Pain!

Ezekiel 14:14

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,” declares the Lord God.

Over the weekend my mother-in-law, who is currently staying with us, complained of pain when the skin around her ankles was touched. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic which eased the cellulitis almost immediately. But that evening she broke out in a rash around her abdomen. She was in excruciating pain all the time, not just when it was touched. This time her doctor diagnosed her with shingles. Apparently anyone who has had chicken pox is a likely candidate for shingles. Two nights later she fell out of bad and injured her right hand to the point that any movement proved extremely painful

Recently I have been reading about Job in Philip Yancy’s The Bible Jesus Read. A parallel between Mom’s extremely painful shingles and Job’s boils came to mind. Job lost all his wealth and all his children on a single day. Then he got these extremely painful boils all over his body. His wife callously advised him to simply curse God and die. “Friends” came over and 36 chapters of the book are devoted to their analysis of why Job suffered all these tragedies. As far as any of them are concerned, there must have been something evil that Job had done to be punished by such a terrible catastrophe.

What has Mom done to warrant days of agony from shingles? What sins did she commit? What evil have her children done so she is afflicted with this pain? Nothing I can think of.  

According to the book of Job, no one in his story ever found out the actual reason why Job suffered. To the end of the book all of the characters were convinced that God had afflicted Job because of some evil he had done. Job is convinced that he had done no such evil and desired a chance to defend himself before God. Finally God speaks to Job. God does not address these accusations. He leaves Job under the opinion that He had indeed afflicted Job. But tucked away in the first two chapters lies the surprising revelation—God allowed Satan to test Job’s faith in front of the watching universe. In the end God doubly restored all of Job’s fortune.

Is God allowing Satan to test Mom’s faith in front of the watching universe?  I asked her if she thought so. She, too, is silent on that issue. Of course, just like Job, she doesn’t know. At 98, Mom is unlikely to live long enough for a restoration of her earthly fortune. Or is God simply allowing modern medicine to prolong life and consequently in many cases to prolong pain and suffering? We all have unanswered questions.

Thank You, Lord, for loving and saving us. Thank You also that You have guaranteed the outcome of this conflict with Satan. We chafe under the malevolence and hatred of Satan, of course, yet we thank You for the eventual victory we will have over him through Christ’s victory.