In Job 7:1-6 Job seems to be describing what Solomon would later write about. Solomon wrote about the business that God had given men to do. This business has to do with: trouble, drudgery, burdens etc. In other words, it wasn’t something pleasing or enjoyable that Solomon described. He wrote about what came to be man’s lot after he rebelled from God. In wanting to know and define both good and evil for themselves, Adam and Eve wanted to know independence, vis-à-vis the absence of God’s presence in their lives. In other words, they didn’t want to have to answer to God for what they did. They wanted to make all the choices for themselves. They believed they knew what was good for them and what was not! Thus, they sought to remove God from their lives (cp. Romans 1:28), and this is what took away their rest (cp. Hebrews 4:4, 9-11), and in its wake, they inherited both struggle and labor.
While man is, indeed, given his freedom, he isn’t able to thwart God’s purposes. The Lord continues to act according to his original plan for man, which was something ultimately good (Jeremiah 29:11). So, man has been given the freedom to choose for himself (Genesis 2:16-17), but there are consequences for his choices, just as there are consequences for God’s choice to create mankind in his image (Genesis 1:27). In doing so, the Lord expressed his desire that man would be like him in the choices he (man) made. Therefore, when the forbidden fruit was eaten (Genesis 3), it became evident, that, if God’s will would be realized in the wake of man’s rebellion, God would have to pay the price, vis-à-vis the cross, for the choice he made in creating mankind in his image. Only in so doing could man be brought back into God’s presence and live.
Notice what was done:
…cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow will you eat of it all the days of your life; Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of your face will you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust you will return… Therefore, the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. (Genesis 3:17-19, 23)
Prior to man’s rebellion, his life was secure, and the ground yielded all he needed to support his life. Afterward, however, he had to till the ground and make it work for him, and he would be bothered by the fact that it would also yield thorns and thistles etc.
How, then, does this apply to Job’s life? As a whole, mankind has rebelled against God (Genesis 3), and man really desires his independence, without considering what the choice of removing God’s presence from his life would bring. However, from the Lord’s perspective, he still deals with mankind, just as he had from the beginning. He hasn’t changed his original plan (cp. Jeremiah 29:11). Nevertheless, the clash of wills (God’s and man’s) will inevitably produce suffering,[1] not that Job consciously acted against God’s will, but mankind has done so. Thus, in order to draw mankind back to God, or even one man (Job, in our present context), the Lord must often use a means that is painful, if a greater blessing is to be realized in the kingdom of men. Not only is this so for Job, but it is also true for all those who know him or come to know of his life’s experience and consider his example in their hearts.
Originally, all things were good, in fact, they were very good between God and his creation (Genesis 1:31). However, once rebellion was introduced into the mix, death and chaos reigned in creation (cp. Romans 5:12), and such a situation cannot return to its original very good state of being without experiencing pain and sorrow for both God and man. Rebellion is never peaceful, and cannot be entered into without realizing destruction and suffering. Just as rebellion came with a price, change for the good, vis-à-vis peace between God and mankind, also has a price. Christ paid that price. It remains, therefore, for man to come to know God as he is (cp. John 1:18), and that involves modifying or even completely changing our worldview from time to time, if we are to become what God had originally created us to be (Genesis 1:27). Thus, it behooves man to enter into Christ’s suffering (1Peter 4:13), which is intended to bring us back into God’s presence.
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[1] Although all human suffering has come as a result of man’s rebellion against God, I don’t mean to imply folks suffer because they are sinning. This was the argument the friends made against Job. Job was innocent, and so are most folks who suffer. They are not punished by God, but may be persecuted and abused by men who exploit them in rebellion against God. Sometimes suffering comes through disease that attacks our bodies, but these things are done through what Solomon describes as “time and chance,” and that kind of suffering happens indiscriminately to men (cp. Ecclesiastes 9:11). Nevertheless, it behooves the man of God to embrace his lot patiently, and God will either remove the suffering or he will help such a one through it and reward him or her in the end.
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