Job’s unanswered questions lead him to one unquestioned answer: The Lord knows, and that’s enough.
You’ve doubtless heard people say that the theme of the Book of Job is “the mystery of suffering.” Well, if it’s a mystery at the beginning, wrenching a “Why?” from Job’s lips, it’s still a mystery to him at the end. You know more than Job did—about the counsel in heaven between Job’s Best Friend and his worst enemy. If only he’d known this was a test exposing the devil’s lie that God is only loved for His blessings. Thus the reason all Job’s blessings were stripped away. But as Abraham learned at Moriah, a test isn’t a test if you know it’s a test. So Job must travel blindfolded through this treacherous swamp filled with death, disease, deception, doubts, and despair. Even the hands extended to him pulled him into the morass. If only Job had known the promise, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor 10:13), what a comfort it would have been. Yet, for His own inscrutable reasons, rather than answering Job’s question, “Why?” the Lord replaced it with the question, “Who?” This He resoundingly answers. “Who stretched the [measuring] line” on the universe, “or who laid its cornerstone?” (Job 38:5-6). “Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart?” (v 36). You get the idea. Job did, too. Every “Why?” in our lives is safe in the heart and mind of the One who answers to every “Who?” As safe as the day another lonely Sufferer cried, “Why?” and answered it Himself: “But You.” Read Psalm 22 again, and you’ll see we’re the answer to the question, “Why?” But it’s the blessed “Who” that counts!