When God Doesn’t Give A Reason

At a kids summer camp, a counselor was leading a discussion on creation. He explained why God created the clouds, the trees, the rocks, the rivers and the animals; that God had a good reason for all that He had created. That’s when one little boy asked, “If God has a good purpose for everything, then why did He create poison ivy?” His question was followed by dead silence; the counselor didn’t know how to answer.

Finally, another child came to the rescue and explained to the class, “The reason God made poison ivy is because He wants us to know there are just a few things we need to keep our cotton-pickin’ hands off of!” A good explanation indeed.

I believe when we get to heaven, we’ll discover that every story begun in this life does finish with a happy ending. There is a good reason for everything God does. The problem, though, is that we don’t always know His purpose. There are issues in life, like poison ivy, that cause great grief. And for no apparent reason. Some situations appear to have no sane, logical explanation, and we wonder why.

How do you respond when bad things happen, and God gives no reason why? As Christians, we believe that God is sovereign; that He does whatever He likes, whenever He likes, however He likes, to whomever He likes. God rules the universe, over both good and evil. God is the Boss.

In fact, you can read the first chapter of the book of Job and you’ll discover that Satan couldn’t harm a single hair on Job’s head without first getting God’s permission. Nothing happens in our lives—or in the universe, for that matter—that isn’t at the very least permitted by God. Of course, God’s sovereignty is a wonderful doctrine when circumstances are pleasant, when things are going well. We’re delighted that God has chosen to bless us.

But what’s your attitude when life takes a turn for the worse, and for no apparent reason?

In my early years as a Christian, I had a friend who was a captivating Bible teacher. Dan had a growing ministry, he was a husband, the father of five kids and his teaching and his ministry were influencing thousands of lives for Jesus—including my own. I’ll never forget the day I heard on the radio that the prop plane he had been flying slammed into the side of a mountain. The news broke my heart! And I can remember crying out, “God, why?! Why this?! Look at all he’s doing for Your kingdom, God! Not him!”

This is how I respond today when I hear of a hurricane that devastates an island or that floods out a coastline; or a family on vacation killed by a drunk driver; or a virtuous woman, who has been raped; or a school shooter, who targets innocent kids; or a hard-working husband, who gets laid off and can no longer feed his family; or a child born with a severe handicap; or a follower of Jesus diagnosed with cancer; or a mysterious virus that attacks the population, killing people and shutting down businesses.

What happens to your faith when you encounter these kinds of terrible situations? How do you respond when bad stuff happens to good people—even to God’s people—and you see nothing good results? Have you ever asked why? Have you ever—oh my—screamed, “Why?!!” Well, how do you deal with the poison ivy in your life?

Understand that Job dealt with plenty of poison ivy. In the first two chapters of the book of Job, we learn how overnight Job lost everything: his fortune, his family, his health and even his friends. And usually a man in such distress can lean on the comfort of a devoted wife. Oh, but not Job! Mrs. Job told him, “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). Not exactly what you want to hear from the misses after a hard day at the office.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the stress-factor index. It’s a set of numerical values that try to quantify the amount of stress produced by certain events. For example, the death of a spouse equals 100, the death of a close family member is a 63, being fired from a job is a 47, a pregnancy is a 40 (that’s for the wife; for the husband, it’s 140!) and on and on it goes. The experts say that 79% of those whose stress-factor index hits 300+ suffer a major illness as a consequence. When I calculated Job’s stress-factor index, it added up to 650! That’s twice the danger level!

Hey, if you think you’ve got problems, friend, just check out our man, Job! And here’s the kicker: Job did nothing to deserve what happened to him! Job gets vindicated from the outset; Job 1:1 tells us that Job “was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.” In Job 2:3, the Lord Himself said that all that happened to Job came upon him “without cause.” Yes, Job was human, and like all humans, he was a sinner. But he did nothing specific to warrant his calamity.

In fact, if you doubt Job’s devotion to God, just look at his initial reaction to his loss. In Job 1:21, he said, “Naked came I from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” To me, that is one of the strongest statements of faith in all the Scriptures. And Job 1:22 sums up Job’s part in his many afflictions: “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”

In Job 1 and 2, we are told that while all this devastation occurred in Job’s life, he got caught in a “cosmic showdown” between God and Satan. One day the devil appeared before God and the heavenly host. Like a proud papa, God mentioned the piety of his servant, Job. Well, Satan just scoffed. He said, “God, you’ve blessed Job so abundantly, why wouldn’t he serve You?! You’ve spoiled him! Just allow a little hardship loose in his life, and he’ll turn on You in a heartbeat!”

Ironically, rather than being punished for some evil deed, Job’s agony was caused by just the opposite! God was so proud of Job’s devotion, that He staked His honor on Job’s reaction! Without knowing it, Job was serving as the appointed protector of God’s glory.

Whenever I read the book of Job, I’m often struck by an overlooked fact: Job never read the first two chapters of the book of Job. We’re told why he suffered, but not Job. Until the day he died, Job never got an explanation for his calamity. God never told Job why.

But that sure didn’t stop his friends from trying to answer the question, “Why?” And for the bulk of Job, from chapters 3-31, his three pals—if you want to call them that—Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar each take turns offering their explanations for the cause for Job’s sufferings.

I figure they were golfin’ buddies. They had a foursome that met every Saturday morning. And when Job didn’t show up one week, they came to check on their friend. But when they arrived, they found Job sitting in the middle of an ash heap. He’s scratching his oozing sores with a clay shard, a broken piece of pottery.

Then for seven days, they sit in silence with Job, mourning their friend. As it turned out, just sitting there with Job, being there for Job, was really the only benefit they offered. For when they opened their mouths, they began to torture Job with erroneous counsel. In Job 16:2, he tells them how much help they were. He said, “Miserable comforters are you all!”

Job’s golfin’ buddies are like many people today. They were trapped in a restrictive, defective theology. I like to call it a “kindergarten theology.” It’s the simplistic view, it’s the belief that in this life, sin is always punished and good is always rewarded. Thus, when bad things happen, it means that the victim must have committed some sin. And as kids, our experiences with mommy and daddy seem to confirm this belief. Parents see to it that good deeds are prized and that disobedience gets punished.

Ah, but then we move out into the real world, and we discover that isn’t always how life pans out. Bad things do happen to good people. Bad people often get away with their crimes. Circumstances are not always just. Life isn’t always fair.

Being a bit of a golfer myself, I’ve noticed how the golfin’ buddies particularly like to hold to this simplistic, kindergarten theology. When a golfer hits an errant shot off into the woods and his ball careens off a tree trunk and bounces back onto the middle of the fairway, he’ll usually turn to his partner and say, “Well, looks like I’m livin’ right!” It’s as if holy living entitles you to favorable breaks, while unholy living leaves you in the rough.

I wish life was that straightforward, but it’s not. And this is what Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar refused to admit. They became adamant. For 29 chapters they scrutinized Job to uncover the slightest chink in his armor on which they could explain his demise. At points in the dialogue, they actually made up accusations! Job’s three friends tried every tactic imaginable to pin sin on Job.

Tragically, there are also Christians today who hold to the same, faulty theology. Listen to most TV preachers, and you’ll hear them teach the kindergarten theology. “Do the right thing, and you’ll be rich, healthy and happy! You’ll be driving that Lexus in no time.” TBN would never invite Job to host a show.

I have a friend of mine who is a godly lady and a woman of prayer. She suffers from asthma. Yet her Christian friends insisted that her suffering had to be the result of some sin in her life. They tortured my friend. Her friends, like Job’s friends, went to great efforts to try to pin a sin on her.

I reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon strip. Snoopy is standing next to his doghouse that had burned to the ground by a fire. He’s sobbing. “I’ve lost my pool, my Van Gogh, all of my keepsakes!” That’s when Lucy approaches. And you know Lucy! She snaps at him and says, “I can tell you why your house burned down! You sinned!” Then Snoopy responds with one of the best theological answers ever uttered. In fact, Snoopy sounds like Job. He answered by putting out his tongue and sputtering at her.

The problem with this kind of defective theology is that it backs you into a corner. When bad stuff happens in your life, you only have two options: either God failed or you’ve sinned. That’s why Job’s friends insisted that the problem was Job, because if it wasn’t, in their minds it means that God had failed, and they’re not about to entertain that possibility.

In reality, though, neither assertion was true. The real cause for Job’s sufferings was hidden in the heavens. Job knows there is a reason; there has got to be another option. He just didn’t see it, and learning why becomes the burning issue in Job’s life.

Once two Americans traveled to a little town in Mexico to open up a bungee-jumping operation. As they erected the tower, a curious crowd of locals gathered around to watch. Finally, it came time for a test jump. One of the guys dove off the platform, and when he bounced back up, his partner noticed that he was a little scraped up. He gasped and said, “Oh, no! The cord is too long!” He tried to grab his friend but missed him. The second time the guy bounced back up to the platform, he was in worse condition. He had bruises and broken ribs. Again, his buddy tried to grab him but missed. The third time the poor fellow rose to the platform, he was so badly beaten, he was nearly unconscious. This time his sidekick lunged, grabbed him and pulled him in. He asked him, “Friend, was the cord too long?!” That’s when his partner replied, “No, the cord was just fine, but what’s a piñata?”

Sometimes life gets rough, and it will beat you up. And you don’t know why. Or worse, it treats your partner, your spouse or your coworker—oh my—or even your child, like a piñata. And you get no explanation. “He loves you, Lord! Why did this happen to him?!” “She’s such a good person, Lord! Why her?!”

We’ve all asked these questions; haven’t we?

Job, too, was good and godly. But virtue didn’t insulate him from pain in his life. And remember it wasn’t Job’s sin that made him a target for hardships; it was his goodness! Don’t be deceived. Just because a person is hurting doesn’t mean they’re sinning. And just because they’re thriving doesn’t necessarily mean that God is pleased with them.

It does pay to be good and godly. But payday doesn’t always come in this life. In the here and now, calamity can strike even the godliest among us. Difficulties can hit without explanation. Faith doesn’t always get a reason.

So don’t let life back you into a corner. When things go wrong, we think there are only two conclusions: either God failed, or I’m a failure. Since none of us are going to blame God, it’s got to be me. So we beat ourselves up.

But remember the story of Job. When bad stuff happens, it doesn’t mean God has failed. Nor does it mean that you’re a failure. There could be a reason hidden from view. Only heaven knows the whole story. God is expecting you and me to trust in Him.

And this is why our responses on earth really do matter. Think of it in a mysterious way, unknown to you and me. God’s reputation may be hanging on the way that you handle a hassle, a hardship or a hindrance. God’s honor in heaven, His glory, may be riding on your reaction to the twists and turns life throws your way.

To me, the message of Job ups the ante on everything that happens in my life. It’s the most practical message in all the Bible. My every reaction becomes strategic. Every eye in heaven may be fixed on you, to see how you handle that illness or that lie told about you or that lawsuit filed against you. Will you fold, or will you be faithful? The book of Job teaches us a vital lesson. The stress in my life may just be a test of my faith.

Satan has accused the Almighty of stacking the deck, of buying our devotion with His blessings. He assumes God is nothing more to you and me than a meal ticket. And he has thrown down the gauntlet; he has challenged God. “Nix their blessing, and they’ll stop their devotion!”

Do you realize that God may have chosen you to prove otherwise? God’s character may be on the line in heaven, and it’s your response to difficulty that wins the day. I’m just sayin’ that the stakes may be a lot higher than any of us realize. But one certainty is that our reactions really do matter.

I have no doubt that Job would have gladly suffered for God if he’d just have been told the effect that his faithfulness was having in heaven. The problem, though, is that Job never got a hint. Understand that Job’s greatest grief wasn’t caused by his material losses or even by the boils on his body; Job’s most excruciating pain was from not knowing why!

I found the best pain reliever, by far, is not Advil, not Tylenol 3, not Demerol. It’s an explanation. If there is a good reason behind my suffering, I tend to rise to the occasion. But how do you respond when God refuses to give you a reason?

It’s like going to the doctor to get a shot. I don’t like shots! But if I’m told the reason for the shot, then maybe I can accept it, endure it and be thankful for it. But what if I were given a series of shots without being told the reason for them? Well, trust me, I’m not going to be as tolerant. As a matter of fact, I’m going to get downright ugly and upset. I’m going to start pounding my fist down on the counter, and I’m going to demand to know why.
And that is exactly what Job begins to do. He begins to pound his fist. And over the course of his dialogue with his three friends, Job demands more and more to know why. In Job 7:11, Job even grows bitter. He moans these words: “I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.”

It’s interesting that the word “complain” occurs more times in Job than in any other book of the Bible. Did you know that over half of the complaints recorded in the Scriptures fall from the lips of this one man, Job? We speak of the patience of Job, but the Person with the real patience in this story was God. For God was the One who had to put up with Job spewing bitterness.

What happened is that Job lost perspective. That is so easy for a sufferer to do. God forgets who God is—His holiness, His righteousness. And Job grows bold and brash. As he questions God, in his own mind and estimation, Job becomes larger and larger, and God becomes smaller and smaller. It’s been said that in asking why, Job loses his way.

And by the time we get to our text, the verse we read at the beginning, Job 31:35, Job believes God owes him an answer. In fact, he demands it in writing. He’s saying, “Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, that my Prosecutor had written a book!” Job’s saying, “Hey God, I need a reason! And I want it in print!” Arrogance has replaced Job’s innocence.

Job had become so sure of himself that he had started to doubt God. And at one point in the dialogue, Job in essence says to his friends, “If my only options are that I’ve sinned or God has failed, then God has failed, for I certainly haven’t sinned!” Job! Who do you think you are?! Job comes perilously close to blasphemy.

In his commentary on Job, author Don Baker makes a point about pain. He says, “Pain speaks a strange language. It plays funny tricks on us. It makes us think things, say things, even believe things that are not true. When pain bores its way through human flesh and into the human spirit, and then just sits there and hurts and hurts, the mind becomes clouded. The brain begins to think strange thoughts like ‘God is dead!’ or ‘He’s gone fishing’ or ‘He just doesn’t care!’”

Pain was having this kind of an effect on Job. And toward the end of Job’s discourses, he starts challenging God to speak. He charges God with giving him a raw deal. He accuses God of being unfair. In his attempts to vindicate himself, Job accuses God. Job is more into proving his own innocence than he is in upholding God’s justice. In short, Job cops an attitude.

Always remember that there are chapters in our story that God is yet to write. The Zophars can only speak so far. God had a glorious outcome for Job. In the end, he got double the blessings he had before.

But until the day he died, Job never learned the why behind his trials.

Some situations have reasons that will only make sense when we get to heaven. Today we live a temporal, earth-bound existence. That’s why it is wrong for us, from our limited perspective, to question or criticize an eternal God. We are told in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God.”
I’ll never forget one of the first rules in theology. Where God has placed a period, don’t you change it to a question mark. If God doesn’t offer us an explanation, learn to live without one. Don’t push it. Ultimatums don’t work on God! He wants us to trust in His wisdom.

The big question for you and me is, “Can we trust God, even when we can’t trace Him?” Oh, it’s easy to praise God when we see His hand at work, when His blessings, even His lessons, are tangible. But is your faith alive enough to survive in the dark?

Did you hear about the four passengers traveling on a train from Los Angeles to San Francisco? All four riders were seated in the same compartment. There was a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, a San Francisco Giants fan, a gorgeous young woman and an elderly lady. Everyone was being very cordial until the train passed through a long, dark tunnel. Suddenly there was a loud kissing sound followed by an equally loud slapping sound. When the train exited the tunnel, each passenger sat there quietly looking at each other, trying to sort out what the noises meant.

The beautiful woman thought, Isn’t that odd; that Giants fan tries to kiss an elderly woman and not me. The elderly lady thought, My, that young woman is a good girl; she has some fine morals. The Giants fan thought, That Dodgers fan is a smart guy; he steals a kiss, and I get slapped. The Dodgers fan is just sitting there gloating. He’s thinking, Perfect; I kiss the back of my hand, slap a Giants fan and nobody ever knows!

Sometimes things happen in the dark. And God chooses not to reveal His specific reasons. If we’re not careful, we can draw the wrong conclusions.

It reminds me of the little boy who was scared of the dark. Late one night his mother asked him to fetch the broom that was on the back porch. He balked. He said, “But Mommy, it’s dark out there!” The mother told him, “Don’t worry honey. Jesus is always with you. He’s even with you in the dark.” The little guy walked to the back door and cracked it open a fraction of an inch and called out, “Hey, Jesus. If You’re out there, how about handing me that broom!”

Realize that God wants us all to learn that Jesus is with us, even in the dark places.

How do you react when circumstances occur that you don’t deserve? Have you grown bitter? Have you become angry? Have you been pounding your fist and demanding an explanation from God? Is your name Job?

Let me show you how God finally responded to Job. In Job 38, God appeared to Job, but not to answer his questions. God takes a most unusual tack: He came to Job asking Job questions, not answering them. For five chapters, God asked Job a series of questions he couldn’t possibly answer. He asked Job a total of 70 unanswerable questions.

The Almighty is about to show His servant, Job, that he doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does. It’s time for God to put Job back in his place. God appeared to Job in the whirlwind and said to Job in verses 2-3, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” In other words, “Who is this guy I’ve been listening to who doesn’t know what he’s talking about?!” Verse 3, “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.”
It’s time for some humble pie. God is about to remind Job that you spell the word “God” “G-o-d” and not “J-o-b.”

In verses 4-5, God begins His quiz. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” Job had been instructing God on how to run the universe, but here God makes it clear He doesn’t need Job’s help. God was doing fine long before Job came along. Then God asked Job, “Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know!” God even grows sarcastic. He basically said, “Okay, Job; was it you who held the other end of the tape measure when We measured out the universe?!” I don’t think so.

Throughout this book, Job’s incessant questioning of God’s wisdom implied that he, Job, could do a better job of running the universe than God. But could he? Can you?

On and on these questions continue. God keeps firing queries at Job, but he has no way to answer.

It’s interesting that when Job questioned God, in Job’s estimation, he grew larger and larger while God grew smaller and smaller. But here when the roles are reversed and God is the One who is questioning Job, suddenly, in Job’s thinking, it’s God who’s becoming larger and larger again, and it’s Job who’s becoming smaller and smaller and tiny. Job gets taken down a notch or two, or he gets “whittled down to size,” as we’d say it in the south.

Up against an infinite God, a finite Job knows very little. What right does he have to question or criticize the Almighty? Who does Job think he is?!

It would be like me out playing golf with Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers to ever swing a stick. What right would I have to give Tiger Woods pointers? “Hey, Tiger; come on over here and let little ol’ Sandy help you with your swing.” Who’s kiddin’ who?!

But Job is being just as arrogant. He’s been trying to coach God on how to run the universe. Who in the world does Job think he is?! Job has gotten way out of line.

Here’s a great quote for you: “If there’s anything a sufferer needs, it’s not an explanation, but a fresh, new look at God.” We think we need an answer; that we’ll never be satisfied until we know why. But when we see God, when God appears, the reason for the trial no longer matters. For all that matters then is God.

Well, Job thinks he learned his lesson. Listen to his reply to God in Job 40:4-5: “Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.” At first, it may seem that Job has gotten the message. But I don’t think so. Job has simply gone from pounding his fist to now pouting. He’s gone from beating his fist to now sticking out his lower lip. In essence Job is saying, “Okay, God. You win. You’ve made Your point. I’ll just shut up and serve You!” Job agrees to serve the Lord, but you can bet he’s going to serve God with a grudge.

And I gotta ask you: Do you know anybody who’s been serving God with a grudge? You see, Job has accepted God’s sovereignty; he has no choice. But he really doesn’t like it.

Friends, God doesn’t want us to pound or to pout. There is a third option. We can praise God for who He is, come what may! God wants us to embrace His sovereignty, with a loving, trusting wholeheartedness. You can say, lovingly, “Lord, Thy will be done,” or you can say, begrudgingly, “Alright then, God. Have it Your way!” Job is doing the latter here; he’s giving in, because he has no other choice.

But God is not through correcting Job’s attitude. For again, God comes to Job in the whirlwind. In Job 40:7, He said, “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.” God didn’t like the first set of answers He got from Job, so He has some more questions. In chapters 40 and 41, God points to two powerful, enormous animals, the behemoth and the Leviathan. He asked Job if he could contain these animals, let alone create them. Job seems pretty puny when pitted up against these mighty forces.

God is relentless in His humbling of Job, for He is after in Job what He also wants from us. He doesn’t want reluctance but repentance. God wants Job—and us—to rejoice in His sovereignty, to worship Him despite our situations. God wants us to acknowledge that He not only runs the universe, but He runs our lives and He’s better at it than we are. God does all things well all the time.

Today when a church builds a sanctuary like ours, the architect is careful to optimize the sight lines, so that it doesn’t matter where you’re sitting in the room, you can see all that is going on up front. There’s not a bad view in the house. But the Reformation architects of the great cathedrals in Europe had the opposite idea. They deliberately created their worship venues so that a person’s view was blocked by a pillar or by an awkward angle or maybe a railing, so you couldn’t see everything going on up front. It was a reminder that some truths about God were hidden; no one knows all there is about God. We all worship God from a limited vantage point.

Job finally realizes this truth in chapter 42. This time when Job answers God, he gets it right. In Job 42:2-6, he says, “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Obviously, Job has had a change of attitude.

Friends, Job never did learn why. But he learned something far more valuable. He learned Who. And when you really know Who, you don’t need to know why.

There are people I know whose chief ambition in getting to heaven is to get answers to their questions. And I’m sure they’ll get their answers. But I am just as certain that in heaven their answers won’t be nearly as important as they thought. For when we see the beauties and the glories of our Lord Jesus, all of the perplexities and all of the questions will be overshadowed. In the end, the Who will swallow up all of the whys.
Following the difficult days of World War II, King George VI of England made a statement to his countrymen about the uncertainties of the coming new year. He said, “I said to the Man at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light that I might walk safely into the unknown.’ But He said to me, ‘Go out into the darkness, put your hand in the hand of God, and it shall be to you better than the light and safer than the known.’” Imagine that. The hand of God is even better than the light and even safer than the known.

Some of us are walking out into uncertain futures. And we’ve been questioning God. Don’t you think a better approach for us would be to grip His hand just a little tighter?

Once an old man was taking a walk with his young grandson when he asked the boy, “Son, do you know where you are?”

“No Grandpa; I don’t.”

“Son, do you know how far you are from home?”

“No, sir.”

“Well, it sounds to me like you’re lost.”

The little boy grinned, “Nope, Grandpa. I can’t be lost.”

So Grandpa asked him, “Well, why can you be so sure?”

The little guy replied, “I can’t be lost, Grandpa, because I’m with you!”

And this is what God wants us to learn. That even when we don’t understand, even without an explanation, we are never lost when we’re with God. He can be trusted.

So how do you cope with the poison ivy in your life? He’s what Job would tell us. God is sovereign. He is a big God. He takes orders from no one. He does as He pleases without getting our permission or giving us an explanation. That’s why we need to turn off our complaints and our doubts and our questions, and we need to turn on our praise. God is worthy to be worshipped.

Love God! Don’t fight Him. Trust God. Don’t question Him. Real faith doesn’t need to know why, when it’s certain of Who.

Always remember this statement: What’s over my head is still under God’s feet.

God loves you. In fact, He is so proud of you that He has staked His honor on your reactions. Imagine this! God believes that your response to difficulty is going to bring Him glory!