It reminded me this morning, as I was reading Job's defense, of my Lord, Jesus, who was blameless in his walk with God on earth but suffered a great deal because God decreed it for His purpose to save sinners like you and me!  Suffering pays a surprising visit to the righteous, not by whimsical turn of their life events but by exact orchestration of our God in order to fulfill His good purpose just as God redeemed His people through His faithful Son!  I am humbled by His sovereignty again this morning!

Job defends his integrity. And I am speechless. Here is a simple summary of what he has testified with respect to his integrity:

1. I have not lusted after young women (Job 31:1-4).
2. I have not gone after dishonest wealth (Job 31:5-8).
3. I have not entertained adulterous desires (Job 31:9-12).
4. I have not ignored or unfairly treated my workers (Job 31:13-15).
5. I have always and consistently cared for the poor, needy, widows and orphans (Job 31:15-23).
6. I have never trusted in my wealth, nor boasted of it (Job 31:24-25).
7. I have never had an inclination or given even a hint of idolatry (Job 31:26-28).
8. I have never cursed my enemies nor rejoiced when harm came to them (Job 31:29-30).
9. I have always been hospitable to foreigners and strangers (Job 31:31-32).
10. I have never tried to conceal my sins (Job 31:33-34).

Wow! No wonder God says of him: 

Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? (JOb 1:8).

Friends, while Job is often the centerpiece of discussion on the issue of suffering and God's sovereignty, we are also given a glimpse of the kind of lifestyle that God deems "blameless," "upright," "fears God," and "shuns evil." Shouldn't we aspire to a similar kind of lifestyle? We have this ancient example in Job, but what might it look like today?

Job's defense of his righteousness reads just like a practical application of the Sermon on the Mount, but it appears that even Job had difficulty seeing things with an eternal perspective, whereby he would take little stock to his earthly sufferings because of the weightier heavenly joys awaiting him. But Paul understood:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (Romans 8:18).

Again, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:10,

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

And there is no more perfect demonstration of this than Christ Himself, Who...

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).

And this He did not only to obtain eternal salvation for those who would believe in Him, but also to set an example for us:

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

Job is one of the earliest books in the Bible. It is placed within the framework of the times of the patriarchs, like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There was no Mosaic Law and the people's understanding of God was still primitive, at least where biblical revelation was concerned. However, the matter of God's sovereignty, even His freedom to do whatever He chooses, and man's responsibility to simply trust and obey Him are laid out through the clarity of a living example, namely, Job. His perspective should, therefore, also be ours:

Then Job replied to the Lord:

When Job says, "I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me," he was not admitting that what God did to him made any sense to him. But he was acknowledging that God had a sovereign right to do it, and he had no right to question Him. David uses the same language when contemplating God's sovereignty in Psalm 139:6,

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

In the New Testament Paul writes about this very same thing:

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! (Romans 11:33)

With respect to God's sovereign choice to eternally save some and not others, Paul addresses the obvious objections in the same manner as Job and David:

So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?” No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?" When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? (Romans 9:18-21).

We have a too-high view of ourselves, especially those who persistently cling to their unbiblical and humanistic notion of an inviolable free will. In trying to defend some contrived idea of God's moral honor, people limit God's sovereign freedom to do as He wants. Job recognized that he was approaching this way of thinking as well, but he repents of it, even with dust and ashes. He might be forgiven because of the intensity of his agony; however, what excuse do others have that cannot light a candle to what what Job suffered. 

I hate to break it to some of you, but God is not made in our image. The same rules that apply to us do not apply to Him. There is a big difference between the Potter and the clay. He molds us, yet some of you may be guilty of trying to mold God. And as for our confidence, we have only one thing and one thing alone that we can cling to, and that is His promises, that while God does as He pleases, by His own self-admission, He will never break His promises to us. The Jews clung to His covenant promises to Abraham, David, and the prophets. We cling to the promise of eternal life through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the only thing that matters in terms of our hope, and our purpose in this life is to simply trust these promises and obey His Word.

Many religions in this world teaches their followers that present sufferings are the direct outcome of our immorality just as Job's friends accursed him. Especially hinduism says that it is indicative of the wrongdoings in one's previous life if he suffers at the present moment and that he should accept his current lowly life as his punishment and hope for a better life in his next one. On the contrary, God says in Book of job that our present afflictions are God-ordained not necessarily as a punishment but definitely as a means of fulfilling his plan which is beneficial to us eventually either on earth or in heaven. The reason for us to be able to hope for the best is we trust in His sovereignty that governs course of our lives. What is the best that we hope for? It is our Lord, Jesus, who is our portion forever. Praise God whose mercy has no limit and whose love endures forever, Amen!