Is Providence a Problem? (2) (Job 1:1-2:10)
Introduction
We like to think we have life figured out. Follow the right steps, make the right moves, and God will bless you. I am doing well, so I am dialed. I have life figured out. Struggle and suffer, and you must have done something wrong.
The problem is that the book of Job refuses to let us off that easily. Job is blameless, upright, and God-fearing. Clearly, he is dialed, but everything is taken from him. His story forces us to ask: What does it actually mean to trust in the providence of God when life gets complicated?
God Definitively Rules
The catechism reminds us that God upholds heaven and earth. This means that God upholds the tallest tree to the smallest blade of grass. God is in charge during times of rain and seasons of drought. There is not one thing that falls outside his hand.
This means that even Satan operates within God’s confines. God does not set out to destroy Job. Satan requests to sift Job, and God sets the boundaries. Job thinks that God does not see his good deeds as the book unfolds. But in reality, God is not distant or indifferent because he sees that Job is blameless and upright. God governs every detail of his creation. God allows Satan to sift Job because the Lord knows his servant.
God Rules Over Poverty and Prosperity
Satan is doing more than just trying to destroy Job. Satan claims that God blessed Job, so Job serves God. This battle is not just about providence, but a cosmic war. Satan does not believe that God can uphold his saints. Job loses everything: his children, his livestock, and even his health, from Satan’s challenge. Satan's gamble is that Job's faith was only ever a convenient transaction. Satan believes Job will curse God, exposing God as a fraud.
Job is pushed by his wife to curse God. His response destroys Satan’s accusation. Job says to his wife, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" (Job 2:10) Job shows that the new Adam will not heed the voice of Eve. Job knows that in all things God is sovereign. We are called to the same posture of dependence.
God Calls us to Wait on Him
Job began the story blameless and upright. Job shows that he will wait upon the Lord. Satan claimed that Job only loved God because God made his life easy. Satan knows he cannot defeat God. However, Satan is confident he can rip a saint from God’s hand. Satan’s wager never pays off. Job never curses God, even as Job ends with his own wrestling match with God.
Here is the remarkable thing the book of Job shows us: God did not merely restrain Satan's attack, but he used it to sanctify Job. Job submits to the Lord’s will when he says, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you" (Job 42:5). The very trial Satan intended to use to destroy Job's faith became the means by which Job came to know God more deeply. Job does not concede answers, but he truly met God. We learn that the Lord does not seek to destroy us, but to nurture us. He can do this through trials and blessings.
Conclusion
Providence is not a problem to be solved. It is a reality to be trusted because we have a faithful Father who rules over all things. Life is genuinely complex. We see that the righteous suffer. We see that the wicked sometimes prosper. We have to come to grips with the fact that our neat formulas break down. God is not the problem.
But the God who rules over leaf and blade, over rain and drought, over poverty and prosperity, is the same God who knows you better than you know yourself. He is not holding you at arm's length while the storms come. He is sanctifying and upholding you in the midst of them. So let us wait upon the Lord. This is not because we understand all his ways, but because we know He is our Faithful Father.