Why, God? (When We Ask God Why)

Why would a good God let this happen to me?

When calamity strikes for no reason we can see, the question on our lips is the same one Job asked: why? In this study of Job 10, Dr. Toby Holt walks through the prayer of a broken man — the most righteous man on earth in his day — who has lost nearly everything and now says, "My soul loathes my life." Dr. Holt is candid that Job's cry is close to "I wish I was dead," and that God is big enough to receive even prayers soaked in grief. Job's friends insisted his suffering must be punishment for hidden sin, but Dr. Holt dismantles that "sin equals suffering" thinking: Daniel in the lions' den, Paul beaten and shipwrecked, and Christ Himself did not suffer because they deserved it.

Job is in good company. Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, David, and Paul all reached moments of asking "why?" and even longing for death — and God met each one. Dr. Holt closes with real comfort for the despairing: this world is a war zone, not paradise, so wounds should not surprise us; life is short and eternity long; you are never alone, for "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... Thou art with me"; God uses trials to refine, not destroy; and in Christ, God does not merely sympathize but empathizes — a Man of sorrows who can say to the hurting, "I know."

Questions this study answers:

1. Does suffering mean God is punishing me? Not necessarily. Job's friends were wrong to equate suffering with hidden sin. Daniel, Paul, and Christ Himself all suffered without deserving it; hardship is often the refining, not the wrath, of God.

2. Is it wrong to bring God my anger and despair? No. God received Job's raw lament without loving him less. He is a big enough God to sustain the honest grief, questions, and fears you bring to Him.

3. What comfort is there when I cannot understand my suffering? That you are in the company of the saints, that eternity dwarfs this brief pain, that God walks with you through the valley, that He is refining you through it, and that Christ can relate to every sorrow you face.

"You have granted me life and favor, and Your care has preserved my spirit." — Job 10:12 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This study is part of New Geneva Theological Seminary's teaching on depression and hope. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.