There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. (Job 1:1). Job was a man who did everything right. He reverenced God. He avoided anything which was evil or wicked. If he did wrong, he immediately sought the forgiveness of God upon the realization of his error. He was, as the text reads, blameless. Yet, in a matter of minutes, his world was shattered.

Job received news that his herd of oxen and donkeys had been raided by a neighboring people, who took the livestock and killed all those who served Job, save one. While this lone survivor was reporting the news, another servant ran up and reported that lightening had struck and that Job's herd of sheep and all his herdsmen had perished, save one. Before this servant had finished, a third servant appeared with more bad news. A raiding party of Chaldeans had stolen all of Job's camels and murdered his servants, except for one. It is almost impossible for us to imagine what Job must have felt. In a matter of moments, to be told, that all one has worked for and accumulated is gone.

However, Job's problems had just begun. While that third servant was relating the events of the Chaldean raid, a fourth servant appeared with the most devastating news of all. All of Job's children had been killed when a windstorm caused the house that they were in to collapse.

It is beyond our comprehension to know what Job felt at that moment, unless we too have had similar experiences. Job cutbacks, family breakups, sickness, and such like can cause one's life to be quickly turned up-side-down. A child preceding its parents in death, is a devastating blow. The void created by that loss can never be completely filled. Those who have suffered so must have the same sentiments as Job. He said, "Why did I not die at birth?...Oh, that I might have my request. That God would grant me the thing that I long for! That it would please God to crush me. That He would loose His hand and cut me off!" (Job 3:11, 6:8,9). Yes, it seems, that death would be preferable to such suffering, however death did not come to Job as it most likely does not come to those who are suffering.

Suffering Job believed that death was preferable to the anguish that he was enduring. His three friends, who had come to him, were of no comfort to him. They wrongly accused him of some wrong doing, thus the reason for his suffering. Job responded that he desired for someone to give him a hearing. He was prepared to account for every thing he had ever done. He demanded to see his supposed wrong doings in writing. He had signed his name to his defense and challenged the Almighty God to answer.

When tragedy comes knocking on our door, don't we often respond as Job did. "God, why are you doing this?" "I am not a bad person. I do not lie or cheat or steal. I try not to harm anyone."

We must realize there is a difference between God allowing one to endure suffering and God causing one to suffer. God allowed Satan to try Job up to a certain point, but no further. The promise is made to the Christian today, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13). God may allow us to endure some suffering but, for the Christian, that suffering is tempered by the comfort that God limits that suffering and provides a way to escape it that we might bear it.

Secondly, we must realize that some suffering can be beneficial. If I lay my hand on a hot stove burner, the pain and resultant suffering is actually beneficial. If I had not felt it and pulled my hand away, it may have been permanently damaged. Also, I learn to check the burner before I lay my hand on it. Even some good can come from the tragedy of death. We tend to think only of the material world of here and now and not upon the spiritual world of the hereafter. If the grief and suffering brought about by death causes us to draw closer to God, has not some good come from that tragedy?

Job finally realized that he did not have the answers to all that befell him. He said, "Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand." God may be allowing us to suffer through a tragedy for some greater good that only He knows. So, when we are in the midst of pain and suffering, let us not fix blame on God but trust Him and draw closer to Him.