It is a superficial faith that attributes all trouble or painful experiences to the devil and all good or pleasureable experiences to God.
One look at the cross of Jesus Christ should convince us of that. It might have been the way we first learned of God as children but it is not an accurate reflection of the faith found in the Scriptures. In the middle of deep anguish and suffering Job asked his wife the question: Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?
We know from Job 1 – 2 that the immediate source of Job’s suffering was from Satan, but we learned in the sermon this week that there were higher purposes God had in allowing this. God uses pain as well as pleasure to accomplish His will. We are not privy to the reasons for Job’s suffering at first, but as the story unfolds we will get a glimpse of some of the purposes God had in mind.
The question is: Can we trust in God’s power and goodness when the path He leads us on is marked with a suffering for which we see no worthy purpose?
