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ISSUES OF SUFFERING, DEATH AND EVIL

ISSUES OF SUFFERING, DEATH AND EVIL

By Pastor Glenn Pease

 

 

1.         JOB THE RIGHTEOUS SUFFERER  Based on Job 1:1

2.         SUFFERING IS NOT GOOD‑A STUDY IN JOB.

3.     WHY TRAGEDY? Based on Job 1:6f

4.     GOOD AND EVIL   Based on Gen. 3:6

5.     GOOD AND EVIL II  Based on Gen. 3:22‑24

6.     A SIMPLE SOLUTION TO SUFFERING Based on John 9:1‑23

7.     ACCIDENTAL SUFFERING Based on Acts 20:7‑12

8.     THE SEVEN CAUSES OF SUFFERING Based on Luke 13:1-17

9.     DEATH AND THE WILL OF GOD  ACTS 7:51‑60

10.   PART II DEATH AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

11.   THE MYSTERY OF DEATH  Based on I Cor. 15:51‑58

12.   SUCCESSFUL SUFFERING  Based on James 1:1‑8

13.   GOOD OUT OF EVIL  Based on Phil. 1:12‑26

14.   GOOD OUT OF EVIL PART2 Based on James 1:12

15.   A BELIEVER'S RESPONSE TO DEATH based on II Sam. 12:15‑23

16.   DELIVERED FROM DEATH  BASED ON PSALM 116

17.   THE VALUE OF DEATH BASED ON PSALM 116

18.   THE RIGHT TO QUESTION GOD Based on Hab. 1:1-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.     JOB THE RIGHTEOUS SUFFERER  Based on Job 1:1

 

 

     One of the first impressions I gained at the Baptist General Conference  annual meeting in Green Bay was that Christians are perpetually suffering.  Every day we were reminded of leaders in our conference who are fighting with cancer.  Just in our small denomination of 130,000 people there are hundreds who have cancer, and hundreds more who suffer from other diseases.  On top of this, accidents are taking life, or leaving people injured and maimed everyday.  If this be the case in just one arm of the body of Christ, how great must be the suffering of the whole body? 


     A Russian pastor just recently released form prison for exchange for some Russian spies spoke to the conference twice.  He told of his great sorrow because of fellow pastors and lay‑believers who still languish in Russian prisons, not for being criminals, but for being Christians.  (This was 1979).  There is no doubt about it, it’s a great day to be alive, but the facts are that Christians are suffering persecution and martyrdom all over the world.  In our part of the world where we have peace we suffer from disease and accidents.  In conflict torn countries Christians face all of this plus the sufferings inflicted by man. 

 

     It is no wonder that Paul prayed that Christians might be strengthened in the inner man.  Christians need internal shock absorbers to keep on going in spite of the blows dealt by life.  The best shock absorbers are right thoughts about suffering.  Wrong ideas and theories to explain it only adds to the burden.  Helmut Thielicke, the great German preacher and scholar, who has traveled across America many times was asked, "What is the greatest weakness of American Christians?"  He responded, "Their views of suffering."  American Christians suffer one by one and have not gone through the holocost of war with its cities bombed and thousands dying all around them.  The result is, most of the deepest thinking on suffering comes from Christians in England and Europe where they have been through it.

 


     They will not be comforted when you squeeze rose‑water on their cancer.  The facts of life have forced them to rethink the popular simple views that Christians hold in sunny times.  Fortunately for us God has given us another way to think deeply about the mysteries of suffering.  We do not have to go through the fire to see the light.  The book of Job reveals the debate on suffering as no other piece of literature on earth.  Just as Jesus suffered for us that we need not experience hell, so Job suffered that we need not go through hell on earth to come to right ideas about suffering.  Thank God we do not all have to learn by experience.  It is possible to learn much from the experience of others.  All of us will experience suffering, but few if any will have to go the route of Job.  His severe experience can help all of us make our less severe journey smoother by giving to us the shock absorbers of right ideas. 

 

     In the book of Job we learn from the mistakes of others.  This is the path of wisdom, for we cannot live long enough to make them all ourselves.  We can make plenty of them, however, and the fact is, many go on making the same mistakes made by the friends of Job.  They were good and godly men, but are the great examples of how wrong good and godly men can be when it comes to suffering.  Their mistake was the common mistake still being made by Christians.  They tried to impose their simple explanation on all of reality.  They followed the path of all who are dogmatic.  In order to get all of the evidence to support their theory, they just ignored the facts that didn't fit.  They hated complexity.  They demanded that Job conform to their nice neat simple formula for explaining his, and all suffering. 

 

     Their simple formula was that all suffering was a sign of divine displeasure.  When men are good and godly they do not suffer, for God blesses them.  When they do suffer they have ceased to be good and godly.  They have sinned, and all suffering is punishment for sin.  The beauty of this formula is that anyone can grasp it.  It solves the mystery of suffering and explains everything.  If you suffer it is  just a reaping of what you have sown.  There is really no mystery to solve.  It has only one major defect‑it is not true.  This is what Job keeps saying over and over in his defense.

 


     Many Christians, however never read the book of Job, or do not understand it if they do.  The result is that many Christians suffer great mental agony because they try to explain everything by this simple but false formula.  They cry out in affliction saying, what have I done to deserve this?  This implies that all suffering is deserved and is punishment for bad behavior.  They may be conscious of some sin in their life, but there is no way that their sin can be so great as to deserve such severe punishment.  So they get angry at God and accuse Him of cruelty and injustice.  They know people much worse than themselves who do not suffer at all.  Their faith is often damaged, and they suffer mental and spiritual torment all because they start with bad theology and a wrong view of suffering. 

 

     If we learn nothing else from our study of Job, let's learn the folly of trying to force all of the facts into a simple formula.  There is a fascinating Greek legend about a robber named Procrustes.  He had a very unusual way of treating guests who came to his home.  He had only one bed for guests, and so everyone had to sleep in it.  Since he wanted each guest to fit the bed just right, he would stretch short guests on a stretcher so they were the right length, and, of course, if they were too long, he cut them off so as to fit.  Needless to say he was not a popular host.  His perverted practice has led to the word Procrustean.  It describes the friends of Job perfectly.  It is a word that refers to people who will cut off facts, or stretch the truth, or anything else that is necessary to squeeze all of reality into the bed of their iron‑clad formula. 

 

     The book of Job is anti‑Procrustean, and it demands that we stretch our minds rather than the truth.  It forces us to see life from a larger perspective, and to expand our theology to cover a greater diversity of facts.  The book of Job forbids us from getting a hold of a piece of the puzzle and calling that the picture. 

 


     Let's look at some of the Procrustean beds which men have tried to force all of the facts of life to fit into, but which the book of Job rejects as inadequate formulas to explain suffering.  You may not like this study anymore than Job's friends did, for maybe you will find your pet theory among them.  Don't feel too bad, however, for if there were not a lot of false ideas about suffering, God would not have devoted so much of His Word to the purpose of fighting them.  All of us will be forced by this book to reexamine how we think about suffering.

 

     The first false view of suffering is:

 

1.  Suffering is the result of the sin of the sufferer.  It is agreed by numerous commentators that the main purpose of the book of Job is to destroy this popular and almost universal view of suffering.  Most religions of the world follow this formula.  The whole doctrine of reincarnation is built around this theory.  If babies suffer and die they must have sinned in a previous existence.  If good and rightous people have terrible diseases, it can only be explained by the sins they committed in a former life.  The main purpose of the doctrine of  reincarnation is to force all of reality to fit this formula.  Those who really believe this formula have solved the problem of suffering by denying that there is a problem.  If masses of boat people are drowning, and thousands of children are dying, and disease is turning people into zombies of affliction, there is nothing to get upset about, for they all deserve what they are suffering.  All suffering is punishment for sin, and so all is fair and God is just.  This theory enables those who hold it to watch people die like flies without compassion, for they see no evil in suffering.  It is all good because it is just punishment for sin.

 


     Believe it or not, this is the theory of suffering held by Job's friends.  No wonder those who add to life's misery by this cruel counsel are called "Job's friends."  They did not believe in reincarnation, but they did believe that all Job was suffering was justified, and that it was God's way of punishing him, and trying to get him to repent.  They each take turns at trying to break Job down so he will confess his secret sin.  The best arguments for their view of suffering that you will find anywhere are right here in the book of Job.  As eloquent and forceful as they were, however, they never convinced Job that he was being punished for sin.   They could throw at him Scripture verses by the dozen that say, whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.  Job knew that was true of much suffering, but he refused to accept it as an explanation for all suffering, and especially his own.  Why?  Because it just did not fit the facts of life.  You cannot just take a truth, even a Biblical truth, and impose it on all of life's experiences.

 

     It is a Biblical truth that men reap what they sow.  It is a Biblical truth that sin leads to suffering.  It is Biblical truth that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.  No one will deny that these are sound Biblical truths.  Nevertheless, if they do not fit the facts of a specific case, they are not true of that case.  The best of medicine is of no value for a sickness it cannot cure.  Suffering can be educational, but this truth is of no value to the man who is killed, or left in a coma, by an accident.  What the facts clearly reveal about Job is: 

 

No. 1.  Verse 1 tells us he was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and turned away from evil. 

No. 2.  In verse 8 God confirms this description and adds, "There is none like him on earth." 

 


     It is established from the start that the man we are dealing with is in the center of God's will.  He is as near perfect as any man named anywhere in the Bible.  This means that any theory of suffering that does not take into account that even the most righteous can suffer terribly is false.  Job was not being chastened by the Lord, for the Lord loved him and held him up as the best example of godliness.  His suffering had nothing to do with his sin, and, therefore, all of the arguments of Job's friends which try to convince him he has angered God are themselves what made God angry. At the end of the book they are only spared from God's wrath by Job's prayer and sacrifice on their behalf. Their theory which was so false in relation to Job was almost true for themselves in that they came close to great suffering for their sin of teaching that all suffering is due to sin. This is a serious sin, for God has gone to great lengths to make it clear that it is a false view of suffering, and to be ignorant where knowledge is available is sinful.

 

     Does this mean the righteous do not suffer because of sin? No, it does not mean that at all.  The Bible is full of examples of saints who suffer due to their sin. Poor Peter weeping because of his cowardly denial of his Lord is a prime example. It is not that there is not truth to the formula that suffering is due to sin. It is just that it becomes a false view of suffering when you try to impose it on all experiences of suffering.  A partial truth made into a whole truth becomes a lie.  When you take something relative and make it absolute you are guilty of idolatry and sin against God.  That is what the friends of Job did, and the book of Job exists to help us avoid their mistake.

 

     If you think all suffering is punishment for sin, you will be forced to pervert the image of God into a cruel creator rather than the merciful creator that He is. Imagine how cruel it would be to imply that all who have cancer or some other fatal disease are suffering because they deserve it.  Such cruelty is a sin that God forbids by this book.  The parents of a girl born with a crippled foot were asked why they did not have the child's foot straightened by surgery.  They replied, "If we had the foot straightened He'd find some other way of punishing us."  They looked upon their suffering as God's punishment, and the result was they had a perverted and pagan view of God.  Had they understood the book of Job, and that tragic things can happen even to the innocent, they would have been motivated to turn to God in faith rather than from Him in fear.

 


     We don't have time to look at other false views of suffering.  The main truths to grasp is that the righteous can and do suffer, and wicked sometimes do not.  These are the facts of life.  The question of course is why?  Why isn't it true that only the wicked suffer, and that only the righteous prosper?  It seems like the friends of Job ought to be right.  Why are they so wrong?  They were wrong because of the cross.  The cross was in God's heart and mind long before Jesus came.  The teaching of Job was essential to prepare the way for the Messiah.  No one could ever believe in a Messiah who was a man of sorrows, and who would suffer crucifixion between two thieves if they were convinced that only the wicked suffer and the righteous escape it.

 

     Those Jews who never learned the message of Job missed God's greatest gift, for they rejected Jesus because, like Job's friends, they said he must be a sinner, for he suffers.  The poet said of Jesus:

 

The best of men

That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer;

A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit,

The first true gentleman that ever breathed.

 

We can look at the cross and praise God for our suffering Lord, and what He purchased for us by His suffering.  Those who believed, and yet believe, that the righteous can never suffer, can never grasp the truth of the cross and the fact that God Himself suffers‑the only absolute RIGHTEOUS SUFFERER. 

 

 

 

 

2.     SUFFERING IS NOT GOOD‑A STUDY IN JOB.

 

 

 


     We have special seats as we watch the drama of Job unfold.  God has, by this opening chapter, invited us into the balcony to watch the whole thing from a heavenly perspective.  We get to see from the view of God and Satan, and who knows how many millions of celestial spectators.  It is a sort of cosmic, SMILE YOUR ON CANDID CAMERA, set up.  We are all in on it, but Job has no idea what is going on. We know that all of the dirty tricks of Satan are deliberately designed so we can all see Job's reaction.  We also know that when the entertainment is all over Job will be rewarded for being a good sport through it all.

 

     In this analogy Satan is the Allen Funt of the spirit world who goes about constantly trying to dream up new ways to reveal human responses to trying situations.  All of this could be great fun if God would just call Satan off on  account of unnecessary roughness.  If Satan would have been less violent the whole drama could be enjoyable.  Had he just plotted for all his possessions to be robbed, that would have been an interesting thing to watch.  But Satan pulled no punches.  He wiped Job out and without mercy saw to it that the vast majority of his servants and all of his children were killed.  This spoils the whole show for those who are not sadistic.

 

     Many have felt that God made a bad deal with Satan.  Robert Frost has God explaining later to Job:  "I was just showing off to the devil."  Job responds, "That was very human of you."  Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist, goes so far as to say that God felt guilty for what He let Satan do to Job.  The reason he says God sent His Son into the world to die on the cross was because He felt so guilty about Job.  The cross was not only to atone for man's guilt, but for His own.  This is certainly as extreme a view as ever uttered, but what it reveals is man questions the justice of God in allowing Satan to treat Job like He did.  It just does not set right with man that God would give this much freedom to the forces of evil.  He should have put more restricted limits on Satan.

 


     This is man's biggest problem with evil.  Why does God in His sovereignty not stop evil from being so powerful.  The feeling is, if God is forced to permit evil, He is not all powerful, and if He freely permits it, He is not all good.  God is forced, it seems, to give up one or the other of these attributes.  Since all of Scripture however reveals God to be both all powerful and all good, man is forced to try to figure out how this can be when God permits evil to be as powerful as it is.

 

     One of the answers to this dilemma is, God can allow evil to be powerful if the end result is greater good.  In other words, God is justified in permitting any degree of evil that He, in His sovereign power and wisdom, can turn to good.  For example, God allows Satan to buffet Paul with his thorn in the flesh, because that evil of suffering will help Paul escape the greater evil of pride that could ruin his whole ministry.  Here is a clear case of God giving Satan freedom to do what He could use for good.  This means that the reason God does not destroy Satan and cast him into the lake of fire is because, in a fallen sinful world, the works of Satan can be used for the purpose of God.  God allows Satan freedom because it is useful for His own ultimate goals.  God is in control, therefore, and evil will not be able to do anything that God cannot overcome, and make count for good in the long run.  This being the case, God is off the hook, and He is justified in permitting evil.

 


     This truth is easily perverted into error.  Some conclude that evil is not real.  If evil is used for good, they reason that evil is really a part of the good.  If the good can only come by way of evil, then evil is good.  If good can come of evil then evil is not really bad, and, therefore, not genuinely evil.  This kind of thinking leads to the Christian Science conclusion that evil is not real at all, but is the result of false thinking.  The Bible makes it clear, however,  that evil is real, and that it is bad and not good.  God can use it for good, but it is evil and destructive, and not His will.  The fact that God is superior to evil, and able to counteract it's negative power does not mean that evil is not real and awful.  The fact is some evil will persist forever, and that is why hell is a reality.  We must avoid the superficial conclusion that all is really good if we only understand everything.  Because evil is real, there is much in life that is worthless and meaningless. 

 

     Those who think that evil is really good do not realize that by denying the reality of evil they make God responsible for all that we see as evil.  The Bible makes it clear that evil is real and God hates it, and is not the author of it.  Sometimes Christians feel that God sovereignty means that He controls everything that happens in this universe. If that was the case, then there is no such thing as freedom, and God is totally responsible for all evil.  If God controls all that we do, then all of our sin must be His doing, and, therefore, His will.  God then is responsible for all sin, for it He controls everything, who else can be held responsible?  Since that conclusion is totally at odds with the Biblical revelation, we must go back to God's sovereignty and come up with another view of it that does not make Him the author of sin.

 

     God's sovereignty means that He is the only Person in the universe who can take the risk of creating free willed beings because He is the only Person who has the power and wisdom to make sure that the risk of evil will not outweigh the good. He can end up with a universe of free willed creatures and much good and love that could not otherwise exist. God's sovereignty does not mean He does everything. It means that even though millions of beings do things He does not will, He is able to work in all things for good to those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose. God's will is not done on earth daily by millions, but because He is sovereign, His will will eventually be done in spite of all the sin and evil and rebellion.

 


     This is one of the powerful messages of the book of Job. Satan set free to do his worst was not able to destroy Jobs relationship to God, and God's final reward and blessing of Job. Paul in the New Testament said nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The book of Job had already made this truth clear. Life, then, from the Biblical viewpoint is a comedy, and not a tragedy. A comedy is a story that, no matter how tragic the events, ends well. Job is, therefore, a comedy, and all of human life is a comedy, however many tragedies there are to endure.

 

     Now all of this helps us to see suffering in a different light. All of the values and blessings that come out of suffering are real because God in His power and wisdom is able to use evil to bring forth good. The suffering itself is evil. It has its origin in evil powers and wrong choices, and it is evil in itself, for it will not be allowed to be a part of God's eternal kingdom. Evil has no intrinsic goodness at all and so cannot be eternal. The cause of suffering is evil, but the consequences can be good because God can work in everything for good.

 


     God is not the cause of any defect in the body, for the body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Just as you would not come into the sanctuary of your church and destroy the pews and the walls or windows, and just as you would not throw garbage all over to make it a place of filth which would be repulsive to God and man, so God does not smash His temple in planes, trains, cars, or bikes, nor does He spread cancer and other diseases through His temple to make the body repulsive.  All of the good that come from Christian suffering these things are because God will work in everything (however evil and repulsive) to bring forth good.  If men will cooperate with God, there is no evil that cannot be overcome to produce good.  But do not conclude that this means the evil or suffering is good, or that God is the author of it for good.  Both of these conclusions lead to the false concept that evil is not real, and that God is the author of evil.  Anything that leads to these conclusions is not Biblical thinking.  God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  It is impossible for God to sin, or to tempt anyone else to sin.

 

     There are some Old Testament text that lead to confusion on this, for they seem to be saying that God is the author of evil.  Amos 3:6 says, "Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?"  The prophet is simply pointing out that God does punish sin by judgment, and that judgment is called evil, because it is from man's point of view the worse thing that can happen.  It is an evil to come under the wrath of God, but when God does judge it is in reality not evil but justice.  God never judges unjustly or unfairly, and so there is no real evil in His wrath, but the Old Testament often refers to it as evil from the Lord.  It is the result of man's evil, and when he reaps what he has sown, it is an evil crop of suffering, but in no way does this  mean God is the author of evil.  He prefers mercy, but mercy rejected leads to justice, and justice for the sinner is an evil consequence.

 

     Understanding all of this helps us avoid the agony of misconception.  So many Christians look at the tragedies of life and Rom. 8:28, and struggle to figure out how everything works together for good.  They watch their loved ones die, and suffer months and years of loneliness and heartache, and all the while wonder how they are suppose to see any good in it all.  This is a futile struggle and frustration based on the misconception that evil is not real, but that all is good, and that all is of God.  You owe it to yourself, and to all the body of Christ to avoid giving anyone this superficial view of life.  Evil is real and it hurts, and it is not good, nor can God Himself make evil good, but He will work in all things, even the most evil things, to bring forth good. 

 


     But the fact remains, that is the back door to blessing.  It is best to come in front door and experience blessing without having to endure the evil.  Many a man's drunkenness has lead him to the gutter where he looks up for God's mercy.  That is good, but better is the way of man who seeks God's mercy without ever ending in the gutter.  Job had great blessings when it was all over, but I wonder if Job would have had his choice, what would he decide?  Would he choose to go on with his ideal family and wealth, and social prestige, and right relationship to God, and avoid all he had to suffer, or would he choose to endure the agony he did for the sake of possessing more?  We don't know what Job would do, but most people in his shoes would, I am sure, choose the easiest route and avoid the battle. 

 

     Since we don't have a choice, however, we need to be ready for the battle.   But let's not be naive and think the battle is not real, but only a good we don't yet understand.  Evil is real, and life is a battle with real bullets.  It is not all a mere play where we all go out to celebrate afterwards.  You have seen too many good people suffer too believe that.  You have witnessed too many broken homes and hearts to think that way.  Jesus would not have wept if all was for the best.  All is not for the best.  He tried to prevent the destruction of Jerusalem, but he was rejected, and he wept over the folly of the people that would lead them to such great suffering.  It was not for the best; it was evil.  Suffering is not good, but thank God this not good cannot keep us from God's best if we, no matter what, remain loyal to Him.  Suffering is not good, but thank God He will work with us, even in that which is not good, to bring forth what is good.

 

 

 

 

3.     WHY TRAGEDY? Based on Job 1:6f

 

 


      Elie Wiesel, who survived Hitler's blood bath for the Jews, as devoted his life to telling the world of this tragedy that he feels surpasses hell in its  horrors.  His books have motivated others to write so that there now exists a holocaust literature.  There are books, plays, articles, and poems, about history's most unbelievable tragedy, which is the brutal murder of six million Jews.  Wiesel did not see the entire million children who were killed, but he saw enough so that he was never the same.  He wrote: 

 

"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has

turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven

times sealed.  Never shall I forget that smoke.  Never shall I forget

the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into

wreathes of smoke beneath the silent blue sky." 

 

     In another place he wrote that people tend to think that a murderer weakens when facing a child.  The child reawakens the killers lost humanity and he can't go through with it.  But it didn't happen.  "Our Jewish children had no effect upon the killers.   Nor upon the world, nor upon God."  The result was that Wiesel did not respond like Job, but like Satan expected Job to respond.  Wiesel wrote, "Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever.  How can a Jew say anything religious thereafter?" 

 

     Wiesel survived the tragedy but his faith did not.  He could not understand how God could allow evil to be so powerful, and so he concluded that God does not care.  This is the test that Satan put Job through many centuries earlier.  All ten of his children were wiped out in one blow, and all of his wealth was destroyed the same day.  Job also endured a holocaust.  His dream world was shattered by a nightmare, and his ideal family was instantly reduced to no family at all. 

 


     There is obviously something wrong in a world where things like this can happen.  If tragedy was just an isolated incident here and there, and limited to the bad guys, we could go along with Job's friends, and the problem of suffering would be easily solved.  But tragedy does not have any respect of persons.  The Jonestown massacre was not a mafia convention, but over 900 mostly innocent people.  They were women and children, many of whom were good and godly.  The worse airplane crash in American history did not go down with a load of pimps and prostitutes, but with respectable citizens, some of whom were God's children.  War, famine, and terrorism are snuffing out the lives of thousands every year, and disease takes a terrible toll, and in all cases the good guys as well as the bad are victims.

 

     If the problem of suffering in this world does not bother you, you are yourself suffering from hardening of the heart, of softening of the brain.  Those who study Job's sufferings, and the tragedies of the world are forced to consider the subject called Theodicy.  Theodicy is the justification of the ways of God to men.  There have been many books written on this area of theology.  Joni's second book, A Step Further is a Theodicy, and it is a good one.  Many feel that the book of Job itself is a Theodicy.  A Theodicy strives to show that as bad as things are, God is good and He is in control, and evil is not winning the battle.  A Theodicy is the defense of God in a world where evil often seems to dominate.  

 


     The book of Job opens up the window of heaven, and enables us to see the problem of suffering from a broader perspective.  Job himself did not see what we can see.  He had to go through his tragedy believing that God was the sole cause of it all.  Life is so much harder when you have only a partial perspective.  Most of the ways we explain suffering are only partial, and none of them fit every situation.  A wife comes to consol and you are not long in listening to her story before you could watch her husband hang with a smile on your face.  Then he comes in and tells his side, and you wonder why there is nobody taking a collection to hang his picture in the hall of fame for endurance.  The point is, when  you see life only from one side you have a distorted view.  We have a distorted view of most of life, and especially life's tragedies.

 

     The first thing the book of Job does for us is give us an insight into the conflict in heaven