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. . .
The question came up, “What, then, is the purpose in suffering, and
healing (or lack of it)?” . . . . I believe, especially
in Job’s case, the point to which God was driving Job was to recognize
the self-righteousness under which he was living and to drive Job to seek
a righteousness outside himself—a foreshadowing of justification and
redemption in Christ.
 ctually, Job wasn’t a
self-righteous man. He was a man of faith, innocent of guilt. Satan inflicted
suffering upon him—with God’s permission—as a test of Job’s
faith and loyalty to God.
Of course, Job’s friends
tried to convince him that he was at fault in some way. In fact, much of
the suffering in this world is the result of personal behavior. Even
Christ, after healing someone, often said, “Go, and sin no more.”
But Job remained adamant in his innocence. And throughout all the suffering
heaped upon his head, he did not commit sin. So, what was the purpose of
it all?
Well, notice what God said in
answer to Job’s demand for an explanation. God made no attempt to defend
Himself. He simply said that He could do what He wants.
Now, that kind of statement might
sound arrogant—that is, if it came from anyone but God. So what was
God getting at here? He meant that He could do what He wants because He has
reasons for doing what He wants, even if we cannot comprehend those
reasons.
This, of course, leaves us with
a dilemma. How do we know for sure whether our suffering is the result of
sin or if it serves some unfathomable purpose of
God? To anyone but a Christian, there’s no solution. But every Christian
has the answer hanging right before him: Christ
crucified. In Christ on the cross, we comprehend
perfect obedience to God’s deepest motives. On the cross, even innocent
suffering glorifies God, for it leads us to
persevere in obedience despite all the opposition
the world can inflict on us.
So when a Christian suffers,
it doesn’t matter whether the suffering is the consequence of sin or
not. All that matters is that all suffering be accepted and
carried as one’s cross. Let it be a testament
to God’s glory and a penance for all the sins that nailed Christ to
the cross. Christ endured all suffering for our
redemption, so as we bear our suffering gracefully,
we share the burden of the cross with Christ. Let all suffering end in
love.
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Consider it all
joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the
testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect,
so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. |
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—James 1:2-4 |
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And that’s how the Book
of Job ends. Job recognizes his mistake of falling into distress because
of his suffering. He
 submits
to God’s will in total obedience. He therein discovers
love, because an essential aspect of love is obedience.
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments,” Christ told His
Apostles (John 14:15). And, as He told Saint Margaret Mary, “I love
obedience, and without it no one can please Me” (Autobiography,
47). Love means to accept God’s will totally, without complaining that
it is too difficult, or too inconvenient, or not “relevant” to
the modern world.
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If, when we shall
arrive at St. Mary of the Angels, all drenched with rain and trembling with
cold, all covered with mud and exhausted from hunger; if, when we knock at
the convent-gate, the porter . . . refuse to open to us, and leave
us outside, exposed to the snow and rain,
 suffering from cold and hunger till
nightfall—then, if we accept such injustice, such cruelty and such contempt
with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring . . .
write down, O Brother Leo, that this is perfect joy. And if . . .
taking a knotted stick, he seize us by the hood, throwing us on the ground,
rolling us in the snow, and shall beat and wound us with the knots in the
stick—if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking
of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which we would share out of love for
him, write, O Brother Leo, that here, finally, is perfect joy. |
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—Saint Francis of Assisi
The
Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi
Chapter VII |
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This is far removed from Buddhism
and all other natural philosophies that attempt to avoid suffering as something
evil. When you try to avoid anything your fear plays right into Satan’s
hand. But when suffering becomes love, then all
of Satan’s tricks and temptations get thrown right back into his
face.
And that’s why God accepted
Satan’s bet and allowed him to put Job to the test. Job wasn’t
self-righteous—Satan was. Satan, in all his “roaming the earth
and patrolling it,” sought nothing but his own glory. The defeat of
Satan’s self-righteous wager by Job’s obedience was the perfect
foreshadowing of Christ’s perfect obedience on the cross and His final
victory over sin and death and all the suffering they cause.
  
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