Understanding Pain, Sovereignty, and the Fear of the Lord Through Job’s Eyes
I was going through instagram the other day, and for some reason the algorithm thought I would like to see this video of an ifa priest worshipping his god. I mean people can do whatever suits them, but really Algo? That said, something he said caught my attention, he said, “Yahweh uses man as a pun just to prove himself as a sovereign all powerful God”, referencing Job. And I paused.
Because… as uncomfortable as it sounded, I thought, he might be on to something.. I mean if you took a good look at Job’s story you would see that low key God permitted Job’s afflictions simply to prove to the Devil that he was a righteous man. I didn’t like it, and so I did what I always do when I need answers. I asked God why he would allow something so devastating to happen to such a good fella. Not gonna lie I told God He did too much. Maybe stopping at the Chaldeans’ attack would have been enough, but touching his children? That felt like crossing a line – a foul. I needed answers and I needed them NOW!
I got my answer two days later, and it wasn’t what I expected.
Chaos is part of life, not by accident, but by design. Regardless of our standing with God.
We often like to see God as a sweet tender supreme being. Soft, tender, and kind. Possessing fangs but never really using them on His beloved children – only on sinful people. Yeah once in a while he brushes his fangs across our arms just to remind us that they still work but he never really digs in, nah He’s too loving to do such a thing, right? Right. God is gentle and kind, He’s a father that dots on His children, watching over them and never allowing calamity to come near their dweling. Yeah. But … God can also be fierce, stern, and intimidating, even toward His children. This is the part we struggle to accept, because it challenges the version of God we are most comfortable with.
He is both the Lamb and the Lion.
We often expect God to only dish out goodness and mercy to us His beloved, but the truth is he also dishes out pain and destruction. Why? I don’t know. And honestly He doesn’t owe us an explanation. I know that sounds harsh but it is what it is. He is no respecter of anyone!
We tend to see difficulties as something that is a consequence for wrongdoing, or something that the devil brings upon man to torture him, which is partly true. But sometimes God brings pain too, and often times we never get to know why. And it’s ok not to know why. We often feel like there has to be an explanation for every imbalance in our lives and in the life of others, almost like trying to make God look “good” on his behalf, this is self righteousness if you ask me. It is okay to not have answers to everything, you are not God’s advocate!
This revelation puts into perspective what my family went through last year, 2025. Within the space of two monts,my daughter was diagnosed with a chronic lung condition that left a cavity in her lung, and my husband suffered a cardiac arrest while on the operating table. Those were the darkest moments of my life. It was already heavy dealing with financial struggles, but adding serious health challenges to it felt like too much to bear. Nothing made sense. Nothing made sense, I kept asking God why us?. Every night was a dread, not knowing if i would receive a red alert call from the hospital. I questioned evrything, including our decision to relocate to the UK. Perhaps we were Jonah fleeing Nineveh for Tarshish and now about to be swallowed up by the storm. Or was this happening because we had missed a couple of tithes and now the devourer has come seeking blood.
Guys I don’t think I have ever cried for mercy the way I did during those two months. I still don’t fully understand why we had to go through that season, but looking back now, I find myself asking… why not us? Don’t get me wrong, I would never pray to relive that experience, but it has humbled me, especially now that i know better. It has brought me to a place where I acknowledge God’s sovereign power, and where I choose a posture of reverence, both when I abound and when I abase.
We all praise God for the blessings – the healings, the wealth, the peace. Shouldn’t we also revere Him for the times we don’t have enough, for wars and deaths? He builds, He destroys. Scripture reminds us that God is not one-dimensional: “Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 31:28
Let’s circle back to Job. The guy gets it, no wonder God called him a righteous man. He literally said
“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Job 2:10
That right there is the true meaning of the fear of the Lord – the awareness that He holds both sides of the sword, and the agency to reverence Him no matter what side of the sword lands on our backs.
Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar on the other hand are like most of us, consistently arguing that God does not punish the innocent, and implying that Job’s catastrophic suffering was a direct result of hidden or unconfessed sin. That good people prosper and evil people suffer. Refusing to accept that righteousness could coexist with extreme misery. Eliphaz stated, “Who, being innocent, has ever perished?” (Job 4:7), he continued to argue that Job must be reaping the iniquity he sowed and needed to repent in order to be restored Job 22:5-11. Bildad also implied same in Job chapter 18.
Yet Job insists that he was blameless and that his sufferings were from God, Job 16:12-17, chapter 27:2-6. He stands on the fact that God can cause calamity to befall even the righteous person.
God Beyond Human Understanding
In Job chapters 38 and 39, God responds with His resume: “I am powerful, all knowing, mighty, sovereign. You man on the other hand is limited in knowledge and wisdom, hence you cannot put Me in a box, you cannot define the boundaries of what I can or cannot do”. Period!
God even describes Himself through the imagery of Leviathan – you can’t catch it, can’t house it, you can’t tame it, you can’t make it a friend nor a companion. This is God revealing another dimension of Himself: wild, powerful, and beyond human control.
Rethinking Pain
We must be careful not to assign every pain to sin, the devil, or wrongdoing. Sometimes, pain is part of the journey God permits. An experience to endure. A path to walk, and a mystery we may never fully understand.
So what does God expect of us when things go south? Reverence, not accusation, not quick conclusions, not blame.
The Role of Identity
This is where identity becomes crucial to a believer. When you truly know you are a child of God, and you are aligned to His will and purpose for your life, you know that the devil doesn’t have access to your destiny. The devil cannot manipulate the blessings of God in your life. He can only go as far as God permits him. Knowing this is knowing that God is the caption of your ship and will bring you safely to shore.
