How This Unrealistic Response to Suffering Should be Our Standard

Suffering is part of life. Eventually, everyone suffers loss, experiences pain, is gripped by sorrow or is confronted with hopelessness.

Job lost his family and wealth in one day. His response: worship.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 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 Lord.” Job 1:20–21 (ESV)

The first thing we see Job do is very human. He fully expresses his grief and loss. Tearing the robe and shaving the head were the culturally relevant ways that sorrow was expressed.

Expressing loss, crying, and giving vent to our feelings is not only okay, it is healthy. We were created with these emotions and it is not wrong to use them.

The second thing Job did was powerfully spiritual. He fell on the ground and worshiped.

In times of loss and suffering, worship provides comfort and perspective. When we worship, we focus on something larger than our pain. When we worship, we focus on God — his power and majesty, his love and mercy and grace.

The third thing Job did was express timeless truth.

Instead of getting wrapped up in our suffering, it is helpful to step back and reframe our perspective. Job’s profound insight can be ours as well. Everything we have is from God. Lacking those things can be painful but God is the same!

My dad had a laminated card on his desk. When he died, I got that card and it now sits on my desk as a reminder. It reads:

Lord, I am willing.

I am willing to receive what you give.

I am willing to lack what you withhold.

I am willing to relinquish what you take.

I am willing to suffer what you require.

I love following Jesus and it means that I embrace this prayer and attitude. And it leads to a truly abundant life.

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