Job is Not a Book on Suffering

In a recent article, I highlighted how we can take something simple from the book of Leviticus and realize that there’s depth far beyond the initial read—if we’d do the work of mining for jewels! Every verse has something deep, from God, and can train you up and give you depth with him (2 Tim. 3:16-17). 

Equally important, however, is realizing that not only do individual verses pack depth, but entire books as a whole do as well. And if we see them rightly, they will bear more fruit. As with individual verses, if we view books with the wrong lens, we will lose some jewels along the way. 

For example, think about reading Psalms like a narrative. Undoubtedly you’d pick up truths and beauty about God, but you would miss a lot (and you’d think God has eagle wings as arms!). Job is no different. Most people don’t get the genre of Job right, and therefore miss valuable messages within it. 

Literary Genre

Almost two years ago, The Well did a sermon series on the Song of Songs (Solomon). As I opened the book, I was struck with a thought that completely changed my reception of the book and made it come to life in ways I had never experienced. Song of Songs is a wisdom book, intentionally placed in the wisdom literature. I had been reading it like poetry—which it is—but what if I read it more like Proverbs? Like wisdom literature? The moment I did, I saw depth I had never seen before. 

You know what else is wisdom literature? Job! However, most of us read Job like a narrative and we miss major portions and deep truths within the book. No doubt, there is narration and reading it like this will produce truth, but what if you read Job more like you read Proverbs? What would it produce? Let me give you three things reading Job as wisdom literature produced for me during the toughest season of my life. 

Job’s Ending Feeling

Because we make Job a book on suffering and read it like a narrative only, many struggle with the end of Job where God blesses Job with double what he lost. As if a double blessing could “make up” for what he lost. Sure, if this was the intention of the blessing, it would seem rather insensitive of God. But it isn’t. The purpose of the blessing wasn’t to “reward” Job or to “make up” for Job’s loss. If we read it like that, we may feel weird and it may seem strange to us that Job feels, apparently, great about it!

The Bible doesn’t tell you how Job feels because it isn’t a narrative. It is a Proverb – a wisdom text. Job may feel the full loss and lament over his family, but also deep gratitude and blessing for being out of the trouble—and not just out, but receiving good again. I mean, wouldn’t you want good again after those awful events?! 

Since we read it like a narrative, we mistakenly put God on trial in ways the book wasn’t designed to do. And what do we want, no blessing to come?! No, we should be happy that Job is out of the struggle and receiving again. Similar to a couple that has had three miscarriages, when a fourth baby is born healthy we rejoice! This doesn’t replace the mourning or loss; both can exist at the same time. When we read Job as narrative we want the story to be told, we want to understand the why, but it isn’t a story to be told but a “Proverb” to be understood. 

What is the Proverbial Truth? 

Sometimes bad things happen—even to “righteous” people—for reasons they or no one else can understand. When we read Job as wisdom literature instead of narrative, we can see that when good does come, there’s an ability to both weep at the former loss and rejoice at the current gain. Emotions are complex and two contrasting emotions can exist at the same time in the human heart. Seeing this truth helps us approach both God and life differently.

Like Job, We Live in a Broken World 

Reading Job as wisdom literature also teaches us that there will be seasons of your life when you are like Job. Perhaps not in the magnitude of suffering… only Jesus of Nazareth suffered more than Job! Nonetheless, there will be seasons where you are ransacked in life. It is an unfortunate reality living East of Eden, in this broken world. The glass is shattered; it is going to cut you. 

Like Job, our suffering is going to last for a period and then good is likely going to come as well. There was probably good before the suffering, and there will likely be suffering after the good. That’s the way of life. And we have to learn how to receive good when it comes (not fearful it’ll be swallowed up like prior blessings) and learn what that hard season is trying to tell us. 

What is the Proverbial Truth?

In order to learn the lesson behind the suffering, and to fully receive the blessing post-suffering, we have to embrace what God is doing in the midst of the suffering. You know—rejoice at trials, be patient in suffering, believe in eternal rewards… all of those verses we know but don’t really like (Jas. 1:2-4, Rom. 3:3-5, etc.). If we come to know that East of Eden has ups and downs, we can receive both as God intends – receiving good when it comes and learning from the hardship to become good when it comes. 

Job Is Not A Book on Suffering

I’ve alluded to this multiple times, but the final Proverbial truth I understood from Job is that this is not a book on suffering. As I said above, there are truths about suffering in Job but this is not a book on suffering. If it were, it would have told you why Job suffered or what to do or learn because of his suffering! But it doesn’t. Most of our questions about suffering are never answered—maybe because that’s not the point! 

Job is not a book on suffering; it is a book about God, like the rest of the Bible. It is a book highlighting the fact that we can trust God—truly. We may not understand his ways, but he is not unfair, afflicting us for no reason, bringing never-ending suffering just because. While we may not always understand the “why” of suffering, we can know the heart of God. And this will get us through suffering. 

Now, notice the genius of the Spirit. Job’s three friends are stupid, right? The entire time, the whole book they spend time philosophizing about why Job is suffering. He must have sinned, he must have withheld good, maybe God isn’t that good… all of his friends spend the entire book trying to figure out why Job is suffering. Then, the book ends, and what do you and I do? We spend time trying to figure out why Job is suffering! Philosophizing about it, saying what God must be doing… we become in many ways the fourth friend! You came in out of nowhere (like the friends) to philosophize about Job’s sufferings (like the friends), even though you know nothing about why he is suffering (like the friends), and completely miss the point! 

If Job were a book on suffering, God’s ending questions would be pretty harsh to this “innocent sufferer.” This is a book on God’s character though. His sovereignty. That we can trust him, even when we don’t fully understand his ways. We don’t always know why the suffering comes but we know the who of the suffering, and that he’ll never leave or forsake you! 

What is the Proverbial Truth?

When you’re suffering, if you look for reasons why, that may very much lead to your frustration or even your cursing of God (and on the worst end of that, leaving God). If you instead shift your focus, look not for why but rather what God is doing, and even more importantly who God is, much like the fourth friend, Elihu did, then your soul will be at ease even if your body is not. 

Conclusion

I know, Job has principles about suffering in it. I’m not arguing that it doesn’t. However, if we see the genre rightly, we realize this isn’t a book on suffering. That changes how we approach it, and we begin looking underneath the narrative (almost like a parable, a proverb) for a deeper truth. And I think the deeper truth of Job, the proverbial wisdom layered throughout the book, is balm for weary souls!