Life is Tough but Jesus is Tougher: How Job Responded to Suffering

In our overview of the book of Job, we have explored why he suffered and how he suffered. Now we turn to a crucial question: How did Job respond to his suffering?

Consider this statement: “It is because of how I suffered that I am what I am now.” Imagine three different people saying this. First, someone living on the street, eating from rubbish bins. Second, a billionaire CEO who owns multiple companies. Third, a Christian woman serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo, giving her life to help those suffering from disease and poverty. What is the difference between these three? Their response to suffering.

We live in a culture of victimhood, where people no longer take responsibility for anything. The past is dragged up to affect the present and hinder the future. We must acknowledge suffering and be compassionate, but we must also as,: how have you responded? Two people can face the same circumstances and respond differently. Some remain bitter about words spoken to them decades ago, letting that bitterness affect even their grandchildren.

Society tells us that abusers abuse because they were abused. While we must understand context, we must also factor in responsibility. People used to be victims of what happened to them; nowadays, people claim to be victims of what they do to others. We need to draw a line and ask ourselves, how have we responded to what happened to us?

Let us consider four ways that Jos responded to suffering.

Job was righteous before the trial and remained righteous after it. When he lost everything—his ten children, his possessions, his health—Job 1:20–22 tells us: “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LIRD.’ In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.”

Even when his wife told him to “curse God and die,” Job responded: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” And again, Scripture tells us: “In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (2:10).

Some of us have parted ways with godliness because of trials. We have given ourselves false licences to offend God after we have suffered, thinking that because we are victims, we can move away from holiness. But there are no breaks in godliness. God still expects us to be godly before, during, and after suffering.

This is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, he never uttered a word against his persecutors. Even as blood gushed from his hands on the cross, he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). There are no licences in the kingdom of God to live in sin because we have suffered.

Job tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell to the ground—all signs of mourning. He grieved genuinely. His pain was real. To lose one child is grievous; to lose ten is unimaginable. First Peter 1:6 acknowledges that believers may be “grieved by various trials.”

We cannot teach false Christianity that says you must smile at pain. Pain is pain. But notice what Job did: He fell on the ground and worshipped. “Blessed be the name of the LORD” (1:21).

Even in his pain, God’s value and exaltation was not minimised. God did not suddenly become small because Job was feeling such immense pain. This was not worship that thanked God for the loss. Rather, it acknowledged: “You deserve to be worshipped, even if I no longer have my oxen. You are exalted and holy, even when I don’t have my children.”

The pain does not take away God’s glory. God is still to be exalted and worshipped. We must worship God and bless his name for the gifts he gives, but we must also praise God because he deserves praise. He deserves worship. God is good, even when we don’t feel his goodness. As Psalm 119:68 declares: “You are good and do good.”

As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:10, the Christian heart is “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” We can acknowledge and feel pain genuinely, yet the greatness of God does not depart.

In Job 3, we see Job’s raw honesty. He cursed the day of his birth: “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived’” (3:3). In essence, he was saying: “I wish I was never born.”

Job did not pretend. Some of us pretend with our lives, but our hearts say something opposite. We scream “Hallelujah” with our lips, but our hearts actually cry, “Lord, I am breaking. Help me.” Job did not pretend. He brought his honest feelings before God.

The Psalms also demonstrate this honesty. Psalm 42:9–10 cries out: “I say to God, my rock: ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?’” Psalm 22:1 declares: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Picture someone visiting a doctor but not giving true symptoms because they do not want to appear weak. Some of us come before God but will not admit our true condition. We will not confess our weakness, anxiety, and dimming hope. But Job was honest with God about the depth of his pain, while not accusing God of wrongdoing.

Throughout the book of Job, one theme remains constant: the sovereignty of God. After the first two chapters, Satan is no longer mentioned. All parties recognise that, ultimately, God is behind what is happening—not that God is doing evil, but that nothing could have happened without his permission.

Job declares: “Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’” (9:12). Later, we find that magnificent statement of faith: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25).

Job trusted in a sovereign God. This is cornerstone truth when we suffer. The 1689 Baptist Confession states that God “does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence.”

Proverbs 16:9 teaches: “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” Even v. 33 declares: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” God is not merely a spectator; he is sovereign.

Understanding God’s sovereignty helps us because Romans 8:28 promises, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” All things—even those that do not seem pleasant—work together for the good of believers.

We may not always know why things happen. Many trials and sufferings in our lives remain unexplained. But we know the one who runs the show. We know his character. We know his purposes are good for those who are in Christ. Job declared: “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (13:15).

Which God do you believe in? A weak God who merely reacts to events, or the sovereign God that Scripture describes—the God under whose marvellous, gracious control all things and creatures exist? You will not survive suffering without such a God.

The only question that ultimately matters is: Do you know Christ? Are you one of those who love him and are called according to his purpose? If you have not repented and trusted in him, you cannot claim the promises given to believers. But for those in Christ, we have this assurance: in all that happens in our lives, God intends good. Our response to suffering is shaped by the God we believe in.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​