God personally responds to Job and his friends in chapters 38 – 41, and what is interesting is that God never answers the question! God never told Job why he was suffering. Now, what does that mean to us? It means, faith can ask God, “Why?” But faith must also continue to believe even when the answer doesn’t come!



Let’s say that the moment a person believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved their bills were all paid, their health was restored, and all of their problems were immediately resolved. If that were the case, then people would flock to God, not by faith, but in order to get their bills paid, health restored and problems solved. That is not living by faith (2 Cor 5:7), and the Bible says that without faith it’s impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).

God also tells us that, although good works don’t save us, they are the result of true and honest faith in God. In other words, we do good because we are saved not in order to get saved (Eph 2:8-10). Now these good works are what the world sees. They demonstrate Christ-likeness. These good works could never be seen if Christians were taken directly to Heaven the moment they get saved or if every trial and sorrow were taken out of our lives. Who wouldn’t be happy if that were the case? What is different is when Christians endure the same trials, temptations, death and disappointment as do non-Christians, but with a smile on their face and joy in their heart! Bad things are going to happen to Christian people (Matt 5:45). God allows it so the world will see us respond with a “peace that passes all understanding” and give God the glory.

Read Matt 5:45-48. New products that come on the market are tested for various reasons. The results of those tests are proof to anyone who might question the validity of advertisement. Now stop and think for a second, a Christian who has never been tested has no “proof” in his life to rely on as to the strength of his faith. But through testing faith becomes the ‘evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1).

Why do so many come to church for a couple of weeks or a month and then seem to fizzle out? They claim to have gotten “saved.” But when trials and temptations showed up, they couldn’t “count it all joy” (James 1:2). In fact, they were easily offended. They left. As fire purifies gold and silver, the fire of a trial in our life will reveal (“prove”) our faith, whether it is real or not.

From the book of Job to the end of the Bible it is clear that some endure harder trials than others. It is also true that God will not allow us to be tempted more than we can handle (1 Cor 10:13). Take the time to read Numbers 31:23. That’s where we get the song that says, “Some through the water, some through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the blood.” Forget about the water and fire for a moment. Have you been through the blood? Is Jesus your Saviour or is He just a genie in a bottle that you call on only in emergencies?