character?

I believe the reality is that when chaos takes our breath away, often our first response is quite human…We do go the “angry at God” road, we question, we ask ”Why me?”…sometimes we even turn away for a season as our hearts try to understand and heal from something we thought wouldn’t be permitted from God. I don’t think many of us approach the hardship of Job’s measure with the grace that he did from the onset. I believe it takes contemplating the person of God and wrestling with His character. I think it takes time and a season where He enters in and begins to heal our wounds. I know God can bear the weight of our wrestling. He doesn’t forget that we are but dust.

Maybe you have even felt like Job’s wife. No one really discusses her as the mother of the children who died and the wife of the one who is suffering. She seems to fall to the back of the story but she shows the humanity of loss. Not that we should “curse God and die”, but the comments we make when God moves in a way that we don’t understand. She speaks with anguish from a startled, confused, and broken heart that unfortunately led to a moment of contempt as Satan uses her pain as his weapon. Pain can go either way and God’s shoulders can bear our heartbreak.

Job wrestled with the God that he knew to be true. I have found myself in the same place. It is easy to believe when everything is going well and you are on the mountain top or when we can navigate the trials that we face. But when Satan is allowed to touch what is precious, at that moment, all bets can be off. This is why God’s grace is so amazing and why we need His grace ever more when we are broken. It is why we must lean in. Even when we don’t lean in or maybe we can’t, I find that He does. 

I have often seen well-intentioned believers lack grace when people enter a time of great suffering. They point to pillars of Christian suffering and forget that those very pillars also walked a dark road…they questioned God, questioned His sovereignty, His will and goodness before they came to peace with the Lord’s decisions. We must be careful not to cause greater harm to someone who is already suffering. Only the Lord knows the circumstances and struggles they are enduring. We must be places of grace, truth, and refuge…pointing them to the gospel and assuring them of God’s love for them until they themselves can stand strong on that foundation. 

I have found the people who have done so for me to be a balm to my soul. They reassure me when I can’t hold fast and help me each day as I regain my strength. Until I can think right and breathe again they will be a lifeline. I am blessed by their faithful servant heart to my weary soul. Be that Christian! Be the balm to the soul that is so broken and hurting that life itself has become dark and scary and God has become confusing. Until they regain their foothold, hold them up in prayer, truth, love, and comfort. Be that safe place, loving them in Jesus’s name. Be the one who enters in to heal what has been broken by this sinful world. That is Christ’s heart…be like Him.