A main way people try to gain perspective in a season of suffering is clinging to the idea or anchoring themselves on the guarantee that life will get better or be better because of it. It’s an attempt to convince the mind and to reassure the heart that the suffering will be ‘worth it’ one day in the end.
In the midst of disappointment or loss, everyone craves the guarantee that there’s something even better on the other side. Just beyond the valley, there’s a mountaintop. Just beyond the desert, there’s an oasis. Just beyond the wilderness, there’s a Promise Land. This guarantee is something we desire for the future; but more importantly, it’s what we think what we need to get through the present.
We think, for example, “If I have the guarantee that something better will come of this, that will give me the strength to persevere through my current hardship with optimism, hope, and expectation. But if I don’t have that guarantee for the future, then how am I supposed to get through the present?”
We assume that if we had a guarantee from God that He would right the wrong, restore the loss, or simply show us what He is accomplishing in our suffering… then we will be able to persevere through it, then we will be able to have joy in it, then we will not despair because of it. It’s natural to grasp for that anchor of guarantee when the circumstances all around seemingly storm to no avail.
This idea of a guarantee is usually the unstated implication tucked deeply into the most cliché phrases we hear during seasons of hardship. “It’s just a season.” “Things will work out.” “You’ll look back one day and be able to see how it all fits together.” “All things work for the good…”
We all want those statements to be true.
But the daunting question is… Are those statements true? How do we know either way? If we’re honest with ourselves, a dreaded thought gnaws at us in the back of our minds saying, “But what if there’s not something better? What if I’ve missed out? What if it never gets better?”
Yes, it might be just a season. But it might not be. Yes, God might have something better in store. But it might not look how you’d like. Yes, you don’t know what God is doing right now. But unfortunately, God does not give a guarantee that your circumstances will get better.
You were well, and then you picked up a chronic illness.
You were in an amazing job, and then you got laid off for false accusations.
You were in a dream house, and now you can’t afford it.
You were in a relationship, and then it ended.
The cancer might not be cured. The job might be lost for good. The betrayal might not be reconciled. The singleness might not end. And best of all, there’s no guarantee either way, so you’re left in what seems to be a fundamental limbo land of expectation.
I don’t know about you, but that really, really frustrates me. We feel like we need a guarantee in suffering—because seeing the light at the end of the tunnel is precisely what will give us the drive to move forward in the darkness. But the sobering reality is that we have no guarantee how life will turn out.
That’s where the problem sets in. And that’s when the glaring question comes up. How, then, are we supposed to persevere through our circumstances if we have no guarantee that our circumstances will get better?
Thankfully, God does address this question for us, and He does so in the story of Job.
The Suffering of Job
If you’re unfamiliar with the story, Job is a very, very successful man who also loves God.
But one day, Satan approaches God and claims that Job only loves God because of all the things that God gives to Job, not necessarily because of who God is to Job.
Satan asserts, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you [God] not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1:9-11).
God essentially responds to Satan, “Fine, take away all that Job has, but what you will find out is that Job loves me for me. He doesn’t love me for the things I give him.”
And with that, the challenge began. God permits Satan to sabotage Job’s life. And Satan does not hold back.
Satan wrecks Job’s family, drains his finances, steals his comforts, and plagues his health. Satan reduces Job—a man of greatness according to the world’s standards—to a man of nothing according to the world’s standards.
To say that Job suffered would be an understatement. Pain, confusion, and anguish shot through every aspect of his life—spiritual, emotional, psychological, and physical. A season of darkness enveloped him when he was least expecting it, and it stayed over him for longer than he would have ever desired it.
And over the next 37 chapters, Job wrestles with how to make sense of what he’s going through, how he will get through it, and what—if anything—waits on the other side.
Of course, as readers, we’re privileged to read with an aerial view—we can see his story from start to finish. We know what kind of spiritual warfare is taking place behind the scenes, we know why Job is suffering, and we know that (and how) God will restore Job abundantly in the end. There’s certainly an advantage of seeing the whole picture of Job’s plight and how it resolves in a beautiful way. It takes the sting out of the suffering.
But Job, unfortunately, isn’t privileged with seeing the whole picture like we are; and so, the sting of suffering happens in full effect. As Job suffered, he did not know why. He never knew if life would ever get better. And he resigned to the fact that it might not.
In the middle of Job’s trying circumstances—even though God would restore him and had beautiful plans in store—for some reason, God left Job blindfolded. In the process and in the pain, God gave no guarantees. God withheld any and all answers so that Job would not know why, how, or what. And somehow, that’s exactly what God wanted, and significantly, it’s exactly what needed to happen.
God Withholds The Purpose On Purpose
But why? What is the purpose of God being so silent? If Job’s story does, in fact, have a beautiful ending, then why doesn’t God just tell him how it’s all going to end?
Why doesn’t God just tell Job, “Hey, Job… Look, I know life really sucks right now. I know it’s really, really hard. But don’t worry because it’s going to turn out better in the long haul anyways! Here’s what I’m doing. There’s a lot of spiritual warfare currently going on, and I’m using you as a prime example to prove Satan wrong. Don’t despair in your circumstances; I’m going to restore back to you a double portion of all you’ve lost. Also, Job, your story will be an inspiration to millions of Christians for thousands of years.”
Had God told Job these things—and what was to be gained as a result—it certainly would have helped Job persevere in the midst of what he was going through in that moment.
But God doesn’t tell Job why. God simply denies him that kind of information. And for a majority of Job’s suffering, God remains silent. Until chapter 38.
When Job asks God, ‘Why?’ and pleads for an answer, God finally responds. But his response is rather astonishing. God veils the answer to Job’s suffering, and instead unveils his character in Job’s suffering. God doesn’t give Job an explanation of his circumstances. Rather, God gives him a revelation of how He is above his circumstances.
God essentially replies, “Who made the stars, Job? Who created the universe? Is nothing too hard for me? Is there nothing I am not over? I am God. Not you. I know exactly what I’m doing in your life.”
God doesn’t give Job an explanation of what he wants to know, but a revelation of Who he needs to know. Truly, that itself is a beautiful act of grace. We do not deserve a revelation of God, nor do we deserve a God who is with us in suffering.
But still, Job’s primary question is left unresolved. Why does God veil the answer? And how is a revelation—and not an explanation—sufficient for that question? And not just sufficient, but according to God, better? Along with Job, we’re confronted with the conundrum. Knowing God’s character to us is necessary in our circumstances, but how is God shrouding his intent of our circumstances somehow a good thing for us?
There’s a beautiful, unique purpose for why God withheld an explanation for why, what, and how and instead gave a revelation of Who.
To be sure, had God given an explanation to Job, it probably would have made Job’s suffering much easier in the moment. However, it would have torn down the foundation that God was trying to build up. And it would have defeated everything that God was aiming to accomplish. Which was what? And how so?
The Eternal Guarantee Underneath No Earthly Guarantees
One reason God did not give Job an explanation of his suffering or a guarantee in his suffering is because God wanted to show Satan that Job loved and trusted God unconditionally, with no strings attached.
If God had given Job an explanation or guarantee, then as Job suffered, he would not have ultimately clung to God, but to the guarantee of new, better circumstances. Job wouldn’t have been in a position to love and trust God for God. Instead, Job would have been primed to only love and trust God as a means to an end—for better circumstances.
That’s why God did not give Job a guarantee that his life would be better. 1) Because it would have made idolatry easier and worship harder. 2) Because it would have defeated the whole purpose of what God was trying to prove to Satan: that Job loved God for God, regardless of what hand he was dealt.
And in the same way, this is why God does not give us guarantees that life will get better when we suffer, either. Like Job, we often plead, “God, if you can give me a guarantee in my suffering that something better will come of this, then I can persevere through this time. Then, I can be joyful in this time.”
But we don’t have the guarantee. And Job didn’t have that guarantee.
Because it’s not right for us to. Otherwise, our perseverance and joy would not be unconditionally built on God, but conditionally tethered to circumstance. If we had a guarantee of better circumstances to come in our suffering, then our ultimate hope in life would not be in who God is to us, but in what God gives to us.
And given the nature of our souls, that’s precisely why it’s actually better to not have a guarantee of better circumstances than it is to have a guarantee of better circumstances. Having a guarantee might adequately hold you up in your earthly circumstances, but it will effectively cripple you in your walk with God.
One of God’s main purposes for us in suffering is to make us loosen our grip on the things of earth that we love and make us cling more tightly to God who loves us. And if we had a guarantee, then we wouldn’t loosen our grip and cling more tightly to God… we’d loosen our grip on the situation we lost and simply cling more tightly to the situation that we know will be better. God wouldn’t be clung to at all. He’d be used as a means to end. And what we truly need is not a life of better circumstances whereby God is a means, but a life regardless of circumstances whereby God is the end.
Suffering with a guarantee would make God secondary and unnecessary.
Suffering without a guarantee makes God necessary and glorious.
With a guarantee, there’s no refining the dross of sin. Only keeping it in tact.
With a guarantee, there’s no trust in God, only in circumstances.
With a guarantee, circumstance is your god, not God.
Tim Keller says that greatness in God is cultivated and achieved when you can walk into the dark in faith and not expect anything from God but God himself, and that that would be enough. In order to be great, you need to suffer without a guarantee that things will get better. Because greatness in God is something that triumphs over circumstance, trusting the God to whom circumstance is subject.[1]
When we trek through grueling circumstances, like Job, in grace we are left blindfolded, with no guarantees of how things will turn out. In light of your circumstances, it might seem cruel that God would do so; but in light of your soul, it would be cruel for God not to do so. This is why it’s actually a good thing for us to suffer without guarantee—not knowing why, how, or what, but only Who.
While it’s a good thing for us spiritually to have no guarantee, that reality brings us face-to-face with one of our biggest fears and one of Satan’s biggest lies.
Satan’s Biggest Lie & Biggest Doubt
Satan’s main, dark lie underneath all suffering is that God is ultimately holding out on us. This belief in particular is what makes suffering so bad and so intense.
In fact, this was the serpent’s lie from the very beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. “You can’t trust God. He’s holding out on you. You must take life into your own hands.” Satan feeds this twisted fear that if we give ourselves fully, completely, and unreservedly to God, then God will crush us. It’s what he wanted Job to believe, and it’s what he wants us to believe today in our circumstances.
Satan’s biggest lie is that God is holding out on you.
And I think Satan’s biggest lie to us ultimately comes from Satan’s biggest doubt about God: that God’s love is everything. And that humans, in response, would actually love God for God, with no strings attached, with no guarantees.
More than anything else, Satan wants to destroy your perception of God’s love for you, and as a result, your love for God. It might take giving you success or giving you failure to accomplish that, and he’ll use both if he has to. It might be giving you everything you wanted or withholding that one thing you want. But whether it’s pleasure or pain, Satan will do anything to cast doubt upon and cheapen the love of God in your life.
That’s why Satan accused God that, “Job doesn’t love you for you, he just loves you because of how easy you’ve made his life. Look at all the stuff you’ve given him. If you took it all away from Job, he would curse you.” And Satan says the same thing about us.
Satan doesn’t believe in love. He’s been skeptical of it from the beginning, because he was skeptical of God, who himself is Love. He wanted a chance to prove to God that he was right—that real, authentic, undying, unconditional love does not exist, especially between God and his people. And God wanted to show Satan that he was wrong—and that Job was proof.
So when Satan stripped Job of all he had—and God gave Job no guarantees or explanations in the process—Satan discovered what was at the very bottom of Job’s heart… and it put a bullet through Satan’s: Job loves God—not for what God gives to him, but for who God is to him.
God’s love was at the very bottom of Job’s heart—not romance, not family, not money, not comforts, not health. And only suffering without guarantees could have proven that. God was the bottom denominator of his hope and joy, nothing else.
God allowed Satan a certain amount of rope to wreak havoc in Job’s life. But it was only enough rope whereby Satan would be inadvertently hung from the gallows of his own words himself. And because God loves us and loves his glory, God will allow the same thing to happen to us, too. Be assured, God is in control of what you’re going through right now. I’m sure it hurts. But God will only give Satan enough rope so that he can hang from it—not you.[2]
In Job’s season of suffering, in one fell swoop, God’s love was glorified, Job’s heart was sanctified, and Satan’s words were falsified. And the same applies to Christians everywhere, especially when we suffer without guarantee.
Take Heart
If you’re currently in a season where there is no guarantee, take heart. That can only mean that God is doing his best work in your life. And it couldn’t happen otherwise. Now is the time to trust and obey, not by seeing your circumstance, but by believing in your God.
When God’s glory for your life is not what you had in mind for your life, that’s when the rubber truly meets the road in the Christian life. That’s where real belief is exposed, real faith is tested, and real traction happens.
See Job’s story as an example and as a testament. Even though you can’t see what God is doing in your life—seeing that you have no guarantee—let that not turn your heart to worry, but to worship. Let your high pleas fall into deep peace.
God doesn’t give us a guarantee about what He’ll do for us, but a guarantee about who He is to us. He doesn’t give us a guarantee about our circumstances, but He does give us a guarantee about His character. God is telling us, “When you can’t understand what I’m doing in your life, trust who I’m being in your life—which is only ever for you. When you can’t understand my hands to you, trust my heart for you—especially when it comes to what I am withholding from you.”
But even so, God does give us a glimpse at the beautiful way He withholds:
In the beginning, God did withhold the thing that Satan said was best for them—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But significantly, what was withheld from them became the door through which God gave and did not withhold what was ultimately best for them—Jesus.
And if this is how God dealt with something as significant as our salvation, then we can certainly trust him with no other guarantee of how life will turn out.
That’s why suffering in this way will free you from being crippled by circumstances.
That’s why suffering in this way will deepen your joy in God’s heart to you.
That’s why suffering in this way will lead you unto God’s greater for you.
That’s why—as you suffer—having no guarantee from God is actually a good thing for you. It will not only make you great in God, it will also prepare you for the great things of God.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Timothy Keller, “Questions of Suffering.” Sermon on Job 1:8-22. Series: Job: A Path Through Suffering. January 6, 2008.
[2] Ibid.
