Bad Things Do Not Come From God - Part 6

Now let's look at another incident that the Bible records in which many Christians have been trained to believe concerning bad things coming from God, the life of Job. The first thing that we must understand is that the Old Testament revelation of God is incomplete (Ephesians 1:9, Colossians 1:26). We must also understand that Jesus Christ alone completely reveals the will of God in all matters, (John 5:19-20, 14:7, 9) which we will see as this series continues to develop. We must also recall the things that have been clearly  revealed in scripture thus far that have evidenced sin and Satan being the actual causes of all the bad things happening to humanity, through man's constant rejection and rebellion toward God.

The thought behind Job's condition is that although God may not have directly caused all the bad things that happened to Job (Job 1:6-19, 2:7) it must be His will because He let Satan have his way with Job. This type of thinking creates serious error concerning the true nature of God. It indicates that God uses or lets Satan attack people for some mysterious divine purpose that only He knows; that God operates in any way He desires even if it contradicts His Word; when God allows something to happen, whether good or bad it must be His will and therefore what happened to Job was God's will. Can you see the twisted logic in this thinking.

Just because God permits something to happen, in Job's case, many terrible things, does not mean that it is God's will. We must understand that all the bad things that happen on the earth are clearly not God's will. If they were then we would have to blame God for all of the sin, injustices, losses, tragedies, pain, destruction and even demon activity because it must be His will. Honestly, to think like that is nothing more than a demonically influenced view of God, it is flat out Anti-Christ. So why did these things happen to Job?

For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.
(Job 3:25) The Apostle Paul tells us in his second letter to Timothy...
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
(2 Timothy 1:7) Notice that Paul tells Timothy that he is dealing with a SPIRIT of fear. A spirit of fear is not from God but from Satan. Paul tells the church at Ephesus...Nor give place to the devil.
(Ephesians 4:27) Job gave the devil an open door through a spirit of fear to attack him in the areas that Job feared and dreaded. Notice that both accusations and attacks against Job were limited...
And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. (Job 1:12)
And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life." (Job 2:6)

It is quite apparent that Job was dealing with fear and dread of losing certain things but not everything, such as his own life. Therefore Satan was not permitted to take his life. Also to show that he (and I might add his friends) had no idea why these things were happening, they did exactly what Adam and Eve did when they were confronted with their sin (Genesis 3:12-13), it's called the blame game. (Job 3 - 31) Finally a young man named Elihu spoke up and corrected Job and his three friends for playing the blame game. Look at two of many statements that Elihu makes concerning the true nature of God...
Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: Far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity. For He repays man according to his work, and makes man to find a reward according to his way. Surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice. (Job 34:10-12)

There are some things that Elihu point out that are very important to grasp. Elihu considers what is taking place to be wicked and God does not cause wickness! Next he reveals that God repays or permits things to happen to people based on their works and their ways. Finally, Elihu says, "Nor will the Almighty pervert justice." God is just and responds accordingly toward man in every situation because He shows no partiality. (Romans 2:11) In other words, every person either meets or fails to meet the conditions that God has established and by this they receive the reward of their actions good or bad. The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul gives us a great example of this...

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (Galatians 6:7-8) The words may be different but the principle applies throughout the entire Bible and will continue throughout the history of man until Christ returns. Next Elihu says...

As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, in judgment and abundant justice;
He does not oppress. (Job 37:23) Look at these words that describe God, "...He is excellent in power, in judgment and abundant justice; He does not oppress." The word oppress in this verse means that God does not afflict, depress, browbeat, deal with harshly, hurt, ravish or weaken. We can certainly all agree that Job was experiencing all of these things, BUT THEY WERE NOT FROM GOD NOR WERE THEY HIS WILL FOR JOB!!!

Finally we see at the end of the Book of Job his repentance (Job 42:1-6) which took away the devil's place in his life and placed God in the position of authority over his life. We also see the true nature of God (Job 42:10-17) that of blessing. Unfortunately, due to poor teaching concerning the Book of Job, two main things arise in the lives of many Christians who truly love the LORD. They have been trained to accept bad things happening to them as God's will and or when bad things happen to them, they enter into the blame game and in doing so subtly blame God for bad things happening. Either way the results of this type of thinking produces serious doubts concerning the true nature of God and reduces the full redemptive work of Christ to nothing more than the born again experience and then muddling through life here on earth until one dies.

There are several reasons why so many Christians think this way, one being a lack of true Bible faith not being taught or preached in most congregations today due to a lack of faith among church leaders. If Christians leaders would put faith in the integrity of God's Word, teach and preach it to the church, the world would see the true nature and power of God in the church and run to Christ for the abundant life that is only through faith in Him!