WHY WE HAVE TROUBLE

WHY WE HAVE TROUBLE!

Job 5:6-7

6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

           Eliphaz and his two friends had come to watch Job suffer. After a few days of simply being amazed at the size and scope of Job’s anguish, Eliphaz gives his opinion that all this trouble must surely be the result of Job’s sins. He concluded that God was pouring out His chastisement because trouble just doesn’t spring up from the dust. It must have a cause.

           Our own sin is certainly a worthy starting point when investigating the cause of all our troubles. To acknowledge one’s sin is the beginning of redemption. But Job had already carefully searched himself and could not identify any sin worthy of his trouble. Why then was he suffering one trouble after another?

           Man is born unto trouble as surely as sparks from an open fire pit flies upward in the thermal draft. Trouble comes! God makes the rain to fall upon both the just and the unjust (the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:45).

           On this rare occasion, God had chosen Job as the battle field upon which He would shame and embarrass Satan. Slowly and gradually God had granted Satan permission to torment Job in order to prove to Satan that Job was a faithful man. Because God knows the end from the beginning, it lessens the apparent cruelty of Job’s suffering. God would eventually repay and reward Job for his faithfulness.

           If we praise God in the light and curse Him in the dark, we cannot claim any advantage in knowing God! Do not the irreligious respond the same? This concept is presented by Jesus in Matthew 5:46. The point is that Job’s responses to horrific calamities made Satan a liar.

           Are you sifting through the rubble of calamity? Do you struggle with the cause? Have you considered the possibility that God has chosen you to be a portrait of steadfastness and faithfulness even in the face of extreme pain? Eliphaz gave good advice in the following verses.

Job 5:8-9

8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

Dear Lord, some today are suffering and struggling to determine the cause. Reveal sin where it may be found and give grace when the cause remains a mystery. Help us to praise you both in the light and in the darkness. AMEN