Why God, Why?

Have you ever read the book of Job? Even if you haven't, you probably know the story.

"But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face. The LORD said to Satan, Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.  - Job 2:5-6

There is a divine limitation to Satan's power, and as in the first chapter of Job, God moves the boundaries closer. He says, You can touch him. When Satan uses the phrase, "strike his flesh and bones," Satan is asking for complete access to all of Job's humanity.

Satan believes he can get Job to fall completely, shake Job's faith and cause him to turn from his trust in God and curse Him to His face.

Many people do not accept the story of Job as a real, historical event. They believe this because he endured so many trials. Most reasoning falls along the lines that "God is unconcerned about human life," or that "God doesn't really love his people." It pictures God as ruthless. Job's whole family was taken from him. So, many people cannot accept this as historical record.

These feeling and emotions are what many people struggle with today. They see God as nothing more than a being who thinks and acts like a man. More so they think that God has no more rights than a man. 

Deep down, people think that if a person dealt with another person as God dealt with Job, they would be charged with murder and cruelty. 

It did not occur to them that God could not be charged with these things, because in His hand is all of life. He determines the length of life for everyone.

One of the many reasons we have the book of Job is to show us that there are reasons for and purposes in these trials and sufferings that we do not see. Job could not see what was going on from heaven's perspective...and neither can we! Yet God knows, and has created the purposes.  It seems to me that the test of each and every trial is always to this end.