One fact Job will teach us: You won’t really know God is all you need until God is all you have.
Because the Bible is arranged as a progressive revelation—“precept upon precept” (Isa 28:10)—we may miss one of Job’s most significant contributions. Although no date or chronologies are given, Job seems to be the first book written in our Bible. Likely a contemporary of Abram, Job also acted as a priest for his family (1:4-5), and measured his wealth in livestock (v 3). Those conversant in the original languages tell us that the Hebrew used has some pre-Hebrew Semitic elements, showing its very early date. All that to say it stands at the headwaters of divine revelation. And what is the first subject on the heart of God? The mystery of suffering! Philosophers speak of Theodicy, calling it the greatest challenge for Christian apologists. Theodicy, from two Greek words, theos (God) + dikē (justice), attempts to reconcile the fact that God is all-loving, all-wise, and all-powerful, yet allows His creatures to suffer. The cynic says that God must either be all-wise and all-loving but impotent to aid us, or else He doesn’t care. But the believer knows five facts. 1. God didn’t make the world like this; its present ruin is the result of sin. 2. God may intervene whenever He chooses, but has given humanity a range of choices, with their consequences. 3. Although God has not caused suffering, He’s found ways to use it for our good. 4. He isn’t indifferent to our suffering, but became the Man of Sorrows to aid us in our struggles. 5. He intends to replace this world with one where every tear is wiped away. Does this answer all our questions? No, there is still much we do not know. But we are grateful for a God who, in His very first book, faces the problem head on, and presents Himself as the glorious Answer.