[AI translation] For several Sundays, we have followed Job through the sad, bitter passage of his life, as he had to walk through a terrible abyss. We have seen his suffering and agony, his forbearance and impatience, heard his prayers and his curses, heard him praise himself and blame God, seen the depths and heights between which his faith tossed. And then, at last, the long-awaited moment arrived, the moment when God "removed the plague from Job" (v. 10). Or, in a more accurate translation of the original Hebrew text, God opened Job's prison, turned the wheel of his life, changed his fate, lifted the burden from him. Job has come to the end of a painful journey, the heavens have been revealed to him again, in the restful sunshine of God's grace the weary wanderer can rest at last! It is not just a simple happy ending, as in the last act of the operetta. Let us try to grasp as much of this solution as we can see and understand!1) What I see from it, first of all, is that the path of suffering must always be travelled to the very end first, because the divine solution is always revealed at the end. From there, looking backwards from the end, the whole path is illuminated, everything that was so frighteningly, painfully dark. Looking backwards from the top of a mountain, we see the journey in a very different perspective than looking up from below. The gorges, precipices, quiet glades we passed through are all more beautiful and reassuring now than they were when we were in them. Here, too, how different the story is seen from the end, how different the details in between are seen, how different the proportions of the adversities and struggles which seemed desperate when they fell on Job, when he was the man in distress. From here, looking backwards from the end, the story is not so tragic, not so incomprehensible, not so many question marks. Now that we know the end: we also know why what happened in the meantime happened. Almost in amazement we exclaim: this is what it came to, this is what God wanted! Then it's good! It's quite different now, the grief, the material loss, the illness, it's not so depressing! If this path led to this, if this was the Lord's goal, if this end is such a serene, sunny, happy end: then it was worth it!
I can imagine that this is how Job looked back at the dark stretch of road directly behind him. You are almost amazed, because obviously Satan has messed things up, there are a lot of evil forces at work, and yet something good comes out of all the bad. The end of the journey of suffering from the Lord is always like that! It is good, you know! And here then what is said really applies: if the end is good, all is good! Because everything that was bad, everything that hurt, everything that was unjust, everything that had Satan's hand in it, served some good! The Lord does not want evil for anyone, the Lord wants good for everyone, and even the best!
So, the divine solution to the problem of suffering involves, first of all, waiting for the end: God will lead you through it to a place where, when you arrive and look back, the questions of the moment will be resolved, the whys will be explained, and you will exclaim in amazement: "Is that what it was all about? Now I understand!"
2) Someone might say: no wonder Job was comforted, because he also received a great recompense at the end of the journey. We read that he is healed of his illness, his financial situation is restored, and his house is filled with children's laughter again. "The Lord gave Job back twice all that he had." So all is well! So much so that "the Lord blessed the end of Job's life more than the beginning." And for many decades after that, Job lived in joy and prosperity, wealth and peace, until finally, in his good old age, full of life, he entered eternity.
Surely, if we knew so well in advance that such a good outcome would come of a difficult journey, we would look forward to the end with a lighter heart. But it is not always the case, as in Job's case here, that a man receives full recompense from the Lord while still here on earth! Sometimes the end of the journey from the Lord that brings the solution is not from the line of death, as in Job's case, but beyond! In the story of Job, the divine solution to suffering, the reparation, the atonement, had to be presented from beyond death, in this earthly life, because in the Old Testament world there was not yet such a clear and definite vision of the world beyond death, of eternity, as in the New Testament. But Jesus had already definitely said that in the Father's house there were many mansions for His brethren, and He Himself went forward to prepare a place for us there. He left no doubt that those who live with Him now will remain with Him after death and live forever. And He sealed all this promise as it were by His resurrection from the dead. So Jesus has not only reopened the prospect of Paradise Lost, but also the way! The door! We can now look not at the visible but at the invisible, because we know that the end of all our journeys from the Lord is there, in that invisible world, beyond the line of death. And it is there that we shall look back and see the real solution to the problems which seemed so insoluble here; the burdens under which we almost collapsed will shrink; it is there that we shall look back and smile at the troubles which almost made us despair here; it is there that we shall give very happy thanks for the events we complained about here...
Well, then, let us truly believe what we believe! Let us dare to believe what we believe! So: one day all God's suffering children will experience what Job experienced. That "the Lord will remove the plague. He will double restore all things and bless you more than ever." Fear not, therefore, the Lord is not in debt to anyone who waits for the end of the journey with patience, that is, with a heart that trusts in Him. And if this is so, then we should somehow walk the paths of our lives differently now, especially the difficult and dark passages. Differently! In faith! God's Word warns us in one place that we now walk by faith, not by sight. This means that we should try to look at, see and evaluate everything that we have now, the current stage of our journey, in such a way that we see it a little from beyond, from the end, almost looking backwards, from the perspective of the certainty of the divine solution. This is what it means to walk by faith! And it also means accepting what is: the fate I am in, the situation, the environment, the family, the world I am born into, the people I have to live with. We have certain gifts in life that we have to fight against, to struggle against: it is a waste of energy, and we have to accept them. Let us accept that our gifts are gifts! That is, we have received them from God, like Job received his sickness and his grief and his material ruin. As the Word of God says: "What have you that you have not received". There is no joy or sorrow, good or bad, that we have not received that God does not know about, that does not fit into God's plan in some way. I know very well that many people have had lives that have not turned out the way they wanted, the way they imagined at some time. One person's family life has become miserable, another's health or financial situation has taken an unexpected tragic turn for the worse, another's life in the world is always faced with insurmountable obstacles, a fourth has had a manifest injustice done to them, and so on!
Well, then, to walk by faith means: to believe that God has a purpose for every such burden placed upon our lives! Someone once asked me: why is it that it is God's children who usually have the hardest life in this world? I said: does the engineer test the load on the bridge he has made, and does he test the load on it to see if it is fit for the purpose for which it was made? Well, the reason why God tests His children is to see whether they will be fit for the purpose for which He has destined them, for which He has chosen them, for which He has redeemed them. For it is not only here on earth that we have a vocation, but also in the world we cannot yet see. And this life on earth is only a preparation for it. No injustice is done to the children of God if they are burdened with great burdens here: this test is necessary: it is now that you will decide what service or vocation you will be fit for in eternity. We used to say in the Creed: I believe in the resurrection of our bodies and in eternal life. So let us truly believe what we believe! Let us dare to believe what we believe! Let us dare to walk by faith! - And to walk by faith means one more thing: that the burdens that weigh on us do not hinder us, but help us to grow spiritually! They do not break us down, but make us grow! When Beethoven, deaf and dumb, said: "I will seize fate by the throat...", he meant it and he did it. And in doing so, he grew through the obstacle! That was the birth of his Symphony No. IX.
Let me give you just one example: someone was disappointed because he had not found the life partner he had hoped to invent. He remained in a party. Such a disappointment can lead to total despair, to a dullness - but also to a new purpose in life: he realises that he is destined to become engaged to the sorrows, sufferings and ignorance of the world - he grows through his disappointment. Troubles, adversities, sufferings, if we walk under them in faith: can also become a means of spiritual growth. They may set us off on new ventures, break us out of our old patterns, deepen our emotions, make us better people! Walking by faith means that we also bring to fruition the events that would seek to thwart God's work in us.
And the reason why we can continue on our journey by faith is because someone has gone before us: Jesus Christ! His journey from Bethlehem to Calvary was also a journey of faith without vision. Can Job's or anyone else's struggles, groans, cries be compared to the suffering that finally cried out to heaven, "My God, why have you forsaken me?" In faith he accepted that He is the Lamb of God, there on Calvary, Who takes away the sins of the world. In faith He breathed out His Spirit as He who took our punishment upon Himself; believing that He would become a curse to redeem us from the curse of the law; believing that by His death He would strike a deadly blow on the serpent's head! This cry, "It is finished!" was the most daring cry of faith in victory in the hour when all seemed to be visibly broken down and hopelessly finished! Yes: Jesus Christ took on in faith the whole of human destiny, redemptive suffering and death. He also walked among us in faith, even to the cross - not in vision! And it was only at the very end of His journey, after His death, on the third day, that it was revealed that He was right! Only then did He see for Himself what He had believed: that He was victorious!
Well then, Jesus Christ is not only an example for us to walk by faith, but also a power! Power to put everything in His hands, to trust in Him, to cling to His word - to wait patiently for the good end of our journey from the Lord! Finally, the book of Job teaches us to go forward with courage, in the certainty of the promise that "Blessed are those who do not see and believe!"
Amen
Date: 23 November 1958.
Lesson
Jób 42,10-17