Job 1-2 – Is God Unfair?

And now we’ve stumbled onto a profound question indeed, one as old as the text we just read.

Is God unfair?

For me, this text raises even more questions.  First of all, how much power does Satan have?  And what do we make of his “roaming through the earth”?  If He is not omnipotent, does Satan still have some level of omnipresence?  This account seems to put him on equal footing with the angels—alternately translated here as “Sons of God”—that is, he presents himself along with God’s other subjects as one who recognizes his authority comes only from the LORD.  And it is Satan’s request that puts into motion a tsunami of pain and suffering to a righteous man and his family.

But of course, this doesn’t get God off the hook.  If Satan only gets this authority to bring suffering on Job from God’s hands, we can trace the source back to God and are faced with the same question we began with: is God unfair?

Satan, it seems, is fixated on the scandal of suffering.  If God removes the blessing from his child and allows suffering to take its place, surely this proves He is no God of love or justice, and certainly not worthy of praise.  Like so many after him who have cried out in protest, Satan stakes his position on this point: “How could a loving God allow bad things to happen to good people?”

In our next One80 reading, God actually shows up and gives His response.  You won’t want to miss this…

Reuben Smith