In the Bible, there is an incredible story of a man named Job who manages to keep his faith in God despite being utterly decimated by misfortune and tragedy. In the story, we see a beautiful example of how to respond to our own ordeals and are given a deep understanding of the role suffering has in the plan of the devil to lead us away from God.
In Job’s story, we find a depiction of a conversation between God and Satan. They discuss Job, who is a prime example of a good and faithful man in God’s eyes. Satan claims this is due to God blessing Job, but promises that if things were not going so well for Job, he would “surely curse you to your face.”
God agrees and Satan begins the work of tearing down Job in order to wear away Job’s faith and love of God. Job then goes through a series of horribly traumatic experiences, such as losing his financial status, developing sores all over his body, and losing his children. While Job remains faithful to God throughout, and God ultimately returns to Job much of what he had lost, we cannot dismiss Job’s terrible suffering.
Many believe the story of Job really happened, and others think that it is merely a work of the ancient imagination meant to teach truths that God’s followers can live by in order to find true peace and happiness.
Whether you believe or not, there are tremendous truths we can take away from this story. We can understand the proper response to suffering, which is to stay faithful, we can recognize God being interactive in our lives, and we can see fidelity to God does not mean everything will always go right.
While one who believes this story is historical fact will need to deal with the question of whether God truly allows bad things to happen to this innocent man to settle a bet with the Devil, we can still see the truth of the Devil being at war with us in this world. He hates us and does not want us to be happy. I have heard it explained that because the Devil cannot touch God, he turns his sights on mankind who is made in the image of God.
I think the biggest truth we can take away from this story is the strategy of the Devil. We should reflect on this because we see it occur in the world around us as well. Knowing Satan’s tactics will allow us to help ourselves and others not fall to it when we encounter it as well.
In Job, we see the evil strategy afflicting suffering and trauma in order to bring about his downfall to cause him to curse God. It does not work on Job, but how many do we know that it has worked on?
It’s good to keep in mind that cursing God can be carried out in word and in deed. One’s actions can betray God even more than their words at times. It’s also seen often when one does this, they carry out their “curse” by inflicting pain on others.
I recently watched the 2017 Netflix series on the Unabomber, which I found to be an amazing example of this. Ted Kaczynski became infamous after he went on a decades-spanning murder spree in which he sent bombs to innocent people in order to garner attention for his own ideology. In his mind, that was what he was doing. However, toward the middle of the series we discover, Ted was a victim of an extremely cruel scientific study carried out by a Harvard professor Ted idolized as a student.
The test was sponsored by the government and inflicted horrible psychological wounds which he unfortunately never processed or received any treatment for. He just went on with his life, extremely damaged. His mother didn’t know what happened at the time, but knew something had changed Ted while at Harvard.
Out of curiosity, I researched the testing done on Ted, and it is absolutely realistic to say that the Unabomber was created by the wounds he received in college because he was never able to heal from them. This terrible event not only caused great suffering in Ted’s life, but allowed him to multiply his suffering as he transferred it through his hideous actions toward others.
There is another story from pop culture that I have recently seen recently, though fiction, still drives home the point that if our unhealed wounds remain unprocessed it will cause more damage as time goes on. WandaVision is the story of someone experiencing several traumatic moments in life and losing ability to function rationally.
Not wanting to spoil this beautifully crafted epic of a show, I will just say it does a great job of artistically communicating deeply traumatic events can hurt us beyond our understanding, and there is a tremendous need to process through these and find healing before simply “toughing it out” and moving on.
Going back to Job, we can see other effects besides increased suffering for the traumatized and those they encounter. We see many who experience suffering and trauma lose their faith in God. They see the suffering in their own life and that of others and refuse to believe that a “good and loving” God could possibly exist while this is going on.
Suffering, trauma, and painful moments are awful. I would never want to see anyone go through anything hurtful. My prayer is always for suffering to be alleviated and that those who are suffering can find comfort and healing.
With that in mind, we can also see that suffering is a weapon of the devil to weaken faith and drive people away from God. This was what he hoped to do to Job, what he has done throughout history, and what he continues to do today. His greatest desire is for us to suffer and be without God in our suffering.
The good news for us is we are never alone. God is with us and wants to bring good things to us even through our suffering. Jesus transformed our suffering on the cross and now is pouring out graces to help us find healing. Part of this healing is found through redemptive suffering, which we explain in our podcast episode – The Joy of Suffering.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7xeQB0FFOSQAl4EK5GdUaW?si=qQOQyS78QhOkAN5P2XVsWA&dl_branch=1
Much of the emotional and psychological pain that people carry these days is draining and can lead to other issues. It is important that we deal with the trauma in our lives appropriately in order to discover the freedom and peace that God has always meant for us.
Whether this is found in therapy, or by other professional means, traumatic events and memories need to be dealt with so that we can live the full life for which we were created. Many people are finding deep, beautiful healing through Jesus Christ.
Through our Zenith Ministries One-on-One Mentorship Program, we have seen some amazing moments of healing take place. We have seen troubled marriages saved, addictions overcome, and broken hearts restored. It has been truly amazing to witness the healing work of God!
If you or someone you know are seeking healing from God in your life and would like to journey with us toward freedom today, please check out our 12 week One-on- One Mentoring Program at www.zenithministries.com/mentorship. You can inquire with us through a form at the site or email us at emailzenithiministries@gmail.com.
We look forward to hearing from you! We pray that all who are suffering from trauma and other painful issues may find healing today!
