By: Obed Pineda
The beautiful story of Job is probably the most read Scripture by those who feel trapped in a cage of affliction. Reading about the triumph of this holy man over the Satanic challenge brings comfort and encouragement during our personal storms. The poem of Job (for it is among the “Poetic Books” of the Old Testament) has at its heart the fiery trials that this patriarch was able to survive. Therefore, its central purpose focuses on the sufferings of life and how to face them piously, retaining our spiritual integrity. In Job is found the elusive answer to the prophet Jeremiah’s question, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously” (Jeremiah 12:1b)? This query also entered the hearts of King David (Psalm 37:1, 7), Asaph (Psalm 73:3), and Job himself (Job 21:7). The question “why?” inevitably appears in some form during these moments its purpose is to seek some logical answer that explains the cause for our suffering. Solomon reveals that affliction serves as a reminder to man that life under the sun is momentary. Thus, pain and suffering are natural and necessary in this earthly life. Believing that tragedies appear solely as some Divine punishment or curse is naive. This was the erroneous thinking of Job’s “friend,” Zophar. The Naamathite who expressed “the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment” concluding that earthly calamity and loss “is the portion from God for a wicked man, the heritage appointed to him by God” (Job 20:5, 29). It is important to understand that Zophar was accusing Job of being wicked. Job’s wickedness, according to Zophar, was what caused his total loss. This theory dangerously involves some false teachings. First, it promotes the concept that suffering and loss are the absolute consequences of sin and not the nature of life. Accepting this analysis as true gives rise to discrimination toward anyone who is poor or sick. This philosophy was evidently accepted by the Jews during the lifetime of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note the question asked by the disciples to Christ concerning the man born blind, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind” (John 9:1-2)? For the disciples, the question was not whether the blindness was the consequence of sin, but who was the sinner? Zophar similarly was not questioning whether Job sinned; he was accusing Job of being a sinner! Second, this idea also presents a deceitful precept of what prosperity is. If Zophar’s conclusion is correct, then earthly gain becomes the primary standard for measuring God’s approval. In other words, if material loss represents the curse, then material prosperity represents the blessing. This was the very thought of the Church at Laodicea, “because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). Our Lord Jesus declares to them that their material prosperity was producing in them a “lukewarm” Christianity, because they were measuring the spiritual by their materialistic increase (Revelation 3:15-16). The Lord’s warning, “I will vomit you out of My mouth,” enlightens us that material abundance cannot always be viewed as a Divine sanction. Undoubtedly, for the Laodiceans it was not. Therefore, the Holy Scriptures reveal to us that the way of the wicked cannot be confirmed as prosperous by the earthly wealth they achieve. Zophar’s synopsis limits the correct definition of prosperity. The example of the spiritual lukewarmness of the Laodiceans echoes the Redeemer’s warning that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). It cannot be denied that the wicked do enjoy God’s material blessings since “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). Remember, however; that this kind of joy is limited to this physical world. While in Hades, the rich man was told, “remember that in your lifetime you received your good things” (Luke 16:25a). Christ confirms when the rich man died his joy ended and his eternal agony began. Why did this man come to torment? Because his worldly wealth blinded him to his spiritual need and produced a selfish heart. His selfishness toward God is demonstrated in his indifference toward his neighbor, Lazarus “full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table” (Luke 16:20-21). Sadly, for this man what began as a blessing ended up being his own curse. Behold the poison of Zophar’s thinking. This begs the following question: How does God identify prosperity? Jesus answers, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul” (Mark 8:36)? In order to begin piecing this puzzle together, it is wise and prudent to emphasize a Divine truth. Under the sun (i.e., in earthly life), it is possible for the holy and righteous man to suffer hardship as for the wicked and sinful man to enjoy material prosperity. But this does not mean that the holy man is being rejected by God, any more than it means that the wicked man is being accepted by God. We must not forget that a primary rule of this natural life is that man reaps what he sows. A man away from God can increase his material possessions by making a wise financial investment, just as the man of God can lose everything by making a bad and foolish one. A second primary rule of earthly life is that every human being enjoys joy as well as sorrow. Solomon confirms that “to everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven” including “a time to weep, and a time to laugh” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4a). God, through Solomon, repeats the theme of how fragile and temporary this physical life is. Since this is an irrefutable reality, no one under heaven has ever lived only joy or only sorrow. Hence the purpose for pondering that “surely God has appointed the one aswell as the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14b). This passage illustrates the balance that God created from the beginning between prosperity and adversity in life under the sun, but it also advises mankind to use his time wisely by meditating on the frailty of life. Koheleth establishes that both, the good day and the day of adversity, are necessary for man. They are essential because they reveal that we are not Divine beings. Job understood this valuable lesson and because of it he was able to triumph against Satan in his spiritual duel against him. Thus, it is possible for the wicked to prosper in life under the sun, but if that is all he seeks then, lamentably, that will be the extent of his reward (cf. Matthew 6:2).