As we continue to go through Job, Job’s friends continue to hammer along the same line, insisting that Job must have done something wrong to deserve all problems he’d been suffering through.
But in the midst of their arguments and Job’s counterarguments, we face a question that is never really answered, and it’s one I’ve noted before.
The question: Why is it that God doesn’t do more? Why is it that when people do evil, we don’t always see them suffer for it.
Zophar’s answer is quite simple. “Sure the wicked may prosper for a while, but eventually they will suffer for it.”
Job comes back by asking, “Really? Then why do I see so many wicked people living on, growing older, and becoming more powerful? Why is it that they’re enjoying their lives in safety and prosperity, even though they show disdain for God?
“You say that their children suffer for their evil actions. But why don’t the evil themselves suffer? They don’t care what happens after they die. Why doesn’t God punish the evil themselves?”
Job then closes chapter 21 by saying,
So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood! (Job 21:34)
He continues this line in chapter 24 and ends it by sarcastically throwing their arguments in their faces and saying, “Okay, now I’m affirming what you said. The wicked will get their just deserts. Fine. Now how are you going to prove it?”
The hard truth is that there are many wicked people that prosper. That don’t get their just deserts here on earth.
And while we can console ourselves with the fact that they will indeed face judgment before God some day and receive justice, it’s still hard to understand why God doesn’t punish them now.
The ultimate answer is, “I don’t know.”
When you look at the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus does seems to imply that it would be impossible to take out the tares (evil people) in this world without causing harm to the wheat (those who belong to God).
Perhaps one way to look at it would be this: through the evil that people commit and the harm that they cause, some people actually turn to God.
People that would not have otherwise given a second thought to God get their world shaken, and as a result turn their eyes on the One they had long ignored.
I’ve long felt that many Japanese people, in particular, are that way. The percentage of Christians in Japan is very low (less than one percent), and I’d guess that the majority of those that come to Christ do so as a result of some crisis in their lives.
That said, I’m not completely satisfied with the answer, nor do I feel it’s complete.
What I do think it shows, however, is that God knows more than we do. He has purposes and reasons that we don’t know or can even understand.
It is, in fact, one of the main points of Job. That we as his creatures with finite knowledge are in no position to question our creator who has infinite knowledge.
We’ll definitely be tackling this more in later blogs.
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 