Job Problem (Tentative) Solution – Part III

In the first several posts of this series I raised the question about how God deals with Job in the book of Job, why I am asking the question in the first place, and some of my preliminary thoughts on a possible solution. In this final post, I will state the tentative solution itself. Of course, some of the recent comments on the previous posts have been making me rethink even this tentative solution. You all are awesome!

Tentative Solution

The primary problem we seem to have with how God treats Job is that Job doesn’t know what is going on. It would be one thing if Job were in on the divine wager: “Psst…Hey Job! God here. I’m gonna teach that pesky Satan a lesson, and I need to use you. You’ll probably lose everything, including your kids, get real sick, and everyone will tell you just to curse me, but hang in there, and I’ll reward you. What do you think? Shhh! Here comes Satan! Wink once for yes, twice for no!”

If that had been the case, and Job had agreed, we might view Job as more of a hero than a victim. (Of course, there would then be the issue of Job being willing to let his kids die…but we’ll leave that alone). People all the time are asked to do hard things for the family, or their country, sometimes at great personal cost. If they agree, they are rightfully viewed and treated as heroes.

So if Job was really God’s champion as I suggested in the previous post, then why didn’t God let Job know what was going on?

The reason, I believe, is that He couldn’t! To tell Job what was going to happen to him would be cheating. Satan, if he found out about it (which he probably would have – he’s a crafty creature), would have cried “foul!” He could have accused God of stacking the deck. (Bullet pointed out that God’s foreknowledge kind of does this too. It’s an interesting point. However, notice that Satan didn’t seem to think that God knew what Job was going to choose. Hmmmm…).

So the problem is that to truly be a champion for the challenge that Satan proposes, Job must necessarily be ignorant of what is going on behind the scenes. God cannot tell Job what is going on, because that would ruin the terms of the challenge.

Here is one possible solution: Since the Bible clearly reveals that we are in a war, anyone who chooses to follow God knows that he or she may be called up to the front lines. When one chooses to follow God, they are, in a sense, enlisting in God’s army, or at the bare minimum, signing up for the Army Reserves. And just like in the Army, those who serve in the hardest areas move up in rank and responsibility. The higher you go, the harder your assignments get.

All of us who follow God need to have this sort of mentality. I think Job had this mentality. I doubt he became “the most righteous man on the face of the earth” through a life of ease and comfort. He (like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, and the Prophets) probably became the man he was through many toils, trials, and troubles.

So when it came time for God to choose a champion, He had a good man for the job (pun intended). Job didn’t know exactly what was going on, but I believe He knew that whatever God was doing, it was part of the ongoing war, and the best thing Job could do was remain loyal. So Job is truly a hero after all.

Some Final Thoughts

I know this answer is not fully satisfactory. That’s why it’s tentative.

However, with this perspective on the book of Job, I am now viewing the book as a paradigm for human history. In some sense, we could be a grand “experiment” to answer some Satanic challenge to God. Maybe God created humans just to prove something to Satan (I’m not sure what), and be a lesson to angels (fallen and unfallen). If so, then we are God’s champions, and part of the fight is that God cannot let us in on the terms of the wager lest it affect our behavior and thus, the outcome.

In a similar way, Job is also the Bible in summary. In the Garden, all things were at peace, and Adam and Eve enjoyed life. Then Satan shows up and destroys everything. At the end of the book (both Job and the Bible), everything is restored – even better than it was before! In the meantime, there are tests, trials, and people coming around to tell us to just curse God and die.

Well, that’s all for now. It is 11:55pm, so although this post needs lots of polishing and editing (and probably lots of clarification), I’m headed for bed.