Life is Tough but Jesus is Tougher: Why Job Suffered

Life is undeniably tough. If there is one thing we can know about any person we meet, it is that they have suffered. Simply being human in this fallen world guarantees suffering. Ecclesiastes reminds us that life is short and full of sorrows—external sorrows, internal sorrows, grief from death, pain from disability, stress from unemployment, and the countless afflictions that mark our existence. We live in a world of thorns on every side.

How, then, can we endure suffering while trusting a sovereign God? The book of Job offers us profound answers, and when read through the lens of Christ’s death and resurrection, it shows us how to endure until the end.

The story of Job from Uz is not a parable but concerns a real man with flesh just like ours. James himself points to Job’s suffering as an example for our endurance (James 5:11). Job was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (1:1). This was not merely the author’s assessment—God himself testified: “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (1:8).

Understanding why Job suffered requires examining four key realities.

Job’s suffering began simply because he was born into this world. After the fall in Genesis 3, when man sinned against his holy Creator, the entire world came under a curse. God punished sin, for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The ground itself was cursed, and thorns rose on every side. To be born into this world is to be born into suffering—into a place where we don’t get what we want and do get what we don’t want, where even our needs often go unmet.

Job himself recognised this reality. In his anguish, he wished he had never been born at all, understanding that birth itself ushers us into a realm of various sufferings. Even Christ, when he came into this world, suffered. There is no escaping it: If you are born into this world, you will suffer.

This distinction is crucial. While all suffering exists because of sin—specifically Adam’s sin that brought the curse upon creation—not all suffering comes as direct punishment for a particular personal sin. Job’s friends failed to grasp this vital truth. They arrived with the premise that all suffering must be symptomatic of specific personal sin. But God’s own testimony contradicted their assumption.

Job was indeed a sinner, as we all are. However, his suffering was not a direct correlation to any particular sin in his life. He was a godly man who feared God continually, who offered sacrifices for his children lest they had sinned in their hearts. He was blameless—not sinless, but beyond reproach. God had blessed this man with wealth, family, and honour.

This same principle appears in John 9, where Jesus encountered a man born blind. The disciples asked whether the man or his parents had sinned. Jesus replied that neither had sinned specifically to cause this blindness. Hebrews 12 does teach that God disciplines us for sins, but not all suffering functions as such discipline.

This truth challenges our theological framework and emotional response. In Job 1:6–8, we read of a divine council where “the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came amongst them.” When God asked Satan where he had been, Satan replied that he had been going about the earth. Then comes the shocking verse: “And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job?’” (1:8).

God initiated the test of Job’s faith. He wanted to prove his claim about Job—that this man feared God for God’s sake alone, not for what he could gain. Just as we see with Joseph’s journey to Egypt or Christ’s path to the cross, God orchestrated events according to his sovereign will. God did not merely redeem unfortunate situations; he ordained them for his purposes.

One author notes that suffering came to Job to justify God’s claim to Satan that man can serve him without thought of gain. First Peter 1 tells us that faith must be tested by fire, like gold, so that it shines all the brighter.

Satan’s response in 1:9-11 reveals his strategy: “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”

Satan did not dispute that Job feared God, but claimed that Job only did so for the benefits. He wanted to expose faithlessness and sever Job from his relationship with God. This is Satan’s perpetual aim: to cut the lifeline between God and his people. He will let you have wealth, friends, success—anything—as long as you are severed from God himself.

Notice that Satan acknowledged God’s protective hedge around Job. For years, Satan had attempted to reach Job but could not penetrate God’s protection. Satan is not equal to God; he is a created being accountable to his Creator. When God draws a line, Satan cannot cross it without permission.

The test on Job’s life asked a simple question: Why do you fear God? Why have you come to him? Is it for God himself or for what he gives?

This question confronts us all. Did we come to Christ for Christ, or for health, wealth, reputation, or comfort? If we came for anything other than Christ himself, it is only a matter of time before we are exposed. Whatever currency we have used to trade with God will eventually be tested.

Consider Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego facing Nebuchadnezzar’s furnace. They declared: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace…. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods” (Daniel 3:17–18). They came to God for God, even if it meant burning faithfully.

Jesus spoke of two builders—one who built on rock, one on sand (Matthew 7:24–27). Storms came to both houses without partiality. One stood, one fell. The difference? The foundation.

The storms of life will come. The question is not whether we will suffer but what foundation we have built upon. Is your faith built on the resurrected Christ, on the Saviour who died for you? If everything else is stripped away—reputation, wealth, health, loved ones—will you still stand?

As we suffer, we must not be severed from the life found in Christ alone. This is the only life that lasts, both now and in eternity. Do not cast away the only lifeline, which is God in Christ. Hold fast to him, for he is tougher than anything life can throw at us.