[9] Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” [10] But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
This is one of the most incredible questions posed by a man or woman in the Bible. “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In Matthew 5 Jesus instructed his disciples to love their enemies. He then reminded them that God sends good things, like sun and rain, on the good and the evil (See Mt 4:44-45). One of the common issues we wrestle with is the question of why good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. Why does God bless evil, unjust people with sun and rain? Why does he allow bad things to happen to people like Job? There are several answers to the question, but it starts with the nature of God. He is good, and he is no respecter of persons, therefore he gives good to all. Secondly, we are not good. Yes, God describes Job as righteous. In fact, he calls Job “a blameless and upright man who turns away from evil” (Job 1:8). That is a description of Job in contrast to other people. But, in contrast to God the Bible says that there is no one who is good. Jesus said, in Mark 10:18, “No one is good except God alone.” Quoting from the Psalms, Paul wrote in Romans 3:10b-12
“None is righteous, no, not one; [11] no one understands; no one seeks for God. [12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
"Good” is a relative term in our usage. We look at others and determine who is good and who is not good based on who is “better,” or by some personal standard of what we consider good. But “good” is never a relative term when used of God. Good equates with the nature and character of God himself. By that definition there is no good person on earth. We do not deserve God’s blessings. We deserve his wrath. Yet “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). What an amazing truth, that God would love sinners. Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? There are no good people. There is only a gracious God.
God is good. We are not. That in itself ought to bring us to Job’s conclusion, ““Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” That is the foundation upon which we must stand as we wrestle with this age old question of why good things happen to “bad” people, and why bad things happen to “good” people. So how do we respond? Do we walk around feeling bad about ourselves all the time? No, I don’t think that is the point at all. I think that we need to revel in God’s grace. We need to see expressions of his blessing every day. We need to recognize his good gifts. When Job answered his wife, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” he was not focused on the bad. She was focused on the bad. All she could see was her husband’s pain. But Job remembered the good. His eyes were focused on the good God who had blessed him beyond what he deserved. He lived in gratitude. He understood that if he was to enjoy the good blessings of God in his life then he must be willing to accept the bad things that God allowed to happen in a fallen, broken world. His eyes were fixed upward. His wife’s gaze was fixed downward. Maybe the words to that old gospel song written by Johnson Oatman, Jr., Count Your Blessings, is the advice we need to listen to.
When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost
Count your many blessings, name them one by one
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
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