Without Cause
3 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason." 4 Then Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. 5 But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face." 6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life." (Job 2:3-6)
God said Job was blameless. And because of - not in spite of - his innocence and faithfulness, Job was handed over to be humiliated and devastated. We often imagine ourselves in the place of Job, and we feel stricken by the unfairness of his predicament. With him and on his behalf, we want to cry out Psalm 26:
1 Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. 2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and mind. 3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you. (Psalm 26:1-3)
Comparatively, Jesus was also blameless. It was because of his innocence and faithfulness that he could overcome the humiliation and devastation he received as penalty for our sin.What if this story is not about us, or even Job, but about God? What if the point is not to answer our "why", but to encourage our trust in the God who moves in the stillness and, in the silence, is still speaking life into being? What if assigning blame for the cause of suffering is not as important as our reverence for the One who is the cure?
6 But someone has testified somewhere, "What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them? 7 You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor, 8 subjecting all things under their feet." Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9 but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
(Hebrews 2:6-9)
